An Idea for Next Year using WATER!!

[DRH2o]

Just watch
http://youtu.be/i0m8VtWesgw
http://youtu.be/e-nZeqnnEEQ

:D

We might bring these to a competition for a side competition with team members and other kids of all ages.

[evanperryg]

...How exactly does this use water? If they are water balloons, they already used balls filled with water in the 90's (pretty sure it was 1993)

[Jon Stratis]

From the video description, they are Hydraulic arms... in other words, the arms move through transferring pressure from one location (likely the controls held in the student's hands) to another (the pistons controlling the arm) using water (or another liquid) as a medium. Similar to pneumatics, except water is much less compressible than air. As a result, you don't have a big reservoir of pressure like we do with pneumatic storage tanks - instead, the pistons move when you squeeze the controls, with roughly equal volume displacements in both locations (in order to be equal, you would need a perfectly non-compressible fluid, but it's close enough)

[z_beeblebrox]

...How exactly does this use water? If they are water balloons, they already used balls filled with water in the 90's (pretty sure it was 1993)

It mentions that the arms are hydraulic.

[fb39ca4]

Did you guys design and laser cut those arms yourselves?

[s_forbes]

Neat!

Interesting that you've posted this, I've considered using water as a hydraulic fluid for a FIRST robot, but never had the chance to implement it. I wonder if it would pass inspection?

R08 is the only applicable rule I can find, but it could be debated whether or not dihydrogen monoxide is hazardous. ;)


ROBOT parts shall not be made from hazardous materials, be unsafe, cause an unsafe condition, or interfere with the operation of other ROBOTS.

[Tristan Lall]

Interesting that you've posted this, I've considered using water as a hydraulic fluid for a FIRST robot, but never had the chance to implement it. I wonder if it would pass inspection?

R08 is the only applicable rule I can find, but it could be debated whether or not dihydrogen monoxide is hazardous. ;)
In the blue box below 2013's R08, it says "Examples of items that will violate R08 include (but are not limited to)...Hydraulic fluids or hydraulic components".

I read that blue box as constraining the interpretation of R08 to specifically treat all of those things as if they are inherently unsafe (etc.), irrespective of the observed level of safety of a given mechanism at a given time.

[Jon Stratis]

The potential bad affects of a leak in a hydronic line are really what make it unsafe for FIRST robots. Water and electricity are a bad combination for a robot! Further, a leak would most likely result in "damage" to the field, forcing other matches to play through a puddle/soaked carpet. Regardless of the precautions you might take to prevent leaks, we all know anything can happen with these robots. I've seen hits bend structural frame material before, and arms accidentally get stuck inside another robot causing all sorts of damage to wiring and pneumatic tubing. If the Auto industry can't design a car that doesn't run a risk of leaking brake fluid (granted, they have gotten much better and it's not very common... But it does still happen), I doubt you can design a robot without that same risk!

In a similar way, consider this year's game. With climbing, we anticipated that many teams would want to be able to adjust their center of gravity or weight. A "clever" way to do that would be with a reservoir of sand or bb's or something similar. It seems great, but there's a huge concern for spillage. What happens when the robot takes a hit and bb's go rolling around the field? Field reset would be cleaning them up all weekend! Fortunately, I don't think we saw much of this...

[WaterClaw]

And People were afraid of the water game joke :)

[DRH2o]

Did you guys design and laser cut those arms yourselves?


No we did not this year. These were from pitsco. We are thinking about laser cutting our own designs next year. We are also going to upscale and use pneumatics and plywood over the summer just for fun. :D

The idea for next year part is a joke !!!:ahh: