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Lesson 11.4: Pit Organization and Match Day Maintenance

Technical Context​

A tournament puts the robot through repeated impacts, battery changes, and full-speed cycles with little repair time between matches. The pit crew needs a consistent way to inspect, diagnose, and repair it under that schedule.

This lesson turns the track's inspection and maintenance practices into a match-day routine.

The Between Match Routine​

Have a written routine that runs after every match, in the same order, every time. The order matters more than the content, because a fixed order is what stops things being skipped when the team is rushed.

1. Battery out, on the charger. Fresh battery in, secured.
2. Marked fastener check: the fixed list, visually, by the
   paint pen marks.
3. Mechanism check: run each mechanism through full range.
4. Cable check: look at the flex points identified in
   Module 9.
5. Wear check: compliant wheels, tubing, chain tension.
6. Driver report: anything that felt wrong, written down.
7. Anything found gets fixed now or added to the list.

Assign the routine to specific people, and have the same people do it every time so they notice changes.

The driver report is data

The driver can report hesitation, pulling, or a control that felt different during the match. Ask for that report every time and write it down. Repeated observations help the pit crew separate a pattern from a one-off event.

Designing for Serviceability​

Serviceability is a design property, and it is decided months before the tournament. During the design review from Lesson 10.4, ask the question directly: how long does it take to replace the part most likely to fail?

Design rules that pay off on match day:

  • Keep fasteners accessible. A bracket that requires removing three other subsystems is a bracket that will not be repaired between matches.
  • Standardize fastener sizes. A robot using two hex sizes is faster to work on than one using five, and it means fewer tools to lose.
  • Make wear items removable without disassembly. Compliant wheels, tubing, and odometry pods should come off with a few fasteners.
  • Keep the battery and main switch reachable. They are touched between every match.
  • Leave slack in cables so a connector can be reached without dismantling a mechanism.

The Pit Box​

Organize by what you reach for, not by category.

Immediate access, top of the box: the hex drivers your robot uses, zip ties, tape, spare fasteners in the sizes on the robot, and a charged battery.

Spares for parts that have broken or worn out before. Use the notebook and maintenance log to build the packing list.

Consumables: compliant wheels, surgical tubing, chain or belt, string for slides, heat shrink.

Tools: driver set, pliers, side cutters, caliper, soldering iron if you can use one safely at the venue, multimeter.

Documents: port map, inspection checklist, notebook, and the between match routine posted where everyone can see it.

Label bins so any pit crew member can find the correct fastener or spare without asking the person who packed it.

Triage Under Time Pressure​

When something breaks shortly before a match, choose a safe repair that fits the available time.

A workable triage:

  1. Can the robot play safely without it? If yes and time is short, disable the mechanism in software and play without it. Scoring less is better than not playing.
  2. Is there a spare? Swap it, do not repair it. Repair the broken one later when there is time.
  3. Is there a temporary fix that lasts one match? Zip ties and tape are legitimate engineering under time pressure, provided the fix is safe and legal.
  4. Do the proper repair between matches later, and record it in the notebook.

Do not begin a long repair unless the crew has enough time to finish, reassemble, and test the robot before queueing.

Never send an untested robot to the field

After any repair, run the affected mechanism through its full range and drive the robot briefly. A repair that reassembled something incorrectly is common, and finding it in the pit costs a minute while finding it on the field costs the match.

Recording the Day​

Keep a running log through the tournament: what broke, in which match, what was done, and whether it held. It takes a minute per entry.

Use the log during the event to spot repeated failures that need more than another quick repair. Keep it afterward as a prioritized list for design changes, maintenance work, and the engineering notebook.

Photograph neededYour own pit setup at an event, with labeled spares bins, the tool roll, and the printed routine visible.Framing: Wide enough to show the whole table, taken before the day starts while it is still tidy.Add the file to static/ and pass its path as the src prop.
A pit that can repair a robot in the six minutes available. Bins are labeled, the drivers the robot actually needs are together, and the between match routine is posted where the crew can see it.

Fill-in-the-Blank Practice​

  1. The between match routine should be run in the same __________ every time, so that steps are not skipped under pressure.
  2. When a mechanism breaks with little time before a match, the first triage question is whether the robot can play __________ without it.
  3. After any repair, the affected mechanism must be run through its full range because an incorrect __________ is common.
Show answers
  1. order
  2. safely
  3. reassembly

Exercise​

Write your team's between match routine and post it where the pit crew will see it. Then time it: run the whole routine on the robot with a stopwatch. If it takes longer than the time between your matches, shorten it to the checks that matter most and note what you dropped.

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