[hooby]

"Rapid Unstructured Energy Dissipation" is a nice euphemism for the robot crashing into pieces...

but I really feel there's a missed opportunity there, to come up with something that abbreviates to "S.P.L.A.T." rather then "R.U.E.D." ;)

[promiseofbeans]

- Sudden Parts Loss And Tearing

- Spontaneous Pieces Leaving And Tumbling

- Surprising Pieces Launching And Toppling

[kayodelycaon]

Lithobraking is a favorite of mine.

[flkiwi]

Spontaneous Proximate Lithobrake Acceleration Termination.

[stritafarm]

Rapid Unstructured Dissipation of Energy

RUDE

[frabert]

see also: Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly

or, from the Kerbal Space Program fanbase: lithobraking (as opposed to aerobraking)

[perilunar]

Lithobraking can actually work if the approach angle and speed is low enough. Ever seen an aeroplane make a wheels up landing?

[hooby]

when I made my drivers license, you were still taught that if all your breaks fail and there's no way to stop car, you should use "body braking" - i.e. use the friction of scraping your car's side against something, preferably a wall - to get to a stop

[hnbad]

I'm not sure if I was taught this specifically in driver's ed but yes, I also learned that if all else fails the best approach is to hit the guard rail at a tight angle and keep steering into it until the car stops. It will total the car but it might save someone's life.

[hooby]

might save your own life as well

[mrguyorama]

I believe NASA has actually used "lithobraking" in an official capacity at some point.

[DylanSp]

Observed Hazardous Spontaneous High Impact Terminations.

[lupire]

Mission ended with Bits Outside Original Mechanism