Our Two-day Robot- Dragonfly

[Akash Rastogi]

So I joined team 3553 around week 3 of build. This team has an awesome awesome mentor base who I LOVED spending 20+ hours with these past two days. Boeing and Lockheed Martin engineers + UPenn + Drexel students + 357's mentors = fun times at the shop. :)

Red tape, snow days, the Philly school district's rules, and administrative set backs had the team working with very limited restrictions, and by week 5 we had very little to show for our efforts. (South Philly High School (http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7156691) is a VERY difficult place to run a team from). Ask 357 what pile of parts we showed up with to their shop Saturday morning...

http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/uu290/lilstogi/Rambots%203553%20Rookie%20Season/169003_111392038937293_100001994913396_91895_61423 92_n.jpg?t=1297656113

20 hours later we have this going. Waiting to be wired up, minibot deployment set up, and coded. We have a lot to do, but I think we can get it done.

We will be at Philadelphia with a finished robot hopefully (but DONE is a 4 letter word). The Dragonfly will hopefully be in full force at that point.

HUGE thank you to Ryan Dognaux and his team 357, Royal Assault at Upper Darby High School for this weekend. All we needed was a place to work, some tools, and some great friends to work alongside with.

To any team who shares our situation- go find a veteran team to help you out.

More pictures here- http://s656.photobucket.com/albums/uu290/lilstogi/Rambots%203553%20Rookie%20Season/ Enjoy and comments/questions are welcome!

[thefro526]

When you posted this on FB, I was impressed.

Now that I've heard the story behind it, I am even more impressed. Well done bro, well done.

Are you still kicking around the idea of adding some provision to score an ubertube?

[Trying to Help]

Great post! For all the difficult times we face over the build season, it's stories like this that keep mentors working late on a Sunday night.

Good luck in Philadelphia!

-Trying to Help

[Chris is me]

Awesome!

You might want to chain the wheels on each side together if you can...

Hope the latest Team Update didn't make anything you did illegal.

[Akash Rastogi]

When you posted this on FB, I was impressed.

Now that I've heard the story behind it, I am even more impressed. Well done bro, well done.

Are you still kicking around the idea of adding some provision to score an ubertube?

Priority is as follows: get it driving and blocking > minibot stuffs > ubertube scoring. Minibot deployment/control system might stay with us for the weight allowance.

@Chris, we will avoid having our alliance block the field during gameplay, as I agree with update 10 that it would make the game very boring. The wheels will not be chained 1) due to complexity in chain path and 2) we'll only be driving side to side with the wings down. Wings will be folded up before we turn the bot.

Did I mention that the mentors (JJ (Boeing), John (Boeing), David (Lockheed), and Agata (UPenn)) are awesome? They have so much fun with FRC. Everything outside the kit has so far been paid for by JJ's credit card. We NEED to fundraise and fast!

[GGCO]

We found ourselves in the same boat as you guys this year. We've come pretty far as well in the past two days:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=MTVdKeaKH_8

Good luck!

[rcmolloy]

Like I said before Stogi, job well done man. I really can't wait to play with this guy in Philly and see how you guys do. After seeing these pictures, the light at the end of the tunnel is becoming brighter and brighter.

[Akash Rastogi]

Thanks guys! It is reassuring to see some people are interested in our design. We hope to impress and grab some awards like RAS or Xerox Creativity.

[wilsonmw04]

what are those gray rectangular prisms in the center of the robot? Do I spy two compressors?

[Lil' Lavery]

This design will fit right in at Philly. :rolleyes:

[thefro526]

This design will fit right in at Philly. :rolleyes:

I was thinking the same thing.

Too bad team update 10 ruled out using two robots to create a barricade. Take 3553 and another robot and you should be able to shut an entire lane or maybe even home zone, down.

[AgataSays]

they are two regulators... only one compressor.

[Akash Rastogi]

The rookie compressor is actually tiny! Saves a lot of weight. It is the small gray pump located in the front of the picture.

[davidthefat]

Oh let me know how you guys do in competition. I had a very similar idea and my idea got shot down. I assume you guys would be "playing" break out(http://www.arcadebond.com/games/images/breakout_game.jpg) outside the scoring zone?

[Jacob Paikoff]

Looks really great

Good luck at Philly

[Akash Rastogi]

Oh let me know how you guys do in competition. I had a very similar idea and my idea got shot down. I assume you guys would be "playing" break out(http://www.arcadebond.com/games/images/breakout_game.jpg) outside the scoring zone?

Yup! Current strategy is ubertube in autonomous, proceed to block for most of the match, get ready for minibot deployment, ????, profit.

[Molten]

Thanks guys! It is reassuring to see some people are interested in our design. We hope to impress and grab some awards like RAS or Xerox Creativity.
"Interested" is an understatement. I've been a fan of this design since the moment I saw it. I'm a huge fan of creative defense and am excited to see how this design works. If it does well, we might see more bots like this in the future to help balance the offense/defense ratio a bit. So far, this is my favorite design I've seen on here.

Good luck in all your matches,
Jason

[MagiChau]

You mind if I call your dragonfly the siege tank? In the face of adversity is where everyone shines. All teams face a varying degree, but congratulations for you guys getting past yours'. Cannot wait to see video recordings of you guys in Philly.

