Team 2485 unveils "Odin"

[mkausas]

Team 2485, the W.A.R. Lords, present "Odin". Odin will be competing at the San Diego Regional and Las Vegas Regional. Good luck to all and we can't wait to see you at the competition!

Unveil Link:
http://goo.gl/vXeifZ

https://scontent-a-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t31/q71/s720x720/1907791_773544739340716_164392669_o.jpg

[joelg236]

This seriously impressed me.

[Mr. Lim]

This seriously impressed me.

Ditto.

[connor.worley]

When are you guys coming over to practice assists? :P

[mkausas]

This seriously impressed me.

Ditto.

Thank you all for the compliments! We are so excited to make 2014 the best season we have ever had!

[Chowmaster4695]

So what was the reasing for having the intake pivot be very high, instead of at the base like many other teams did? Also is that wrapped carbon fiber over the aluminum?

[mkausas]

So what was the reasing for having the intake pivot be very high, instead of at the base like many other teams did? Also is that wrapped carbon fiber over the aluminum?

We wanted the pivot point to be high because we initially wanted to be able to bring it all the way over to help trap the ball and keep possession while moving at high speeds, and yes, the carbon is wrapped around 1/16 aluminum. This makes the bars wrapped with carbon lighter while retaining the strength of 1/8 inch thick aluminum used by most teams.

[Chowmaster4695]

Have you guys looked at vacuum technology to retain the ball while moving? It works fairly well. Do you know how much weight is saved by having wrapped 1/16" over 1/8" bars. I would love to see the math your team has done for the strength calc on the wrapped aluminum.

[mkausas]

Have you guys looked at vacuum technology to retain the ball while moving? It works fairly well. Do you know how much weight is saved by having wrapped 1/16" over 1/8" bars. I would love to see the math your team has done for the strength calc on the wrapped aluminum.

Believe it or not we have tried using vacuums in the past. On our 2010 robot, we used a vacuum system to possess the balls before we kicked them into the goal. It was a big mess, so we have tried to avoid it in games since. The ball actually sits very well in the catapult's "shoes" anyway so the arm rarely needs to go all the way around except for passing the ball to another robot. As for the carbon fiber, we conducted several tests using SolidWorks simulation software and found both the tensile strength and the yield strength to be improved, and as we wanted to save weight for a catching mechanism, we decided to put the extra work into applying carbon to our robot's frame and arm members. We did a comparison of the carboned members and the non carboned members afterward, the two A-frame masts weighed about 1.5 pounds less than the non carboned 1/8 inch bars, and the arm was about 2 pounds less. The robot has held up just as we expected it to. Through bumps and bruises, the carboned members have shown no sign of breaking or warping. Overall though, we understand that it was not totally necessary to achieve the result we wanted. We have been using carbon on our robots for several years now, and consider it to be a sort of trademark of our team that sets us apart. We simply think that it's sexier than plain or milled aluminum.

[mplanchard]

Thank you for sharing. Great use of SolidWorks Simulation with Carbon Fiber material selection. Well done. Marie