osurc_mars_rover_2017_2018/team documents/URC Lessons Learned.md

URC Lessons Learned

This document outlines the mistakes made when building a rover and competing in URC.

General

• If it is not tested it will not work. Test absolutely everything as early as possible in the most accurate way.

Mechanical

• Loctite or threadfasten everything! Every. Single. Thing. Loctite User Guide

Electrical

• Radios are hard, and caused our failure in 2016, give them the time they deserve.
• SMA connectors are not meant for repeated cycles (external Ebox connectors), they will fail and cause weird issues with your RF system. Use something like a BNC instead.

Software

• Github is your friend.

Science

• URC likes it when you talk about rocks.
• Simple presentations are better.

Team Structure / Leadership

• People are volunteers, you (unfortunatly) cannot treat them like employees.
• People bail, stuff happens, be prepared to pick up the slack.