Las Vegas 2000 - Part 4 - Action in the Pits 2

		Before my first match against Spinster I set the robot down for the final test run to make sure everything was operational. The robot slowly crept forward and then just sat there. Panic ensued. I tested the motors and found them to be open circuit, it appeared that the brushes were not making contact with the commutator of the motor. I quickly pulled one of the brushes and found that they appeared to have annealed and shrunk, pulling the brush away from the commutator. At this point, since I didn't have spares, I was ready to give up. But wait! Either Charles or Mike suggested we replace the brush springs with ball point pen springs! There were plenty of pens, as the Pro Engineer guys were giving them away at their booth across the tent. We proceeded to bust apart a bunch of pens and with 3 soldering irons and 5 pairs of hands, got the motors back together and running minutes before the match. Upon returning from the fight this was the mess we left the floor. Big thanks to Charles and Team Carnivore for helping me out when I thought I was totally done.
		A frequency analyzer was on hand to make sure everyone stayed in line with respect to their frequencies.
		Automatum/Team Carnivore pits -- mine aren't terribly organized. From right, Charles sitting, mystery toque guy in the back, Brian Scearce (and possibly someone behind his right shoulder), Mike Mass, Me (bending over apparently doing something), John Mackenzie, and Ilya Polyakov.
		Team Sinister pits looking, well, sinister. All they need now is a matching 'evil genius style' black helicopter to fly to events.
		Mark S's snake control rig. 2 Futaba 9-channels I think.
		Scrap Daddy's pits, showing one of the Scrap Raddy robots (LW or MW).
		Inside one of the narrower tents,
		Team Cool Robots wheels out Minion after the Atomic Wedgie fight.
		Me watching Ray Alderman take our picture watching the CCTV in the pits.
		An animated .gif of Toro doing its thing, while the Comedy Central sounds guy bravely holds his mic up to the action.
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