It was the night before the finals of a robotics competition. We had big hopes, after months of hard work and thousands of dollars invested in materials, our robot was able to autonomously complete the obstacle course and collect the objects required to win the contest.
We had arrived at the city hosting the finals by bus. But it was not a pleasant ride. The vehicle used for traveling was old and falling apart. During the trip, a hole opened in the floor of the bus, and a window broke. All in all, it took us 24 painful hours to get there.
Deprived of sleep, we arrived at the hotel and continued working on our robot. Then the inevitable happened. A bad connection to the batteries blew up most of the integrated circuits. It was over. With less than a few hours left before the finals, there was no way to recover fully. We fixed what we could, and presented a robot that only completed less than a third of the obstacle course. It was painful, but I am proud we did not quit. We went down swinging.
Do you have a story where you tried your best but things did not go your way? What did you learn from it? Let me know in the comments