extra robot

[Solace]

Just for the record, how many teams out there are building a spare robot for tweaking, autonomous, and driver training before the competitions start?

[David Lantz]

Fortunately our team was able to get all of the autonomous mode finished before we shipped. (which involved one very late night of almost falling asleep every 5 min. :D ). We don't have enough funds to build an additional practice bot but we were able to practice before hand.

[Solace]

if anyone did build an extra bot, tell us how much experience their team has

[Rick]

i actually laughed when i read the last option. thats some funny stuff solace.

[Rob Colatutto]

LOL no offense....but LOL. i think thats a little far.... i know they do make a new robot every year and they have pride in thier chassis.

but no, we never have made an extra robot. we always talk about doing it but barely have time to make our first one so it never gets made

[Chubtoad]

We usually make a prototype, and try a few things on there, then we make the final bot, ship that then we go and remake some of the stuff and put iton the prototype and use thatas our practice bot. Last year we had one almost exactly like the final one, but this year I think we're just building the chassis, not our other functions.

Actually our base for this year came from a summer bot we built two summers ago. We thought it would be good for last year, but when they revealedthe game, it was very apparent it woudl have been useless, however for this year's comp it was perfect. So we have some practice with our chassis design already, but this one has more power... so whatI'msaying is... umm.... I talk too much... someone stop me.....

[Solace]

Originally posted by Nataku
LOL no offense....but LOL. i think thats a little far.... i know they do make a new robot every year and they have pride in thier chassis.

but no, we never have made an extra robot. we always talk about doing it but barely have time to make our first one so it never gets made

Hey I'm not being mean to RAGE! Actually, they're our mentor team.

I think they actually do have 6 robots. One is the one they shipped, one's the backup, and they have four old ones lying around (they haven't beeen retrofitted though, and i don't think that all of them are working).

But hey, you have to hand it to 'em - the design does work.

[evulish]

We have 7 bots. One is our current. Two are running (which have both been partially retro-fitted) and 4 have been scrapped for parts and are in the renovation process.

7, not 6 bots :) i forgot one...

[J Flex 188]

We used Blizzard 3 to test the treads for the different grips on the carpet, mesh, and to see whether or not there would be any spin on the ramp when pressure is being applied etc.

Hehe.. also used blizzard 3 to experiment with different ideas for arms, pushers, etc.. just attaching stuff with tape and seeing how the bins react.. and used another robot to simulate a match

[Bruce C.]

Last year (our second year) we made an almost exact duplicate second robot called "shadowbot." All the fabricated parts, mechanisms, motor mounts, etc. were fabricated during the regular build season so that we could qualify them as spare parts if we needed them at the competition (we didn't). It was assembled in the two weeks after ship date, almost entirely by the students, with very little engineering mentor support, and a very fine job they did. It was so identical that the only thing different between the two 'bots that I can think of was the air pressure switch was different, and needed slightly different code to control the compressor.

Shadowbot was invaluabe for trainning drivers while waiting the six weeks until our regional. It also did a lot of PR and fundraising duty. We took it to the Lone Star regional, where it was parked next to our pit as a spare parts source. The judges and refs queried us as to when we fabbed the parts and built the 'bot, and were cool with it.

We plan to build a shadowbot of this years design, but I don't know. There are still some critical, hard to get parts that aren't here yet, and time is growing short. I doubt that we get to build anything as identical as last years system, but something close is better than nothing.

Oh yeah, it helps to have an adequate budget and happy sponsors.

[Solace]

We have been using last years robot for fundraising presentations, but by now it is so battered that there are literally pieces of it falling off. Since we now have two for this year, we'll hopefully have at least one still intact by the end of this year's season.

[dddriveman]

We just use our EDUbot (Team979)

[Solace]

You can knock down the wall with your edurobot?!?!?

just kidding.


