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View Full Version : pic: The Robonaut's Robot


MasonMM
03-02-2005, 08:50
[cdm-description=photo]19902[/cdm-description]

phrontist
03-02-2005, 08:53
Mind-Boggling. I'm quaking in my boots. Can that thing block A WHOLE ROW?!?!

Mark Pettit
03-02-2005, 09:13
That's a nice looking robot! It sure came together quickly for you. Congratulations! What a great shop, too!
And since it's customary to chastise teams for not wearing safety specs, let me be the first to compliment you on your 100% compliance.

Max Lobovsky
03-02-2005, 09:48
Can that thing block A WHOLE ROW?!?!
Doesn't seem like its possible to block a whole row. Its illegal to latch onto a goal or to use it for support, and it doesnt seem like you'd be able to do any blocking without latching on to something at the end of your arms. It's going to be something very clever, I'm sure...

Tytus Gerrish
03-02-2005, 10:00
WOW! that thing is nuts. a crab drive with 2 manipulators on am elevator. Truly amazing

jgannon
03-02-2005, 10:29
What is the orange thing at the base of the arm that looks like a soda can?

Bill Gold
03-02-2005, 10:50
Nice coaxially powered swerve drive.

Andy Baker
03-02-2005, 11:34
I am at a loss for words. Here are some random thoughts:

1. It is 26 days since kickoff... their robot just needs tweaked... omg
2. Just how high does this thing go? Are there 3 stages in there, with about 3 feet of travel each?
3. Hmmm... 2 arms... good for balance, but why else?
4. Sweeeet swerve drive
5. Nice low Cg, considering what this beast is doing... especially like the battery placement.

Fear the Robonauts.

Andy B.

Jeff Rodriguez
03-02-2005, 11:36
Doesn't seem like its possible to block a whole row. Its illegal to latch onto a goal or to use it for support, and it doesnt seem like you'd be able to do any blocking without latching on to something at the end of your arms. It's going to be something very clever, I'm sure...

<G20> ROBOTS may push or react against any elements of the field, provided there is no damage or disruption of the field elements. ROBOTS may not grab, grasp, grapple or attach to the GOALS or any other field structure. Robots may not extend under the portion of the goal contacting the carpet, lift up or tip over a GOAL. If a ROBOT violates this rule, the referee will give one warning. If the referee determines that the team is disregarding the warning, or the actions affect the outcome of the match, the team’s ROBOT will be disabled for the remainder of the match. If a GOAL is tipped over, it is
automatically OWNED by the opposing alliance for the remainder of the match.


You can react and/or push against a goal or two. I don't see any latches on there to 'grab, grasp, grapple or attach to the GOALS', so I'd say it is perfectly legal.

Very nice job 118. Can you explain how the arm in the middle works? Can it cap?

Mike Ciance
03-02-2005, 11:47
Doesn't seem like its possible to block a whole row. Its illegal to latch onto a goal or to use it for support, and it doesnt seem like you'd be able to do any blocking without latching on to something at the end of your arms. It's going to be something very clever, I'm sure...it's very possible to block robots without latching onto anything. my team does it all the time. i could be wrong, but that base looks like omni-drive to me. if that thing can drive sideways it will be very effective at blocking. i can see this blocker-bot being a useful alliance partner for nearly any team. especially since it looks like there are very few blocker-bots this year.

Max Lobovsky
03-02-2005, 12:09
it's very possible to block robots without latching onto anything. my team does it all the time. i could be wrong, but that base looks like omni-drive to me. if that thing can drive sideways it will be very effective at blocking. i can see this blocker-bot being a useful alliance partner for nearly any team. especially since it looks like there are very few blocker-bots this year.Sure you can block without latching onto anything. What you can't do is block with arms that extend 3 or 4 feet past your wheels without latching onto something.

It doesn't really matter though, I think Ogre cleared it up. The wording of the rule looks like it makes it legal to block with those arms resting against goals.

ngreen
03-02-2005, 12:17
Very nice guys. I've thought about this robot and you are one of the teams I know could do it. I still have nightmares about Immobilius from 2003.

Luckily my team won't be back in Houston to battle this beast. Good luck to a great team who builds amazing robots..

BTW --I love the swerve. It looks very similiar to 2004. And will the clamps stay where they are? ... I guess just really close to finished..

MasonMM
03-02-2005, 12:44
Just how high does this thing go? Are there 3 stages in there, with about 3 feet of travel each?


