CADathon 2015 Challenge

[KohKohPuffs]

The challenge: Football Fury (I'm very good at names :p )

"Game manual" can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PIuxQPDYPpfEuoi5hWNfqdiSQRPFnRtqOAUjuF5n97U/edit?usp=sharing

CAD to the field can be found here: https://workbench.grabcad.com/workbench/projects/gcOrQXD8gG-0fEKFlFrEEjeLPsWXSzkd4RXLAdyfE6qh7b#/space/gcnPDU5h62Ri-f0n2xTtS9ISkckCP1YNrb0_DhFP5LB381

Rules:

Premade CAD models are unusable. Exceptions include VexPro Versaplanetaries, etc.
Distribute work among each other evenly.
Use gracious professionalism; people from different teams are going to be participating with you


Other things:

Watch out for some software conflicts. For the Autodesk users especially (I do not have anything against Autodesk), I screwed up a bit and some people are using different years for the software. You can choose to swap out members between the two Autodesk groups, or work out a decent solution
If someone plans on coming in at a later time or is leaving early, be sure to have a plan for when that person is out
Although I said 10am-9pm PST, feel free to take breaks for food, bathroom, stretching, etc.
At the very end, we might have a joint Google Hangout to discuss our ideas. Just wondering if anyone is down for that

[OrionBelt]

Quick question. Are the footballs neutral, similar to ultimate ascent, or are they team exclusive, such as in aerial assist?

[KohKohPuffs]

Quick question. Are the footballs neutral, similar to ultimate ascent, or are they team exclusive, such as in aerial assist?

Sorry if I didn't make that clear: they are team exclusive. I really thought of this to be a design challenge, so I left a lot of things out

[DesignComp]

Sorry if I didn't make that clear: they are team exclusive. I really thought of this to be a design challenge, so I left a lot of things out

Unfortunately it's not that easy. ;)

[Torrance]

What happens if you miss and the football goes off the field? Is it like 2013 where no one can use it again? Or 2014 where the field reset crew will carry it back to your alliance wall?

Thanks!
Andrew Torrance
Team 3

[Chris is me]

I might draw a simple robot for this over the next few days out of sheer boredom. Just to be clear:

- Does the 3 balls per alliance on the field rule apply in auton? I.e. if I preload 1 ball and have 1 ball touch my robot, does that mean the rest of my alliance only receives one ball in autonomous?
- Balancing on the step = not touching any other part of the field?
- If balls are recycled does that basically mean an alliance has infinite game pieces as long as only 3 are on the field at a time (similar to 2014 and the ball)?

What happens if you miss and the football goes off the field? Is it like 2013 where no one can use it again? Or 2014 where the field reset crew will carry it back to your alliance wall?

Thanks!
Andrew Torrance
Team 3

For what it's worth, in 2013 Frisbees were placed on the field by volunteers if ejected. I would assume something similar to that unless otherwise stated.

[BenGuy]

Is there a livestream?

[Sperkowsky]

So its over and our alliance is done. What do we do now?

[Munchskull]

it is over. now what?

[orangemoore]

it is over. now what?

+1

[DanielPlotas]

it is over. now what?
He said in the google docs page:
I was thinking about having a mass google hangout, but I think we should call it a day; some things didn't work out, etc. Just remember to upload all your work to grabCAD

I guess we're doing it tomorrow?

[thatprogrammer]

If koh koh is okay with it, can we see the designs in this thread? Curious to see what the designs where.

[Roboshant]

[URL="https://grabcad.com/library/frc-cadathon-football-frenzy-defense-basic-bot-1"]I was by myself in group 4, and built a defense robot. I was going to use a shooting mechanism from another team on our alliance, but didn't get the time. It is primarily meant to be on the side opposite of the driver, and block the other team from scoring. It can also "wrap" around the flag base (at least the front) to prevent the team from scoring up to 40 for raising the flag.
(Note this is a work in progress)

[thatprogrammer]

[URL="https://grabcad.com/library/frc-cadathon-football-frenzy-defense-basic-bot-1"]I was by myself in group 4, and built a defense robot. I was going to use a shooting mechanism from another team on our alliance, but didn't get the time. It is primarily meant to be on the side opposite of the driver, and block the other team from scoring. It can also "wrap" around the flag base (at least the front) to prevent the team from scoring up to 40 for raising the flag.
(Note this is a work in progress)

Can you posted an image? 3d viewer isn't working for me .

[Roboshant]

Yeah, unfortunately when I exported a lot of my parts were lost for some reason

[Roboshant]

Basically this, still missing some parts though.

[asid61]

It took us a while, but we got it done!
The team was made up of Anthony Cardinali, Roger Moore, and myself. We were one of the two teams focusing on making an entire alliance to play in Elims. We wanted a team that would be able to take on Einstein-caliber robots, and based our strategy around that goal.

Strategy

We made two types of robots; Full-Court (FC) and Cleaner. One FC would be able to wedge itself into a corner and do full court shots all day, while the two Cleaners would pick up and score any fallen footballs
Here is the strategy we came up with:
1. Auton
-The two Cleaners would start next to the middle zone and take two shots, then move to the auton zone. The FC would move to the auton zone and wedge itself next to the HP station and take a shot thereafter.

2. Teleop
-The two Cleaners move immediately to the opposing auton zone after getting footballs at an HP station if possible. They then focus on stopping opponents from getting to their HP stations while picking up and shooting any missed FC shots. The FC takes full-court shots until the end of the match.

