Our robot is done!

[Brad Voracek]

... conceptually ;P

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e350/MonkeyDL/0112081353.jpg


Here's what will probably end up being our final design for this year, with the chassis and the scissor lift (that's what's under that sheet metal). I know everyone says no scissor lifts, but I think we can do it, and it's one of the more efficient methods we thought of, for what we want to do.

... don't mind the cardboard ball. ;P

Questions?

[Joe G.]

Looks nice.

How is the ball going to be held onto the platform, and then released?

[hipsterjr]

Be bold, go for the scissor lift. Actually, this is exactly like the design I proposed during brainstorming. Very nice.

[Brad Voracek]

We plan to have a "cradle" on the top of the scissor lift, as you can see that there is a lot of room upwards on our robot. We plan to have this sloped downward towards the front of the robot, and those arms you see in the front will actually travel up with the lift to hold it in, and then when they lower the ball -should- roll right down... this is the hard part to test without a ball. (should be in soon!).

The scissor lift also goes up to about seven and a half feet as is, with each section forming perfect squares, we decided above that things kind of sway a bit much..

[Jaybee1405]

I'm not positive, but your trackball looks a little deflated to me. :confused:

Kidding... Normally I am opposed to scissor jacks, but I like the idea in this particular situation because it should make you much less likely to tip, since the weight of the trackball is focused directly over the robot.

Is the ball guided over the overpass by your manipulator after it is jacked up above the 6' 6" level? It appears that way...

EDIT: Yepp, you explained it while I was posting haha

[Brad Voracek]

I'm not positive, but your trackball looks a little deflated to me. :confused:

Kidding... Normally I am opposed to scissor jacks, but I like the idea in this particular situation because it should make you much less likely to tip, since the weight of the trackball is focused directly over the robot.

Is the ball guided over the overpass by your manipulator after it is jacked up above the 6' 6" level? It appears that way...


Exactly right. =).

[Jaybee1405]

I like the idea a lot Brad. Compact with low CG when speed is needed; tall and strong when hurdling is needed.

Too bad I've had too many bad dreams about scissor jacks or I would bring up a similar idea with my team (AKA copy you! :D)

[Enigma's puzzle]

how do you get the ball off the overpass?

[i_am_samus]

I think they just want to get the ball once someone knocks it down, or knock it over with the thing in the front, though that could tip the robot over.

We actually thought of that idea, and it was almost final, before we figured it may be too hard. Props for doing such a great job, hope you guys do well!

[vhcook]

Neat design :). It looks like once you get the cradle together so the ball stays put when you move, you'll be in good shape for hurdling.

Where are you going to put the flag holder?

[edgar_amaro]

ok !!!! but what if they team u up with robots that are similar to that one...... how would u get the ball off the hurdle .....

nice work though ..:yikes:

[CraigHickman]

I like. Especially the kid with the TapouT sweatshirt in the background. Gotta love being Bad for the Sport.


(before people jump on me, it's a slogan from the MMA company. I suggest not looking around their store, as some of their ads are a bit "racy")

[edgar_amaro]

OK !!! im a rockie this year !!! and we mounted the 2 motors that came in the KOP ( the ones hocked to the gearboxes ).... ok well my question is ...... ive seen many designs that have 2 motors conneced to one gearbox... how do u do that ???? do we need an extra gear or do we just put it there !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[EricH]

OK !!! im a rockie this year !!! and we mounted the 2 motors that came in the KOP ( the ones hocked to the gearboxes ).... ok well my question is ...... ive seen many designs that have 2 motors conneced to one gearbox... how do u do that ???? do we need an extra gear or do we just put it there !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Get the gear that you put on the motor shaft. Put it on the shaft. Now, put the motor in. Tighten it down.

[Joe G.]