Our arms are mounted off the bottom of the third section of the lift and that gets up to about 7ft. But the total hieght i ssomething like 9ft, and thats with a generous over lap to prevent any wiggling or getting caught in the extended position.


3. Hmmm... 2 arms... good for balance, but why else?
Each arm will carry one tetra, so having two arms allows us to grab and hold two tetras at a time. It also enables us always to be closer to any tetra we want, so we will always have to rotate less to get an arm pointing towards a tetra.

MasonMM
03-02-2005, 12:46
What is the orange thing at the base of the arm that looks like a soda can?

not sure exactly what you are talking about, the orange peices are just spacers so the pnuematics dont slide around.

MasonMM
03-02-2005, 12:49
Very nice job 118. Can you explain how the arm in the middle works? Can it cap?

The whole upper body is mounted on a turret powered by a chip motor. On top of the turret is a telescoping lift system that goes up and down. The Arms coming off the lift go up to about a 45 degree angle and back down to horizontal. Out of the tips of the arm, are pnumetically powered spears that we will use to catch the tetras, off the ground and off the loading stations. We will use the lift to get higher, and then raise the arms, and while hovering the tetras over the goals we will retract the spears(they are shown retracted in the picture) and the tetra will fall on the goal.

so in short, yes we can cap.

Jeff Rodriguez
03-02-2005, 13:06
The whole upper body is mounted on a turret powered by a chip motor. On top of the turret is a telescoping lift system that goes up and down. The Arms coming off the lift go up to about a 45 degree angle and back down to horizontal. Out of the tips of the arm, are pnumetically powered spears that we will use to catch the tetras, off the ground and off the loading stations. We will use the lift to get higher, and then raise the arms, and while hovering the tetras over the goals we will retract the spears(they are shown retracted in the picture) and the tetra will fall on the goal.

So, you can cap 2 goals at once? Amazing!!
Could this be the robot I dreamed about?

Max Lobovsky
03-02-2005, 13:09
Why does it look like the arms are mounted to the bottom of the last stage of the lift? If thats because of size requirements, why does the stage continue past the arm mount points?

Ryan Foley
03-02-2005, 13:14
That is amazing, both the robot and the amount of time you have left. I love the swerve drive, turret, wow.

Amazing job. Ironic though, my former team (350) was considering the same lift with 2 arm design that you have.

Great robot, can't wait to see it in action. What regionals are you going to (so I know which section of SOAP to look at for a video of your bot)?

Joe Matt
03-02-2005, 14:02
I guess this is the time every team starts to hit their forehead and scream, "I CAN'T BELIVE I DIDN'T THINK OF THAT!"

Great robot, you're going to be on my short list for watching.

abeD
03-02-2005, 14:09
Let me see if I understand correctly:

2 Cims to drive 4 modules (or 2?) with the globe doing the steering for all 4

1 Cim for the turret

2 Pistons on each of the arms for spears. 2 Other pistons to raise/lower the arms. and 1 or 2 more to telescope?

Am I missing anything?

Btw sweet looking bot, looks very versatile.

Alex Cormier
03-02-2005, 14:13
i hope you will have a better way to protect that battery from getting damaged and potentially thrown out of thew robot. :ahh: other then that it looks great and hope to see ya at a regional that we attend!

MasonMM
03-02-2005, 14:36
Let me see if I understand correctly:

2 Cims to drive 4 modules (or 2?) with the globe doing the steering for all 4

1 Cim for the turret

2 Pistons on each of the arms for spears. 2 Other pistons to raise/lower the arms. and 1 or 2 more to telescope?

Am I missing anything?

Btw sweet looking bot, looks very versatile.

Good guessing, but not quite.

We have 3 Cims, powering 3 wheel boxes, the forth wheel box has nothing giving it power so it just turns and goes along.

The steering is driven by a Van Door motor.

1 cim is powering the turret, through some major gearing.

The lift goes up and down with string and spool powered by 2 Ficher Price motors.

You got the pnuematics right on the arms, 2 used to flap the arms up and down and 2 used for a spear to go in and out.

MasonMM
03-02-2005, 14:39
i hope you will have a better way to protect that battery from getting damaged and potentially thrown out of thew robot. :ahh: other then that it looks great and hope to see ya at a regional that we attend!

