Team 20: The Rocketeers - 2015 Reveal

[Angeliukm]

Team 20, The Rocketeers, would like to introduce our 2015 robot:


http://i.imgur.com/1SdbAE8.png


Reveal video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5uotzATIPg

Team 20 and Atlas will be competing at the Tech Valley Regional in week 4 and Finger Lakes in week 5; please comment with any questions you may have. Good luck to all teams at the competitions!

[Puneet4778]

Wow, looks great guys, as usual!

[IronicDeadBird]

I don't have the words to describe how amazing this is.

[TDav540]

I don't have the words to describe how amazing this is.

Impressive robot guys! :D

[NWChen]

Very cool. What are those gearboxes on your drivetrain made out of?

Just a comment, I'm surprised how closely the intake designs (polycord, BaneBots wheels, etc.) of our two teams converged:
http://i.gyazo.com/c5182052a6e0b48faaf686927d42abbc.png

[BobbyVanNess]

Very cool. What are those gearboxes on your drivetrain made out of?


They're actually VexPro clamping gearboxes set up as a two stage reduction. The cantilevered wheel shaft is similar to that of a WCD. The white covers are 3d printed housings to keep the grease in and those pesky carpet fibers out :p

[steelerborn]

Oh okay, interesting solution with the gearboxes, the housing looks really cool though. If you guys could make that with the gearbox attached to it, I could see that being sold someday.

[TheHolyHades1]

Great idea with shooting the totes!

[BobbyVanNess]

Oh okay, interesting solution with the gearboxes, the housing looks really cool though. If you guys could make that with the gearbox attached to it, I could see that being sold someday.
That's something we might look into! It probably wouldn't be feasible to have them printed in large quantities, but injection molding could be an option.
Great idea with shooting the totes!
We don't intend to have a practical use for it, however we just couldn't let FIRST break it's streak of shooting games :D

[mrnoble]

Fantastic work! Best robot I've seen so far.

[StevenB]

Can you explain the tray that slides into the robot at 1:38? It looks like something to hold a stack of totes, but it seems the arms/elevator already does that?

[orangemoore]

Can you explain the tray that slides into the robot at 1:38? It looks like something to hold a stack of totes, but it seems the arms/elevator already does that?

I wonder if it has something to do with the step?

It seems like the right height...

[MooreteP]

Best.
Endgame.
Ever.

[pagoglia]

Nice alliance possibilities. Looking forward to a close-up at Tech Valley Regional.

[Paperclips]

Can you explain the tray that slides into the robot at 1:38? It looks like something to hold a stack of totes, but it seems the arms/elevator already does that?


The tray's main function is at the human player station, where we use it to ensure that the tote will land in the orientation we want it to every time we load.

[BobbyVanNess]

Can you explain the tray that slides into the robot at 1:38? It looks like something to hold a stack of totes, but it seems the arms/elevator already does that?

It's actually used for stacking from the HP station. The totes slide in from the chute and onto the tray, similarly to how some teams use a first tote to line up for their stack. We also found some other convenient uses for it, like straightening out containers in our forklift.

edit: Audrey beat me to it :)

[Aidan H.]

Have you encountered any problems consistently strafing (driving in the direction of your forklift) with significant weight being held by the lift (3 or more totes)? I know that was a possible issue with mecanums this year, having uneven weight distribution, but I was curious as your robot would have to always strafe if you wanted to travel forward.

Great bot! And I like the tote shot (shoot? chute?).

[Kevin Leonard]

Have you encountered any problems consistently strafing (driving in the direction of your forklift) with significant weight being held by the lift (3 or more totes)? I know that was a possible issue with mecanums this year, having uneven weight distribution, but I was curious as your robot would have to always strafe if you wanted to travel forward.

Great bot! And I like the tote shot (shoot? chute?).

We have some boss programmers this year. That and the robot doesn't really need to strafe much once its carrying big stacks.

Tote shot? No, chute door.

[Sperkowsky]

The tray's main function is at the human player station, where we use it to ensure that the tote will land in the orientation we want it to every time we load.

ooooooh I like that.

[Jonathan Ryan]

As usual, a stunning robot. Well done!!!

Hope to be on the same side of the field at TVR.

See you all in a few weeks.

[Angeliukm]

Have you encountered any problems consistently strafing (driving in the direction of your forklift) with significant weight being held by the lift (3 or more totes)? I know that was a possible issue with mecanums this year, having uneven weight distribution, but I was curious as your robot would have to always strafe if you wanted to travel forward.

To elaborate on Kevin's answer, "forward" on our robot isn't the side with the forks (though the field centric drive makes the definition of front vs. side kind of blurry). We load with the robot off to the side of the the human player station and straddle the scoring platform to place stacks, so we're able to drive in the normal direction of the wheels for most of the time that we have a stack. Strafing with a stack comes into play mainly when we're lining up along the length of the scoring platform.

[ThunderousPrime]

Before I critique strategy of launching totes or this year I must congratulate 20 on another robot well done. The intake wheels are some of the most powerful I've seen and the banebot wheels were a great choice. Cant wait to see it in person at FLR.

I don't think launching totes is a viable strategy (prove me wrong if you disagree :) ) because its a risky move. If you line it up wrong or have the wrong power you run the risk of knocking over your own stack. Also it is super dangerous to launch 7.8 lb totes around and potentially outside of the field. If you miss you're going right for the scoring table and/or refs.

A brief aside: 20 has the good fortune of having a great alumni core. Even when you guys are in college you're helping your team.

[Josh Goodman]

Creative, sleek robot and mechanically simple. I can see another great year for Team 20 with Atlas at the helm. Congrats guys, looks fantastic! See you at Troy and FLR~


I don't think launching totes is a viable strategy

I don't think that was the intended strategy, as much as probably a side effect of their intake rollers. However, if week 1 regionals are any indication, it could prove beneficial if you're trying to get co-op points with litter and landfill totes in the way.

[ThunderousPrime]

I don't think that was the intended strategy, as much as probably a side effect of their intake rollers. However, if week 1 regionals are any indication, it could prove beneficial if you're trying to get co-op points with litter and landfill totes in the way.

I agree that it wasn't their intended strategy but I decided to mention it because someone responded that it might be a good idea, presumably in a match setting. My rebuttal to using that for coopertition is that if you miss and launch it over to the other side you will get a penalty for each tote you knock over. And like the end of the video shows the robot is capable of knocking the whole coop stack to the other side. Its painful to think about 4 potential penalties for that. :(

[Paperclips]

I don't think that was the intended strategy, as much as probably a side effect of their intake rollers.
We will most likely not be doing this in competition, as Josh said it's really just a fun side effect of having a strong collector.

[MaestroRoboto]

The power of the intake rollers was an interesting surprise, a few ideas have popped up for some potential auto uses :D

[Jean Tenca]

Very cool robot! I'm excited to see more of that tray in action. Best of luck this season! :D