IRI 2012: Robots to See

[JVN]

So I've been out of pocket for most of the year, and as such haven't seen a whole lot of machines. I'm going to IRI in a few weeks. I geek out about well engineered robots.

Which robots should I be poking my head into at IRI?
What particular robots/features did you think were especially well engineered this season?

Discuss. :)

-John

[techtiger1]

341 254,1114,cybertooth, 2056,233,973,33,67,16,71. These all have certain great aspects about them. 67 with the utility arm, 33 with the stinger concept,16's swerve drive, and 233's intake are the ones that standout in my opinion.

[BJC]

Hey John,

I would suggest:

-1717's shooter, unique ball serializing system, and swerve drive
-469's caster drivetrain and low-pivoting high-constrained turret
-67's window motor shifter and ball collector (it's pretty slick)
-548's use of carbon fiber tubing.
-118's very cool scissor delivery system and custom wheels
-1114's ball delivery system (pneumatic) and drive frame construction.
-2056's collector and adjustable hood (the hood's delightfully simple.)
-111's articulating ball lift to mechanically sequence balls (rather than with programing.)
-16's catapult (ask about the load cell.)

That's all I have off the top of my head.
Cheers, Bryan

[IKE]

My selection will have a noted midwest bias.

Check out the flinger on 829 or 3940? It is a really neat, unique, and functional mechanism.

67- Need I really say more? Overall, the white paper does a nice job covering the design philosophy, but they have a ton of neat minor mechanisms to check out. Shiters, ball management, arm ride hegith control.

548. I personally love to watch this robot play the game. Their packaging and CG placement is one of their bigger "hidden assets". You may recognize many of their arm elements from some other big armed monsters...
330. See above but with a noted BB style.

1714- I just love what these guys put out each year. Yes, it is a bit of a gimmick, but it works for me.

1732- Chute Shooter. The only team I have seen do what a former world champion was not able to do successfully.

[CalTran]

[QUOTE=BJC;1176163-1717's shooter, unique ball serializing system, and swerve drive[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately, d'Penguineers aren't attending IRI. Instead, for a superb swerve drive, I would suggest taking a look at the competition Emperor Swerve on 973.

I would also take a peek at 1730, and local bias aside, their robot is seriously cool. With their innovative sliding turret, it is a unique solution to precision balance.

As well, I'd take a peek at 4334. While their robot is amazingly KISS, from posts (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106239) on here their team has made, their team has a lot of values most teams take on their 3rd or 4th season. Talk to them about what they've learned, and you might even learn a thing or two.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Definitely be sure to see 67's all-purpose arm, perhaps one of the most useful parts of a robot that I've seen all year. Also be sure to watch how accurate some of the sharpshooters there are, it's amazing how deadly they can be from the key (some examples of these shooters are 341, 1114, 2056, and many, many, more) Also pay attention to some of the interesting ball intakes, such as 233 and 16. All of the robots there have something interesting about them that made them as good as they are, so try to find the best part of each robot.

[BJC]

Unfortunately, d'Penguineers aren't attending IRI. Instead, for a superb swerve drive, I would suggest taking a look at the competition Emperor Swerve on 973.

You're correct, of course. I'll change that one to:
-68's shooter. It has belts to feed it after the ball passes through the turret ring for consistant shooting.
-973's everything as others have said. That robot is really well-engineered all around and all aspects of it that I have seen impress me.

[LeelandS]

Here's a list of robots I'd recommend looking at:

973 - Swerve drive, a unique intake system, a rotating tower shooter... I love 973's machine. From top to bottom, I love every part, and I wish I could take a close look at it myself.

67 - HOT did not fail in their long standing tradition of engineering kick-bot robots. The robot may not look terrifying, but their utility arm is a piece of engineering excellence, and they've put out an amazing robot without going overboard in anyway. They've also put together "on-the-fly" shifting without the need for pneumatics. An amazing robot all over.

48 - Delphi E.L.I.T.E.'s machines never fail to disappoint. The "Arm-ish" shooter on this robot gives it amazing scoring ability, as well as acting in several different tasks.

548 - One of the best non-traditional shooters this year. 548's arm sets them up for great lay-up shots, but now they've also added key shooting to their arsenal. This robot has several other design facets that I wish I could look at, mostly revolving around their arm and "shooter".

254 - "Skyfire", as it has been named, is a very well engineered robot. A simple drive system, simple arm, simple shooter, all combined into a great machine. They have also developed a "pop-up" drive system to help them get over the bump. The programming on this robot is also a marvel, having made ASTOUNDING use of the K'nect station.

971 - 971's "Renegade" machine is a mechanic marvel. Boasting a uniquely engineered tower and a lightening quick elevation system, I'd love to just spend a while taking the robot apart just to understand how everything goes together in there. Pay special attention to how the ball gets into the tower.

Those are the notable ones I'd recommend.
Other robots I'd recommend looking at:

1114
2056
341
469
33

[akoscielski3]

Unfortunately, d'Penguineers aren't attending IRI. Instead, for a superb swerve drive, I would suggest taking a look at the competition Emperor Swerve on 973.

I would also take a peek at 1730, and local bias aside, their robot is seriously cool. With their innovative sliding turret, it is a unique solution to precision balance.

As well, I'd take a peek at 4334. While their robot is amazingly KISS, from posts (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106239) on here their team has made, their team has a lot of values most teams take on their 3rd or 4th season. Talk to them about what they've learned, and you might even learn a thing or two.