The battery is velcroed in there so it stays pretty well, but i'm pretty sure our final design will protect it a little better as so the battery connector isn't out in the open.

tiffany34990
03-02-2005, 14:42
wow!!! great job you all--I'm amazed

so your lift extends 7 feet that's nice. how is your record for capping?? how fast does it go??

great job though- I'm glad you guys have time to tweak everything to make it perfect. congrats on finishing early.

Cory
03-02-2005, 15:09
The battery is velcroed in there so it stays pretty well, but i'm pretty sure our final design will protect it a little better as so the battery connector isn't out in the open.

Wait, FINAL design? You mean this isn't the final thing!?!?!?!?!?!?!? :ahh:

You guys are absolutely insane :rolleyes:

pakrat
03-02-2005, 15:37
Wow, good job.

Madison
03-02-2005, 16:34
I guess this is the time every team starts to hit their forehead and scream, "I CAN'T BELIVE I DIDN'T THINK OF THAT!"

Hey now! Not every team is doing that. ;)

David Lantz
03-02-2005, 17:22
wow!!! great job you all--I'm amazed

so your lift extends 7 feet that's nice. how is your record for capping?? how fast does it go??

great job though- I'm glad you guys have time to tweak everything to make it perfect. congrats on finishing early.

I'd say that our top speed is 15 ft/sec. As for capping I don't believe we have a record time yet.

Karthik
03-02-2005, 19:06
*Round of applause*

Fabulous robot. I'm always intrigued when I see any sort of swerve drive. Considering how much weight it takes to swerve, it makes your elevator and arms an even greater accomplishment. All that coupled with the fact that you're close to being done this early into the build. I'm amazed! Congratulations.

You've clearly wet the appetite of many with this picture. Any chance you'll serve up some video. ;)

Joe Matt
03-02-2005, 21:12
Hey now! Not every team is doing that. ;) OoooooOOOOoooo, I guess that's a teaser M? :)

Ianworld
03-02-2005, 22:22
A turret and crab drive, that is insane. I'm really really impressed. Congrats on finishing your bot so early. I hope to see you capping during the autonomous with all this time. :)

Paisa1251
03-02-2005, 22:22
Hey,

Nice robot you got there, very fast manufacturing and hard work had to be put into a machine of such complexity.

By the way, I see some kind of belt or chain that run from shaft to shaft (the ones connected to the wheels. Mayeb I'm mistaken can you cler me up on that?

:cool: "TO SHOW POWER IS NOTHING" :cool:

David Lantz
03-02-2005, 22:31
Hey,

Nice robot you got there, very fast manufacturing and hard work had to be put into a machine of such complexity.

By the way, I see some kind of belt or chain that run from shaft to shaft (the ones connected to the wheels. Mayeb I'm mistaken can you cler me up on that?

:cool: "TO SHOW POWER IS NOTHING" :cool:

To begin with: Welcome to the Forums

The chain that is connecting the shafts of the wheels controls the direction that the wheels face at any given instant. This is controled with the Van Door motor.

FusionDude364
03-02-2005, 22:49
I'm wondering what the span of the arms completely folded out is. It almost seems that your arms are wide enough to cap two goals in the same column at once. I understand that it can hold two at once, which is especially good combined with the turntable, but will you use it to cap two goals at once. Great job though, and we will be seing you at Lone Star.

henryBsick
04-02-2005, 00:11
I'd say that our top speed is 15 ft/sec. As for capping I don't believe we have a record time yet.
?!?!?!15 fps?!?!?!?
I heart your bot. Also...I hope the driver doesn't decide to let full off of the stick while hitting top nothc speed.
And...is that calculated top speed or actual timed top speed?

MasonMM
04-02-2005, 00:20
?!?!?!15 fps?!?!?!?
I heart your bot. Also...I hope the driver doesn't decide to let full off of the stick while hitting top nothc speed.
And...is that calculated top speed or actual timed top speed?

I don't think that we have acctually measured our feet per second, it's more of an estimate/calculated number.

Joe Ross
04-02-2005, 15:15
Anyone notice a similarity between this robot and this hypothetical situation? http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33305&highlight=ymtc

officerleroy118
05-02-2005, 00:19
Wow that's one astonishing robot i might add! How do the wheel turn. :D

Madison
05-02-2005, 01:17
OoooooOOOOoooo, I guess that's a teaser M? :)

I've been dropping hints like rain for a few weeks now, Joseph.

It's nice to see another team like the Robonauts exploring the same ideas you've been exploring for the past few weeks. While the strategy may be similar, the end result is very different.