OK !!! im a rockie this year !!! and we mounted the 2 motors that came in the KOP ( the ones hocked to the gearboxes ).... ok well my question is ...... ive seen many designs that have 2 motors conneced to one gearbox... how do u do that ???? do we need an extra gear or do we just put it there !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I believe you need to order extra retaining rings, CIM gears, and keys.

http://www.andymark.biz/am-0145.html
(bottum of page)

[alicen]

Don't foget that you must have your flagholder at least 51" high!!:ahh:

[Brad Voracek]

For the flag holder : there's four inches from the back of the scissor lift to the back of the limitations that the flag will fit on. we had to allocate the room especially. :P

As for hurdling when we get to the top : the manipulator goes up with the lift, so with a slope and lowering that over the first bar, the ball should roll right over, as long as we position it right.

And most people are correct, we don't plan to want to knock the ball off explicitly, but we do think with the cradle on there we will be able to actuate the scissor lift when we are -underneath- the rails to be able to hit it, it's not something we're designing for yet, and if we are able to do it it's a nice accessory ;P

[vhcook]

It sounds like you're in great shape :D I hope your testing goes well.

[Iboshi2]

Fantastic design! This allows for a good defensive build and the ability to hurdle! Great! One question- how long does it take to extend the scissorlift to hurdling position?

[Brad Voracek]

Good question, haha, I'll get back to you. From preliminary tests with actuators it seems like it will go up rather fast, and we actually may have to run down the pressure from max on these things. We're now using, after more testing today, 2 2 inch bore 12 inch stroke actuators, and we plan to tweak with the psi to get them to run at a reasonable speed. I don't see speed being an issue though, and we're shooting for, I don't want to sound unrealistic as I suppose I don't really know exactly, but maybe around ~6 seconds? Five? I'll let you know as the weeks progress.

[1619Aaron]

Go with the scissor lift. We did that in 2005 and it worked great. The only problem was our drive base... >< But, we did win the Engineering Inspiration Award with it. ;) First rookie team to ever win it! Anyway, it was awesome.

[camtunkpa]

Good question, haha, I'll get back to you. From preliminary tests with actuators it seems like it will go up rather fast, and we actually may have to run down the pressure from max on these things. We're now using, after more testing today, 2 2 inch bore 12 inch stroke actuators, and we plan to tweak with the psi to get them to run at a reasonable speed. I don't see speed being an issue though, and we're shooting for, I don't want to sound unrealistic as I suppose I don't really know exactly, but maybe around ~6 seconds? Five? I'll let you know as the weeks progress.

Just a suggestion/helpful hint.....A better way to slow down the cylinder actuation would be to use adjustable flow controls on the cylinders. :cool:

[artdutra04]

Here's what will probably end up being our final design for this year, with the chassis and the scissor lift (that's what's under that sheet metal). I know everyone says no scissor lifts, but I think we can do it, and it's one of the more efficient methods we thought of, for what we want to do.

... don't mind the cardboard ball. ;P

Questions?If that's not a prototype manipulator, you may want to make your manipulator a lot more rigid.

Since the two claws only look like they are about 0.5" diameter aluminum tubing, as soon as another team runs into those, or your driver accidentally runs into the wall at the far end of the playing field, they are going to be bent. There are only so many times you can bend them back until they snap.

[boonski]

Seems like a good idea. Seriously going for a scissor lift? Good Luck!
What happened to your real trackball? Did it pop?

[Brad Voracek]

Camtunkpa, yeah sorry, that's what I meant... I said psi but I was thinking of those =/.


Oh, that's -definitely- a prototype manipulator. Thanks for the input though, we plan to make that muchh more rigid, probably using ~3/4 or 1 inch square tubing in the end. Heheh.


... and yeah our ball popped. =( oye. new ones tomorrow hopefully.

[Seraph117]

if that was really your final design, i would eat my hat :D

[MOE]

:yikes: YEP That is right
GOOD LUCK from Team 88 TJ2 and MOE
:D

[Brad Voracek]

if that was really your final design, i would eat my hat :D

Get ready to eat your hat then. ;P

Seriously though, unless we find a major flaw, this is the -design- we are going to go with. Not the exact mechanisms or anything... but as I said those are the ideas we are running with.

[teammember_342]

You will be in the finals for sure!:rolleyes:

[team1203 4life]

how fast will your robot go in feet per second

[Brad Voracek]

haha. thanks Stephen from 342, we can dream =)


... And in feet per second, we're looking at arounnddd ~12? Theoretical speed.