pic: 294 cone grab mechanism aka: PREDATOR

[Dale(294engr]]

[cdm-description=photo]21170[/cdm-description]

[xzvrw2]

dude thats scary and cool at the same time.

[Daniel Brim]

That's an awesome view of it :)

We were actually 27/28, the one we missed we hit the hanging tetra, it swung back and forth, but it did not drop.

This also appears to be a view before we modified it. We were having difficulty holding on (a surprise for us) because the clovers on the tetras at SoCal were cut much deeper than the clovers at AZ. We had to decrease the ID of the cone. Due to some ingenious enginuity from one of our team members (awesome job!) we wrapped some surgical tubing around the posts, and we only had trouble once during the rest of the regional.

I'll be happy to answer any questions :)

-Daniel

[Mr. Lim]

Loved watching this thing in action in SoCal!!!

Owns two goals in autonomous mode - not too many teams can say that!

Although more impressive than this robot was your SoCal Engineering Inspiration, and Woodie Flowers awards :D .

-SlimBoJones...

[dubious elise]

Very slick design, I saw a few of these in action at BMR and MWR. Teams 447 and 71 used this manipulator extremely well.
Are you able to pick up multiple tetras at once with this grabber or just one?

[sanddrag]

It is very impressive. I didn't get to see it too many times but from what I saw it worked very well. I like how you kept the arm so short, much better speed and maneuverability. The quality of this mechanism is superb. Your team has taken the robot to a new level this year. Excellent work!

[Daniel Brim]

Very slick design, I saw a few of these in action at BMR and MWR. Teams 447 and 71 used this manipulator extremely well.
Are you able to pick up multiple tetras at once with this grabber or just one?
Just one at a time, from the human loader (me in most cases).

It is very impressive. I didn't get to see it too many times but from what I saw it worked very well. I like how you kept the arm so short, much better speed and maneuverability. The quality of this mechanism is superb. Your team has taken the robot to a new level this year. Excellent work!
Although I think Chairman's/EI is more important, I do enjoy having a robot that can compete well (last place at Newton was pretty rough). This is our best robot ever (better than the 2001 Co-Champ robot according to many sources), and it feels good. You can check out how we developed this mechanism here (www.bcrobotics.org/ai2005/InventerAwardWS/index.htm).

Thanks for the kind words everybody!

-Daniel