How-To: Color Run Preparation

This page was made in 2016 as a guide for future team members on how to shoot flour safely and creatively at school-organized Color Runs.

Before the Event

Prep the T-Shirt robot as one would for the football game i.e. have charged batteries, full air tanks, etc
If possible, talk with the planning team sooner than the night before to determine how often you will be shooting (ex: at the start of the run, throughout the run, at the end of the run)
Make sure a battery is charged the night before (or multiple if you will be shooting the entire time!)
Gather a team with a solid ratio of rookies and experienced members who understand the robot (At least one experienced, with like 2-3 rookies, then add experienced members as wanted because two is optimal)
Find something to push the color out of the cannon, place these in the cannon before you toss in the color. (rolled up rags work really well, but coffee filters or cardboard circles work too)
Make plans to arrive at least 45 minutes before the start of the event if the robot is already staged/ready to go upstairs

Meet up with your team and get robot outside to the track where the ridge run will be taking place
Have one responsible person talk/coordinate with the color run planners. They need to know you are there and you need to know what they want from you.
Ridge Run will give you some color- as long as you are shooting only at the beginning and end, you shouldn't need the entire giant bag. Therefore, use a little and return it to a volunteer color thrower.
Using a cup or some sort of scooping utility (generally provided) get the color in the robot, and try not to miss the tubes (You will get messy, it is okay)
Position the robot at the start (or wherever they want you), but not on the grass because the wheels will not work well there
If shooting at the start, shoot each of the four one at a time while all of the runners progress by
Repeat as needed/desired by the color run people

The robot will be very, very messy (Scientists are still out on how to keep color out of the robot)
Compressed air is okay to clean it out, but a damp paper towel should work too