[mindless rant]
I got bored after school waiting for my ride last week so I began contemplating edurobot designs. Give me a two weeks and I might just make an edurobot with a swivel drive. now wouldn't that be cool?
[/mindless rant]

[Joel J]

Originally posted by Solace
Hey I'm not being mean to RAGE! Actually, they're our mentor team.

I think they actually do have 6 robots. One is the one they shipped, one's the backup, and they have four old ones lying around (they haven't beeen retrofitted though, and i don't think that all of them are working).

But hey, you have to hand it to 'em - the design does work. We have 8 robots at our "practice facility" at this time. The list: [list=1] 1996 (red base, arm) 1999 (red base, arm) 2000 (red base, arm, basket) 2000 Evil Twin (red base, messed up arm thats no longer attached) 2001 (find some speed controllers and an innovationFIRST controller and this thing will move) 2001 Evil Twin (just an arm, the base mysteriously dissapeared--so it doesn't count) 2002 (still moves--I will hurt the person that ever breaks it) 2002 Evil Twin (still moves--replaced basket with this year's "hands") 2003 Evil Twin (doesn't move.. yet)[/list=1]Technically, based on what our team leader told me, we have the rest of our robots elsewhere, with the exception of the one entered into the 1995 competition. Since we have painted our base red every year but one, everyone should recognize us at the competitions now--just look for the red base, people!

[Solace]

correction accepted

Actually, through some fluke of the paint shop (they always have their own interpretation of what a color is), our robot at first glance looks extremely similar to RAGE's bot....

And no, we were NOT intending to steal your glory

[MBurr-Mecum]

You forgot to mention that the other reason our chassis looks exactly like RAGE's is that it IS their chassis, which they taught us how to build two years ago, with a few alterations, and is therefore one of the few around made of plywood.

The best part of using the old, battered robot for fundraising presentations was watching our coach chase it around the room trying to hold one of the drill motors in gear when it wouldn't stay.

[Pierson]

We will be building a modified second robot... Modified because it always works better than the shipped one. Oh well, we use the re-building skills when we get to the regional to tweak a few things.

[Solace]

Originally posted by MBurr-Mecum
You forgot to mention that the other reason our chassis looks exactly like RAGE's is that it IS their chassis, which they taught us how to build two years ago, with a few alterations, and is therefore one of the few around made of plywood.

The best part of using the old, battered robot for fundraising presentations was watching our coach chase it around the room trying to hold one of the drill motors in gear when it wouldn't stay.

not so much this year as in years past though...

[Koko Ed]

We built an extra bot this year for driver training and practice. The 2001 bot makes a good practice bot as well (a little too tall to go under the bar though).

[157#1Driver]

If your counting past years like you did with RAGE, then the AZTECHS have atleast 9. We might have a few more some where:D

[Katie Reynolds]

We just use old robots to test stuff for the current year. TOBOR II was the "prototype" for TOBOR V ... TOBOR V was the "prototype" for TOBOR VI ... It all works. It's nice, because we can use the old 'bots that we prototyped on for practice after ship. And we don't have to spend extra money to do it, either! :D

- Katie

[EvilInside]

Well, umm, we never had a second bot. For some reason my team doesn't do much after the build season till the competition. . . grrrrr. . . .

[marlon_jbt]

Our plans were to build a second 'bot, for:

1. Backup parts
2. Practice!!!
3. Bragging Rights

But we ran out of money, and most importantly, TIME. Last year, we built two, but last year's 'bot was simple in design, and didn't take long to build, and most importantly, we had the money to do it.

Since this is my rookie year, I'm just going by what I heard...

[Clark Gilbert]

Hmm...i think we have somewhere around 10 robots. The 2000 and 2001 robot get heavy usage by rookie teams in the state of Indiana for testing. Our 99 robot arm became part of a community project, and the drive base made an appearance at IRI a few years back.

