Team 578 can hurdle

[commodoredl]

Today was a big day for us, the programming team got the drive code done, and the code needed to operate the motor for our hurdling device, affectionately named "the boot."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDXdFw8Stfc

Thoughts?

[thefro526]

I like it very cool and it looks very safe.

[commodoredl]

We only had one problem with it and that's that it's a bit top-heavy when we raise the boot. See here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK8c43Irf5E

We were wondering if anyone else came up with a similar design? We saw a lot of catapults but nothing that would kick like ours.

[Greg Peshek]

Very interesting design, I don't think you'll end up seeing many (if any) of those kind of designs at regionals (not a bad thing, I quite like it). I think you might eliminate the "tip the robot when the boot gets to the top" problem if you put something kind of spring of softening system to stop the arm.

By the way, what does your "boot" weight? It looks like it weighs a lot, but I can't tell.

-Greg P.

[dtengineering]

Congratulations! I know well the cheer that rang out as it hurdled for the first time... we were up and launching (using pneumatics) from the robot for the first time this weekend, too.

We had considered an idea like this, but you are the first group that I know of to have built one... and almost certainly the first to post it to CD!

How heavy, by the way, is "the boot"?

Jason

P.S. It would look great with a real boot on there!

[hipsterjr]

curious...very curious. This is a far cry from the 1000 lifts and catapults I've seen on CD. Very nice. My only worry is when you are reseting the boot and another team hits you from behind; possible tip hazard. Aside from that very cool.

[rjmah]

I wonder how sticky they'll be about the 80 inch cylinder rule. My guess is that you exceed it if your forks are extended and the boot is resetting at the same time. While you can tell them the normal operating sequence won't exceed it, during the heat of the game you can't guarantee it won't happen.

[FTCmisfit]

Very interesting idea.it looks effective, does it work consistently? Can your drive train maneuver well?:confused:

-Misfit :yikes:

[commodoredl]

Right now the boot weighs 12 lbs at the end. We'll also be weighing our robot down for better stability.
I wonder how sticky they'll be about the 80 inch cylinder rule. My guess is that you exceed it if your forks are extended and the boot is resetting at the same time.
That's a good point, we extended and checked and we're around 78.5 inches.
As for working, it will shoot every time, we only have problems trying to pick up the trackball with our forks, that's something we're going to try to improve before the 19th.

Our drive train, I haven't seen much more than a few seconds of it maneuvering, but we were going cautiously to make sure we could pick up the ball. I don't know what our top fps is right now.

[rjmah]

Nice work! It probably helps that you hug the ball to the carriage.

[sovereign]

We have a new traction system implemented in our drive train, so it's quite effective. The boot can be stopped mid-swing so it's also safe. I took several videos myself, but haven't gotten them to our media subteam yet.

[RIT_FIRST_LH]

I'm very impressed, I didn't think the boot was going to work as well as it did. Nice job.

[Drwurm]

Now that design might just win you an innovation award, very very creative.

Also, I was thinking, instead of using a 12 pound weight, you ought to just use your battery :rolleyes:

[Doug Leppard]

Very interesting and creative.

[Wayne Doenges]

Looks neat and safe.
One question though. Have you tried it with a slightly deflated ball? Some teams have noticed that the balls inflation varies with temperature.
Hope you have a great year.

[aapl.jlo]

Awesome design. Can you control how far you can go, or is it rigged only to go a certain distance? Still, it throws that ball FAR!

[flamefixed]

Also, I was thinking, instead of using a 12 pound weight, you ought to just use your battery :rolleyes:


hah, my team joked about doing this exact thing with no thought that it could be done so well..great job

[DarkFlame145]

lol very nice, i like the design.

[Captain PJshark]

P.S. It would look great with a real boot on there!

We joke around about attaching a hiking boot or something of the sort onto the end of the arm all the time! :D

[Zuhaib Ali]

That is too insane! (in a good way) :D

[commodoredl]

here's a new video one of the mechanical members made. It has our first prototype we made in week 2, some videos of our practice bot being driven, and videos of the robot hurdling the trackball. Occasional commentary by our very own Colin Jacobs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlcVpOJYk5g

[FTCmisfit]

I just saw how its top heavy so why not raise it in autonomous and go with the flow?
-misfit:yikes:

[commodoredl]

Well, we're hoping to be able to hurdle more than once, so we'll be raising it several times throughout the game. To counteract that we have about 20 to 30 pounds of weight to distribute near the bottom of the robot.

[Maggie27]

I'm very impressed. That works almost perfectly. (Besides the weight issue, of course) But that is truly amazing.
I enjoyed watching that.
Great idea & awesome job!!!:)

[Qbranch]

Yay I love it when people play physics to their advantage!

Isaac Newton would be proud. :D

-q

[sportzkrazzy]

how fast can it reload and go around the track?

[commodoredl]

Well I can't say for sure, because I wasn't there for the full day of testing they did, but I know that we were going to spend week 6 optimizing the ability to load the trackball onto the forks, and we are able to do it while moving already, so with luck we should be able to pull off 4-7 hurdles in a match.

[nuggetsyl]

Please please please turn the hammer part into boot.:) Make daves video come true.

[Jaybee1405]

great job fairport!! very creative

[JesseK]

Man, this was my idea for this year but I was overruled by other mentors. Nice to see someone else did it too. I called it the pendulum kick.

[Alex Cormier]

Looks good, we'll see ya at FLR.

[commodoredl]

We just finished our promo video for our robot. Here's the link, with some footage of us picking up the trackball, knocking it off the overpass (we figured out how to do it!), and launching it of course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA_7waJdzIo
It's changed a little bit since before. We no longer need to be against a wall to pick up the ball. What do you guys think?

[vhcook]

I'm very impressed.

[Doug Leppard]

I just love the kicking, so fun to watch. Good luck.

[Jaybee1405]

you should have named it Pele... lol

[XXShadowXX]

All that I'm wondering is how many teams will be able to take advantage of the end game points, placing of the trackballs back on the overpass. It seems that with only being able to 'kick' the ball that you have cut that out.
idk, I haven't seen a video of a single lifting robot that could in theory place the ball on the overpass. How I see it that 12 points could be important.

[commodoredl]

That is a good point, and a big disadvantage most shooters have. Fortunately for us, though, we actually are capable of kicking the ball so that it bounces off the front of the hurdle, going upwards with less forward momentum, and landing on the overpass. We have done it 3 times in the past two days while practicing. We even had a video(!) of it, but it was sadly deleted.
Of course, it is mostly luck-based and we doubt we could do it except just as an attempt at the end of a practice match. The teams who build robots with arms are much better suited to this.

[Mr. Anderson]

we have gotten it to a point where we can put the bot in a certain spot that it will get the ball to stay multiple times, but getting to that spot while driving is too difficult to do unforunately

[Jaybee1405]

IMO the extra four points aren't that important. Instead of attempting to place it at the end of the match, just go for another hurdle and cross the line with your bot for 10 points.

2008, much like 2006, is the year of the shooter (or kicker in your case).