pic: Team 1339's Angelbot 2012

[mrnoble]

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[Drivencrazy]

Looks really sweet! I love smoked polycarb. Can you give some overall dimensions? It looks like a long base but it looks shorter than 38. And how are you planning on mounting your bumpers? Those wheels are really close together.

[Andrew Bates]

How much did you drop the center wheel by?

[MattC9]

How do you plan on attaching the bumpers?

[ChristopherSD]

If I assumed you aren't going over the bump, would I be correct?

[lscime]

It is kind of hard to tell where your frame perimeter is situated because you don't have bumpers on (how are you going to mount bumpers by the way?) but it looks like your ball lift mechanism's rollers might extend past the frame perimeter which would be illegal.

Hopefully you guys have already thought of this and I'm just seeing things wrong.

[Garten Haeska]

Does your arm push down the bridge because we are having trouble with two window motors getting it to push down 16lbs..

[Justin Montois]

It looks really cool.

Like others have said i'm concerned about the bumpers and make sure you test it on carpet.

[JosephC]

I don't see any conceivable way for you to mount your bumpers.

[Sean Raia]

Can someone explain how they are getting a ball from the hopper to the turret?

[mrnoble]

Hi everybody. Let's see if I can answer all your questions...

*It is indeed a longish wheelbase, at 31 inches. Full dimensions with bumper standoffs is 27 1/2" x 34" x 59".

*We are going over the bump, as the 10" wheels give it lots of cushion. It's pretty fun to watch, like a monster truck rally.

*The bumper standoffs are not shown in the photo. We CAD'ed the whole thing and cut it out on a CNC router, including the standoffs, which are kind of like old flare-side truck fenders. The standoffs also extend the front and back, and give it the requisite 8" of support across the front. The sides and back are completely supported.

*The ball drops onto a lead-screw piston, which lifts it into the shooter. Originally we were going for a full rotary piston (like a steam train wheel mixed with an internal combustion engine) but it was too unreliable. The lead screw moves it up directly into the shooter. We did this so we would have consistent loading as the shooter rotates about 200 degrees on the turntable.

*The center wheel has a 1/4" drop. The frame is heavily modified nanotubes. It drives on carpet really well, which was a big surprise, as we've used the tank drive for years and have always had trouble with turning without slick wheels. It has a 0' turn radius and the drive team has gotten enough practice in that they have good control.

*The arm is pushing down the bridge well enough, though I have seen several people say it wasn't working well on theirs, and I'm wondering if our practice bridge might be a little loose compared to the real thing. We'll see, I guess.

*One of our sponsors is a plastics company, and we really took advantage of their specials bin this year. It is .175" smoked polycarb and 1" polystyrene (hollowed out to 1/4"). It is our first plastic bot, and I think it is pretty awesome so far. If it works well in competition, there is no way we are going back to metal or wood.

Thanks!

[mrnoble]

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