This year we do have an extra drive base in a way. ;)

[narenr]

We build a prototype bot also. I was very glad to finally find another team (271) who does this as well. Unfortuantely, what usually happens is that all the parts for it get stripped and put on the final bot. THis year, tho, we get to keep a proto bot and play around with it. Its ugly, but it drives.

[PMGRACER]

This year, we decided early that we needed a second 'Bot to develope and test programing as well as drive practice. So as we started building the arm, we made 2 complete sets of everything for the turret and arm. Instead of building a new chasis, we just recreated last year's chasis. Extrusion is a wondrful prototypeing tool!! We called the rebuilt version "The Redeemer", because in It looks 100 % better than it did a week ago! Heck, aside from using the old Boch motors and the 883 Victors, she would be legal this year!! Now we have a useful tool to evaluate changes to the program and legal spare parts for the arm and turret. We always dreamed of having a second machine to sort out "issues" as they surfaced, instead of frantically trying to cobble something together in the pits that we overlooked.:cool:

[ahecht]

190 used 2k1 for all the driver tryouts, and we are in the process of retrofitting 2k0 to emulate the drivetrain of our current bot. We are also in the process of building a functional equivalent of our 2k3 bot out of a few eduRobot kits.

[Jeff Waegelin]

We've never had the time or the money to build a second robot, though we do have four functioning robots sitting in our shop right now.

[Kyle Love]

(First off...I know this is an out-dated thread, but I wanted to start this one back up because I wonder how many teams have 2 robots.)

This year my team (45) had enough parts except for a few to build a second robot. We just basically ran out of time if I recall right. I still think it would have been cool to have my team's robot play itself. ;) It would have also helped to get the driver/operators more practice after we shipped.

So, did your team have a second robot?

-Kyle

[Bcahn836]

For testing we use robots from the years past.

[Jay H 237]

We have only one robot. No stunt doubles. :p Due to storage space issues our old robots are dismantled/destroyed. We try to keep the stripped down chassis from an old one but we never wind up doing anything with it. After awhile of moving it around and tripping over it it winds up meeting the same fate as the others. We also never have the time to build two robots at the same time. Most of the programming gets done in the 5th or 6th week when there's actually something to work with. It would be nice to have something to work with before that but with our situation it's never worked out.

[greencactus3]

well yes 2 if you count a lego prototype. it is fully functional but in the sense of practice for the driver.... ummmmm. no. not much help. just helps in the sense of prototype. not practice robot

[Steve Howland]

We had a practice bot this year that was basically the chassis with the mast and doubler arm on it missing one of its joints (there was no wrist on it, for those who know our bot). I wasn't even on the drive team then but I assume it was used for a little autonomous testing and a lot of practicing for our drivers because of the 6-wheel drive train that we used this year.

[Jeff Rodriguez]

HEY! I must have missed this the first time around. Anyway, by my last count RAGE has:

1) 97 - arm and gripper
2) 2000 - bot minus most electronics and some motors
3) 2001 - same as 2000
4) 2002 - Again, take it apart and face the wrath of Joel and I
5) 2003 - Evil twin fitted with 6 wheel drive
6) 2003 - Bot fitted with 6 wheel drive
7) 2004 - Evil twin minus some basket parts
8) 2004 - Just got home from Bash

And to fill in some blanks, the 1996 robot didn't have a red base. It didn't even have the signature plywood base. I can show you pics of you want. Also, the 1997 bot had a black base, but was plywood.

[Elyse Holguin]

in response to rage's lack of major design changes

"if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

the design seems to be working well for them so far.

[Jack Jones]

I want do do five or six this year. Two prototypes. Ship two (lotsa spare parts). Plus one maybe two practice bots. Sponsor has special need for leftovers :eek:

[Jon K.]

Yeah, we have a lot of stuff left, Oh and Ogre you forgot at RHS we have either the evil twin or comp bot from 01, and a few bases made up, but I am not sure of what year they are from, but they are the same. Oh and rumor has it there may be a few changes in the works for RAGE..... But only time will tell. Oh and next years game of course.