3. Endgame
-The FC continues shooting. The one Cleaner (or both, if necessary) go back to their zone to raise the flag. If there is heavy defense, they focus on stopping the single opponent for the last 20 seconds.

Features of each robot

The FC has mecanum wheels to maneuver into the corner easily. It is long enough to wedge itself into the corner but still allow for HP loading. The shooter is powered by 2 CIMs spinning urethane wheels fast enough for a double-length field full-court shot. The shooter was supposed to be farther back to prevent defense, but we ran out of time to implement that properly. Presumably something that folds out could also work well for that task.
Footballs are actuated into the shooter wheels with two pneumatic cylinders. We did not have time to add an actuated "hood" over the shooter to stabilize the football after loading.
The whole robot is around 65lbs with electronics, so plenty of space for more power or features.
Features to add would include the shooter hood to clamp down on footballs, an improved HP loader, a taller/higher shooter (and an elevator with it), and a shorter time-to-shot (to be faster than the HP can load, ideally).

The Cleaners are equipped with a 10WD made for crossing the bump. AM performance wheels and blue nitrile tread in the middle act as a dropped center, colson wheels provide some traction on the outside, and omni wheels on the corners allow for easy turning. The center wheels can be swapped for a colson if the dropped center isn't working out. They also have intakes that can pick up a fooball in any orientation. The intake tilts up to aid a polycord elevator (they act as two walls of it) to put the footballs into a shooter. The shooter is the same as the FC's, and is also missing the hood to stabilize the ball. It is tilted as such an angle that we can make shots as close as 4-5 feet away from the goal.
There are two WCP PTO gearboxes, but we were not able to properly implement the PTO. Instead, a 775pro going through a Versaplanetary powers the spinner, which is made to fit into the mating gripper on the flag pulley. We would most likely forgo using it during an eliminations match, as it is worth more points to go for full-court shots or just play defense while the FC scores; it's too hard to raise the flag uninterrupted for both sides.
The Cleaners weigh 70lbs without electronics (perhaps 85ish with?), so there is space for more stuff.

Features to add would include a way to load from the HP station, a 4-sided elevator to replace the a double-duty intake, the clamping hood for the shooter, and a better way to raise the flag. Also adding the bottom half of the polycord pulleys; the top half is there (hidden behind the curved hood), we just forgot to add a shaft with pulleys on it on the bottom. We also appear to have forgotten to add the motor to the intake. Again, all the sprockets and even a mounting hole for the gearbox is there, but we forgot to add it.

CAD is available here: https://workbench.grabcad.com/workbench/projects/gc75d8zREmTaiMvXu4KObYSwCun_wWI9pPaD3ig7y-RWu_#/space/gcKIez3jBoh7Iv4eeF45ZbnpTahme7fiK7tC5bgRH65eR2

Pictured are two Cleaners and the FC.
http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj508/asid61/Robots%20on%20field_zpstzrtr6oj.jpg (http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/asid61/media/Robots%20on%20field_zpstzrtr6oj.jpg.html)

Click on the photo and click on the magnifying glass to view a higher-res photo. The intakes on the Cleaners are asymmetrical due to Solidworks mirroring problems.

[DesignComp]

Strategy


Woah, you guys went ham. We just read the rules and saw nothing against humans being on the field, so we just decided to use people instead of robots and spent the rest of the day playing Mario Kart.

[Sperkowsky]

Basically this, still missing some parts though.
That's basically mine except mine has a little more support.

[Roboshant]

Woah, you guys went ham. We just read the rules and saw nothing against humans being on the field, so we just decided to use people instead of robots and spent the rest of the day playing Mario Kart.
Lol, you do realize all the humans you use must be under 5ft tall...

[thatprogrammer]

Lol, you do realize all the humans you use must be under 5ft tall...
The humans don't fall under robot rules. They're still drive team, the rules just didn't say drive team can't enter the field. :p

[DanielPlotas]

My team decided to do two full court shooters and a defender, but when we noticed that only three balls were allowed on the field we needed a defender that could score. I didn't really want to make a shooter, so instead I made a puncher.https://i.gyazo.com/ed3468b424ff7279a3a532541e9d673c.jpg
Sorry its a little big.

[Sperkowsky]

I'm also on Daniels team and I made the defender

https://gyazo.com/b844587c84da653c90dc42d9b055f802

Simple but works at 60" tall it will block pretty much every bot.

[KohKohPuffs]

Conclusion

I wouldn't say that the event was a total failure, but obviously there were some holes that affected the experience.

First, here's a list that went right:

For many people, this became a learning experience, as they had to make something in a limited amount of time, and it also pushed themselves to make things they never did before, for instance I was really surprised by asid61's render of all three bots
The event was also an opportunity to connect with people from different teams.


Now things that went wrong:

The "game manual"... well... it had a lot of missing elements. So much that you don't even need robots to win. There were also a lot of things unclear about the game
Naming conventions: My group had a parts number, but with file paths, the folder name had to be the same for all members, and that was an issue for a bit
The game didn't have a low goal option
Software conflicts wasn't a problem as much, but there was one group where they had the same software, but different versions, and that could've been fixed very easily.


Despite these things, I still plan to do another one of these during the summer, and I have a few ideas in mind that could make this better:

Not designing the challenge alone
Make it a multi-day event, so that there's more time to elaborate on some parts, and so that in case someone can't make it on one day, there's always the following day.
Make a better game :D . Perhaps even start now in designing a game


Thank you to everyone for participating, and let's hope to make the next one better!