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qwerty 15-01-2012 22:39

3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
I am not affiliated with a team, so I have little to no influence on any of the designs of this years game. However, I will be watching competition and here are the robots I would love to see.

1) Simbiotics 2008 look alike
What I envisioned before Friday:
http://www.simbotics.org/media/videos/2008
What I envisioned after Friday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2UA7...layer_embedded

I think having the entire front of a robot pulling in and funneling the balls to a central arm that can only hold 3 balls(per rules), elevate them to a height, and spit them back out would be a great and quick way to score balls that your alliance has either missed or are just loose. Of course, the poofs bot is a little tall, but I have confidence that teams will be able to engineer a way to solve this issue.

This robot will be a game change because it is a relatively easy design that has the potential to score efficiently and quickly. Many high performing teams will have a similar designs and they will love to be alliances with team that can feed them balls. These teams will win matches in qualifications if they can keep control of the balls, and will be considered great robots in eliminations.

2) Half Court Shooter
What I see is a robot that can sit in the alley against it's own bridge(for alignment purposes) and can shoot either high balls or balls with lots of backspin across the court. The purpose of that is to either have a larger target to hit, or to give the ball a push downward when it hits the backboard.

Not only that, but I would love this robot to essentially be a giant net, with the back of the robot being very low to the ground. This would allow the human player to easily bounce pass the ball into the robot, or to toss the ball half court into the robot. Bonus points if the team calibrates the robot to be able to score while on the bridge in the final seconds.

Teams using this design will not rank very high, not because they will not score well; this design means that this particular robot can only score balls that their opponent scored first. There will not be many teams like this(think 469 in 2010) but will be first round picks for eliminations. Think: what if your alliance had a robot that could score all the balls your opponent does after they score them? If you can do that, then you can not fall behind during teleoperated period. This robot will be a game changer. What gets me excited about this design is if both alliances have a robot capable of doing this well, then the scoring will be high and it will all come down to the bridges and hybrid.

3) Bridge Bots
Teams planning on using designs 1 and 2 will probably consider the bridge and attempt to balance, but will be either mediocre balancers or to large/odd weight distribution/not enough experience to balance on the bridge. Not that some teams won't excel at scoring and balancing, but these robots will be able to balance with almost anyone and will be experts at it.

This robot will be small, think of 148 in 2008, but will weigh the max amount. This robot will be able to get onto and locate the center of the bridge. The robot then will be able to tilt the bridge either way without driving in either direction. They will do this with a light frame and heavy weights inside the frame that allow them to shift the center of mass to either side.

If teams ever balance 3 robots, it will be because a robot similar to this was on the alliance. Not to many teams will have this design because you will not be a scoring bot, but these teams will get a lot of attention from other teams.

What will be interesting about this design: Although their capabilities will be quite limited, they may be able to be one of the highest ranked robots at any regional. This is because of the qualification points you get while balancing with the opposing alliance. Winning is fine and dandy, but what alliance would not tell their team mates that had this capability to assist the alliance in elevating to assure you get the qualification points; likewise, what opposing alliance would not agree! This robot will get attention early, and they will be the team everyone remembers from this year.

Feel free to comment on with your own designs you hope to see this year.

farmersvilleRob 15-01-2012 22:50

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Very interesting, however, based on the popular designs of a pitching machine bot, half court take a muzzle velocity of 34 ft/sec and full court back corner shot take 50 ft/sec, which is too far for a spitting robot. Only a direct contact bot (throwing) will be able to put enough mechanical efficiency into the kinetic motion of the ball. Also, the goal being so far away, only math will be able to make the shot, not human controls, so this competition is 99% robot.

On the three shot robot, there is absolutely no way to load 3 balls at a time, and shoot all three with a spitting bot or any bot for that matter. The balls simply are too heavy. Also, the bridge bot would take a lot of weight in pieces alone to get the balancing right (i.e. wormgear secondary drive to lock position.). Also, balancing isn't inside it's own special timeframe like the autonomous period is. That means one team will have to sacrifice probably 30 seconds (1/4 the game) to just attempt to balance by themselves. That being said, a competent robot that can score will have more at least 10 points without having to worry about the probably of not balancing. Also, it wont be sabotaged in balancing. If I were the other team and saw someone balancing, i would simply take a 3 point foul and touch the bridge to make it "not supporting all robots) instead of have a team score 10-20 points off a chassis bot basically.