If only they were... :(

1730's design is just simply amazing that they could pull that off. I LOVE THEIR BOT. As soon as I saw the video i was in aw. here is their video for you JVN (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_7ljqbIdi8)

4334, OH MY GOD! They are the next 2056 IMO. Always keeping it simple. These guys kept KISS and the thing Karthik always says (build to your resources, I would rather have a robot that does 1 thing PERFECT than a robot that can do everything terribly). They can deliver like no tomorrow and make balancing look like something beautiful.

[Chris is me]

If you have to pick just one, pick HOT. The machine is beautiful, creative, and excellent. I had the pleasure of witnessing a mini-demonstration by HOT students on Saturday afternoon, and their machine is excellent down to every last detail.

The 829 / 3940 "fling-a-pult" mechanism is a really cool mechanical solution to the problems with ball compression and density variations.

2168 has a simple-but-deadly robot with some neat sheetmetal work.

33 is absolutely phenomenal from an engineering perspective.

[Gdeaver]

At IRI while your walking the isles, remember in January we were all given the same rules and documentation. It's really interesting to see how varied the engineering solutions are to the same problem.

[Dchandlerk]

I'm becoming increasingly excited to be a field reset at this event. Although I'll probably be drooling over every robot there:yikes:, a few that I especially want to see in person are: 67, 148, 254, 341, 359, 447, 548, 1114, 1538, 1730, 2056, 2590, 2826, 3322, 3357, 4334, and last but definitely not least 33.

[akoscielski3]

Im just gonna list a few that I was surprised no one has mentioned:
234
3138
48
25
217
399
340 (definitely best dunker this year)
2054


Feel free to stop by our pit JVN, we wont be doing a lot I think :)

[NickE]

254 - "Skyfire", as it has been named, is a very well engineered robot. A simple drive system, simple arm, simple shooter, all combined into a great machine. They have also developed a "pop-up" drive system to help them get over the bump. The programming on this robot is also a marvel, having made ASTOUNDING use of the K'nect station.Thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately, 254 will not be making the trip to Indiana this year.

[ratdude747]

I'd Honestly say to look at every bot if you can. Sometimes the most least-known bots have the most interesting features. If time is limited, I agree with the current suggestions.

[JohnSchneider]

As your next door neighbors we'd really like if you would come over and give us some pointers on sheet metal - it was our first year venturing into pure sheet constuction, and any insight is accepted.

[Akash Rastogi]

I would echo 2826. Beautiful robot.

[Peyton Yeung]

3940 is a beautifully simple bot. It's a rookie team that built within their means and their designs have helped many of us Indiana (and possibly some Michigan teams) this season. How often do you get to the end of build season and you have to add 20+ lbs of dead weight to your robot to equal everyone else. Plus it's purple :)

[Redo91]

I would suggest asking 3310 about their drive train fix they made at their first regional this past year

[nuggetsyl]

Im just gonna list a few that I was surprised no one has mentioned:
234
3138
48
25
217
399
340 (definitely best dunker this year)
2054


Feel free to stop by our pit JVN, we wont be doing a lot I think :)
We tried hard to raise the money to go but we just could not do it. 25 had to bow out. My money is on 341 go get them daisy.

[Bryce Paputa]

We (503) have a pretty cool octo-mecanum drivetrain, it allows us to switch from mecanums to traction wheels and back with the push of a button.

[MechEng83]

We (503) have a pretty cool octo-mecanum drivetrain, it allows us to switch from mecanums to traction wheels and back with the push of a button.

1741 has a similar drive train. Maybe we can compare notes at IRI!

[Akash Rastogi]

After seeing this today, I really wish I was able to check out 829.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGk3NXv5hRo&feature=plcp&context=C4678318VDvjVQa1PpcFNJIbHmwVrvcsUmN11jAMN2 H9Lx5gWZbvg%3D

[Ekcrbe]

-68's shooter. It has belts to feed it after the ball passes through the turret ring for consistant shooting.

Sorry I'm so late (been on vacation), but I would be remiss if I didn't correct you here, and pass the compliments to Team 111 for (I think) actually doing what you described.

I wish we had a turret, but we don't. The fact that our shooter sits on a sprocket is apparently very deceiving to people. (Up close, the lack of chain or a motor and the presence of wires running between the teeth are dead giveaways) The shooter retains that sprocket because it works as a base plate just as well as anything else, and nobody could see any reason to replace it after the rotating turret idea was abandoned (at a competition nonetheless). For the rest of the competition season, the shooter sat on its sprocket, on its bearing, with a humble bolt scratched into--not even drilled through!--the mounting bracket to keep the whole assembly facing straight. After the World Championship, we retired the bearing and replaced it with 1x1 tube to maintain the same height, but the sprocket lives on!

To correct the rest of what you said, the real purpose of the bands is to increase firing rate, not maintain consistency (but we do have consistency measures). These are also a product of the post-build season, because the original plan called for the ball to be carried against a curved plate for something like 90 degrees by a dinky little Vex motor. You could take a nap between shots. The bands significantly shorten the distance the ball contacts those Vex wheels, effectively extending the shooter wheels downward.

P.S. I'm sorry for all the side notes and surprised that our shooter would get mention (even false mention) over all others.
P.P.S. I'm also sorry that your correction is incorrect.