Why does my robot lose power in the middle of a match?

The provided documentation does not directly state why a robot might lose power in the middle of a match. However, it does emphasize that proper wiring is crucial to robot performance and maintenance, and that a loose or tangled wire can prevent a robot from working during a match . The documentation also mentions that static buildup can cause issues, and lists common causes of static, such as contact points with the floor, too much turning scrub, or a conductive part dragging along the ground .

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Wiring Guide

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Have you ever looked inside your robot and thought "what a mess of wires"? Wiring is extremely important in FTC®, but is often overlooked or hastily done the hour before competition starts. However, time spent in wiring the robot properly is crucial to the performance and maintenance of the robot.

Attention: It is highly discouraged for teams to overlook wiring, but many new teams seem to disregard it or put little thought into wiring the robot properly.

While tedious and often no fun, wiring can mean the difference between a win and loss. The best robot in the world won't be able to work if a wire is loose or gets tangled up in the middle of a match. Thus it is imperative that wiring is purposefully thought out when designing and building a robot.

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Know Your Lingo

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Many teams may be unfamiliar with the various terms and slang that are often thrown around at competitions and meets. Here we have compiled a guide of some commonly used terms to get you up to speed.

Program Delivery Partner (PDP) Director or directors for events and activities in a region. Used to be referred to as the Affiliate Partner (AP). Qualifier Tournament with 5-6 qualifying matches and best-of-three alliance elimination matches. Judging included. Will advance to States/Regional level. League Meet Low-stress competition with matches counting towards league rank at a League Tournament. No judging. League Tournament Tournament with ranked matches and alliance elimination matches for teams participating in that League. Judging included. Will advance to States/Regional level. Sometimes called a "League Championship". Alliance Group of two or, in eliminations, two or three teams that compete. In elimination matches each team must play at least once. Ranking Points (RP) Primary basis in rankings at traditional events. For the Power Play season, each team receives 2 RP for winning a qualification match, 1 for tying, and 0 for losing. TieBreaker Points (TBP) Secondary determinant in team rankings for traditional events, primary determinant for remote events. For the Power Play season, this is split up into two parts; TBP1 and TBP2. TBP1 is used before TBP2, and is the alliances/teams autonomous period score. TBP2 is the alliances/teams end game score. (Whether it is alliances/teams depends on if the team is at traditional events, respectively.) Qualification Match Qualifying matches (generally 5) with random alliance partners and opponents will be played to determine team rankings. Elimination Match 2 alliances of 2 or 3 teams each compete in best of 3 matches to determine winning alliance. Also known as elim matches, or just elims.

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CAD Tutorials > CAD Tutorial Part 1 - Drivetrain in an Hour > Additional Considerations

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Powering wheels can be done is a couple different ways through either belts and pulleys, chains and sprockets, gears, or even powered directly from the motor. Direct drive and chains are the simpler of the options, with direct drive not needing a calculated distance at all just have to set the motor exactly where the center of the wheel is. Chains allow for a little bit of slack not needing an exact center to center distance in the wrap like belts and pulleys do. Finally gears which need to be a certain distance apart from each other to mesh properly and not skip or bind.

Mounting motors is done in a plate style by face mounting the motor into the innermost drivetrain plate. It can also be done by mounting the motors to a 3rd plate, located in between the outside and inside. This allows for the motor to take up less space in the middle of the robot, but adds complexity. Motors should always be as low as possible and depending where you want the center of mass, either the middle or towards the back of the robot. It is also worth keeping in mind the type of power transmission and the expediency of doing so in light of the motor placement.

Ground clearance is all dependent on if there are any obstacles on the field, as well as what your team wants to do in that game in regards to said obstacles.

For example, in Rover Ruckus some teams with tank drivetrains decided to enter the crater. Therefore, they left enough space to not beach themselves on top of the crater, a common mistake that inexperienced teams often make.

Other teams decided to ignore driving over the crater and decided to reach over with an arm or slide system, which meant they didn't need a lot of ground clearance for their drivebase.