[thefro526]

Yup! Current strategy is ubertube in autonomous, proceed to block for most of the match, get ready for minibot deployment, ????, profit.

???? = Run tubes for us to score. ;)

[Chris is me]

???? = Run tubes for us to score. ;)

816 + 2791 + 3553? :)

[Ryan Dognaux]

It was awesome having Akash and the rest of 3553's mentors out at Upper Darby for the weekend. The real thanks should be going out to Joe Troy and the other Upper Darby High School students & mentors for staying with these guys late Saturday night and Sunday.

I wish I had taken a picture Saturday morning as there were quite a few pieces but nothing that resembled a robot yet. Fast forward to Sunday evening and things were looking much, much better. I can't wait to see it in action, I really think it has potential to completely dominate with two great scoring robots.

[thefro526]

I can't wait to see it in action, I really think it has potential to completely dominate with two great scoring robots.

I think you're right on the money here. 3553 could easily slow two robots down given enough practice, and combine that with two upper level scorers with halfway decent mini-bots and you've got a regional winning alliance.

816 + 2791 + 3553? :)

Does that mean you're coming to Philly?

[Akash Rastogi]

We appreciate the compliments :o but I think it is better to keep ourselves level headed before we count our chickens.

We will just have to wait and see how the game pans out.

Something cool about this design- JJ sat down with the team and asked what they wanted to accomplish, many of the kids are on the football team. So, "we want to play center" yields what you see here! JJ then worked with the students to draw the design in CATIA before anything was cut to minimize costs.

[Chris is me]

Does that mean you're coming to Philly?

I'm sure with a $4,000 donation we would be able to confirm that. :P

disclaimer: the above two posts are joking between friends and no more than that, don't read into it... i mean, if you want to give us $4,000 on the condition that we go to philly we'll do it...

[Andrew Schreiber]

So Akash, I think that one of these needs to find its way to the Kettering event. I'd love to have someone running interference on the big dogs there.

Looking good, I might have missed it but what are you sitting at for weight? What motors do you have left?

[thefro526]

disclaimer: the above two posts are joking between friends and no more than that, don't read into it... i

The SimChicken Wranglers started as a joke among friends and we all know how that ended.

;)

[Akash Rastogi]

So Akash, I think that one of these needs to find its way to the Kettering event. I'd love to have someone running interference on the big dogs there.

Looking good, I might have missed it but what are you sitting at for weight? What motors do you have left?

What's funny is we were talking about wanting to become the Truck Town Thunder of the east coast :p We are building up the resources to get that accomplished. Yes, we are already thinking long term.

Last time we weighed in with electronics, we were still a few pounds under. The frame makes it quite heavy plus a lot of fasteners. (Mind you, this thing is like a rolling AndyMark advertisement). We have all motors left, but we do not have intentions of adding an arm as of now (maybe a gripper though ;) ) The issue was never about having the engineering knowledge of how to build an arm (avionics engineers are sorta smart right?) it was about having a design that the kids approved of while allowing us to have a design that fit into our budget as well as time/resources allotted.


As for Dustin and Chris- you guys are crazy haha.

[Rich Kressly]

Best part of the community in action right here. Has everything to do with the people, not the robot. When you look at Joe's track record at Upper Darby with 357, Ryan's FRC roots in the midwest and how he's carried that incredible community mentality with him to the east coast, and Akash's upbringing with 11, then sprinkle in some upbeat folks in troubled times and it's no wonder good things are happening, even this late in the game.

namaste, all

[Akash Rastogi]

We would also like to thank Boeing for their participation in FIRST. They have a huge impact in this area, both 357 and 3553 are Boeing teams, and Ryan and our mentors, JJ and John, are actually all co-workers.

I have a feeling there will be a very tight Boeing community in the future around these parts. :)

[Loremispum]

That's a pretty bro robot. Especially for quite a new team. Keep up the good work! :D

[Grim Tuesday]

Im curious, how to you guys plan to stop from being pushed back and forth (into the zones?). I know for a fact that our robot could push you guys, unless you have some type of triangular stabilizer on the back that I can't see from your picture. FYI, our drive train is tank treads running on two supershifters with two cims in each.

[Akash Rastogi]

Im curious, how to you guys plan to stop from being pushed back and forth (into the zones?). I know for a fact that our robot could push you guys, unless you have some type of triangular stabilizer on the back that I can't see from your picture. FYI, our drive train is tank treads running on two supershifters with two cims in each.

Either way, we will be detrimental to the opposing robot. If they are taking the time to push through us or drive around us, mission accomplished for us. 45 cycle time can turn into 50, which in these matches can be significant.

[PAR_WIG1350]

That bumper backing material does not appear to be the required 3/4 inch ply wood. It would be quite annoying to get to your first event and have to waste a good amount of time fixing this issue. I'd rather say that and be wrong than to silently wonder and let someone waste time at an event.

Looking good overall, I'm glad too see this design coming together. :D

[Akash Rastogi]

All bumpers on this robot have proper bumper backing.

[Akash Rastogi]

By the way...

It lives. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y5FgSQpQ7U) :cool:

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