BJC 15-01-2012 23:08

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by farmersvilleRob (Post 1106485)
On the three shot robot, there is absolutely no way to load 3 balls at a time, and shoot all three with a spitting bot or any bot for that matter. The balls simply are too heavy. Also, the bridge bot would take a lot of weight in pieces alone to get the balancing right (i.e. wormgear secondary drive to lock position.). Also, balancing isn't inside it's own special timeframe like the autonomous period is. That means one team will have to sacrifice probably 30 seconds (1/4 the game) to just attempt to balance by themselves. That being said, a competent robot that can score will have more at least 10 points without having to worry about the probably of not balancing. Also, it wont be sabotaged in balancing. If I were the other team and saw someone balancing, i would simply take a 3 point foul and touch the bridge to make it "not supporting all robots) instead of have a team score 10-20 points off a chassis bot basically.

Firstly, my team didn't even consider a design that held less then three balls, there are literally hundreds of different ways you could do that. Basically any competitive robot will be able to hold three balls- they are not heavy. Secondly, bridge balancing does not actually require anything more then a something to push the bridge down and a practiced driver. Balancing more then one requires a bit more precision, and three is quite a trick but one is very doable without any fancy stuff (like worm gears?).

And finally, [G25] Robots may not contact or otherwise interfere with the opposing Alliance Bridge. Violation: Technical-Foul. If the act of Balancing is interfered with, also a Red Card and the Bridge will be counted as Balanced.

You need to get your facts straight or you're going to be very suprised come competition season.
Regards, Bryan

Alpha Beta 15-01-2012 23:14

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
If I had to choose 3 unique designs...

1. A catapult. We loved ours in 2009 and with some very minor modifications would have played this game better than the game it was designed for. :o Sadly it has been dismembered for other projects. :(

2. A robot that can elevate and use gravity to feed 3 balls in the 2 point goal in one dump. This accompanied with a super fast drive train and a quick ball pick up could be a very reliable partner. I always think a scissor lift is a terrible idea, and almost every year someone builds an effective one. Here's your chance. :)

3. A robot that can move up onto to two wheels like a segway to make room on the bridge for two alliance partners. ::rtm::

artdutra04 15-01-2012 23:17

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by farmersvilleRob (Post 1106485)
On the three shot robot, there is absolutely no way to load 3 balls at a time, and shoot all three with a spitting bot or any bot for that matter. The balls simply are too heavy.

The motors available in the kit of parts this year have a combined power output of over 3,000 Watts. There is easily enough power to do this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by farmersvilleRob (Post 1106485)
If I were the other team and saw someone balancing, i would simply take a 3 point foul and touch the bridge to make it "not supporting all robots) instead of have a team score 10-20 points off a chassis bot basically.

If you interfere with the act of the opposing alliance balancing their bridge, you get a Red Card and their bridge counts as balanced. (G25)

farmersvilleRob 15-01-2012 23:20

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by BJC (Post 1106499)
Firstly, my team didn't even consider a design that held less then three balls, there are literally hundreds of different ways you could do that. Basically any competitive robot will be able to hold three balls- they are not heavy. Secondly, bridge balancing does not actually require anything more then a something to push the bridge down and a practiced driver. Balancing more then one requires a bit more precision, and three is quite a trick but one is very doable without any fancy stuff (like worm gears?).

And finally, [G25] Robots may not contact or otherwise interfere with the opposing Alliance Bridge. Violation: Technical-Foul. If the act of Balancing is interfered with, also a Red Card and the Bridge will be counted as Balanced.

You need to get your facts straight or you're going to be very suprised come competition season.
Regards, Bryan

Forgot that rule, but regardless, there will need to be a stop on the bot (worm gears cannot be fed the opposite way to move thus creating a permanent stop to wheel motion). Balancing will be hard even with one robot with no stops on it. And one team would have to make sure the stopper doesn't accidently get inside one of the 15 holes on the bridge. Also, robots are allowed to "block" the bridge if they just happen the stop to shoot in front of your bridge. I understand the field flow of motion cannot be obstructed, but even 10 seconds of moving can affect a chassis balancing team.