Typically, anywhere from .25 inches of clearance to .5 inches (if you want to be safe) on a completely flat field will allow for the weight of the robot to push into the foam tiles. Nothing else from the robot should touch the ground.

Something you can do is set the robot in CAD onto a field. Set up obstacles such as the crater and simulate driving over the crater by moving it across like you think it would in the real world.

If either of the plates intersect with the obstacle, add some more clearance so you don't get beached like a sad whale.

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Wiring Guide > Miscellaneous

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REV Grounding Strap The REV Grounding Strap is currently the only legal way to ground your robot. Attach the end to the metal part of your robot frame, and plug the XT30 connector end into a free XT30 port on your robot. Power distribution blocks/panels The REV Power Distribution Block allows teams to have more than four XT30 connectors (2 on each Expansion Hub). The block can be connected to the Servo Power Module to boost voltage for servos. Dryer sheets Dryer sheets can be used to wipe down the robot after every match in order to reduce static buildup. This is not directly recommended by FIRST or any vendor, but our empirical evidence throughout the years suggests that it helps, or at the very least, can't hurt to do so. However, dryer sheets may or may not be on the boundary of legality, as grounding the robot to the ground is illegal. Staticide/static spray Staticide is a spray that helps to keep static off of the robot. Please be sure to spray your robot before an event and not during the event. Common causes of static - Every single contact point of your robot to the floor will increase the amount of static buildup. - Too much turning scrub (or traction when wheels try to turn). This is possible if a 4WD or 6WD (no center drop) with all traction wheels is used. - A conductive part dragging along the ground. For example, try not to have an intake touch the ground when the robot is moving as much as possible. Foam wheels and foam rollers are a common culprit.

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Design Strategy > Competition Tips and Mistakes > Neglecting driver practice Constant driver training

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Important: A persistent problem with new teams is neglecting driver practice. Drive practice is to be done throughout the season, not the week before competition.

No matter how good your robot is, the robot is only 50% of the equation. The driver(s) are the other 50% which determine the success of the team as a whole. Even if your robot is the best in the world, an inferior robot with a competent drive team more than likely will beat your robot with a poor drive team. By April's world championships, most top teams have run hundreds of practice matches.

This gives some obvious advantages compared to a team with lesser practice.

#. The driver(s) are totally familiar with handling the robot in every situation. #. The robot is proven to be reliable enough to survive hours of operation. #. The immense data that teams gather from test runs are used to optimize every element of the robot.

Driver practice not only familiarizes the driver(s) with the robot and serves as a test of robot reliability, it also simulates in-game conditions. Learning to push the limits of your robot should be done during practice, not at a competition. This way, drivers will become more comfortable driving under stress and pressure. Teams with intensive driver practice will purposely make things more difficult (such as placing a disabled robot in the middle of the field or unplugging a drivetrain motor).

While this may seem extreme, it is really just a form of preparedness. If your driver doesn't know how to react, then you need more drive practice.

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Types of Awards > Advancing Awards > Control Award

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Term: The Control Award celebrates a team that uses sensors and software to increase the ROBOT'S functionality during gameplay. This award is given to the team that demonstrates innovative thinking and solutions to solve game challenges such as autonomous operation, improving mechanical systems with intelligent control, or using sensors to achieve better results. The solution(s) should work consistently during MATCHES but does not have to work all the time. Solutions considered for this award are not solely limited to the AUTO period of the MATCH and may also be used during TELEOP. The team's PORTFOLIO must contain a summary of the software, sensors, and mechanical control but would not include copies of the code itself.

The Control award is meant to recognize a team that has a good software solution to make their robot "intelligent". It's known as the "software award" and is for the team with the best or most innovative software and sensor solution for the game.

Do not directly put code into your portfolio, the judges will not care. Instead, focus on explaining key algorithms that you use, and explain the software in an easy to understand way. Remember, your control award judges may not be software engineers or programmers, so make sure you can explain everything to someone without a software background.

In addition, control award software is more then just your autonomous mode programs. Driver assistance, feedback, and automation all are vital to the control award.

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