And actually holding three balls then shooting them is almost 2.5 pounds to shoot. There is no way to shoot that much weight at one time from 10 plus feet. that is too much torque that when geared down, is too low an RPM even with the CIM motors. Our design holds 2 yet the bot will only weigh around 50 pounds and is an active collector and shooter from literally all spots on the field. A collector in this game may not be worth it since it would be difficult to drive a ball into the narrow side of the bot that has a maximum of 11 inch opening and the wide side (22 inches) where any corners could damage the ball by running over it. (and the ball is also 8 inches in diameter which means a claw in that area would have to be very slender) Also, the driver will be 30+ feet away to gather the balls if it hasn't any in the bot itself which could be facing away from it. The driver is threading a needle.

davidthefat 15-01-2012 23:20

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Alpha Beta (Post 1106510)
If I had to choose 3 unique designs...

1. A catapult. We loved ours in 2009 and with some very minor modifications would have played this game better than the game it was designed for. :o Sadly it has been dismembered for other projects. :(

2. A robot that can elevate and use gravity to feed 3 balls in the 2 point goal in one dump. This accompanied with a super fast drive train and a quick ball pick up could be a very reliable partner. I always think a scissor lift is a terrible idea, and almost every year someone builds an effective one. Here's your chance. :)

3. A robot that can move up onto to two wheels like a segway to make room on the bridge for two alliance partners. ::rtm::

Regarding, Number 3, would that not violate the bumper rule? Unless you meant a small robot with only 2 wheels.

farmersvilleRob 15-01-2012 23:24

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by artdutra04 (Post 1106514)
The motors available in the kit of parts this year have a combined power output of over 3,000 Watts. There is easily enough power to do this.

If you interfere with the act of the opposing alliance balancing their bridge, you get a Red Card and their bridge counts as balanced. (G25)

3000 watts, but that's combined. You can't mismatch motors and think there will not be binding (for arm robots) or miss matched speeds and spin up times (pitching machine). Also that battery would drain so fast! lol

I would go for the consistency and simplicity and reliability and easy repairs that one arm offers whether it be any type.

Alpha Beta 15-01-2012 23:28

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by davidthefat (Post 1106517)
Regarding, Number 3, would that not violate the bumper rule? Unless you meant a small robot with only 2 wheels.

[R29] only requires the bumpers to be in the bumper zone when the robot is standing normally on a flat floor. The bridge is frequently not flat, not the floor of the court, and this situation would be spectacuarly abnormal.

artdutra04 15-01-2012 23:32

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by farmersvilleRob (Post 1106521)
3000 watts, but that's combined. You can't mismatch motors and think there will not be binding (for arm robots) or miss matched speeds and spin up times (pitching machine). Also that battery would drain so fast! lol

You can use a different power motors in the same mechanism easily without any problems, as long as you match the free speed to within a few percent of each other. For example, if Motor A is 10,000 rpm and motor B is 5,000 rpm and you want to use them in the same gearbox, simply gear down Motor A 2:1 before you interface it with Motor B.

farmersvilleRob 15-01-2012 23:35

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by artdutra04 (Post 1106526)
You can use a different power motors in the same mechanism easily without any problems, as long as you match the free speed to within a few percent of each other. For example, if Motor A is 10,000 rpm and motor B is 5,000 rpm and you want to use them in the same gearbox, simply gear down Motor A 2:1 before you interface it with Motor B.

But if you geared down one motor, when applying the ball to the system, one motor has more torque that gives more resistance to the ball's inertia. But at the same time, the other motor takes the same resistance to the ball's inertia, but has less torque than the geared down motor so it slows down more and gives the ball an odd trajectory and speed and backspin.

BJC 15-01-2012 23:42

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by farmersvilleRob (Post 1106516)
Forgot that rule, but regardless, there will need to be a stop on the bot (worm gears cannot be fed the opposite way to move thus creating a permanent stop to wheel motion). Balancing will be hard even with one robot with no stops on it. And one team would have to make sure the stopper doesn't accidently get inside one of the 15 holes on the bridge. Also, robots are allowed to "block" the bridge if they just happen the stop to shoot in front of your bridge. I understand the field flow of motion cannot be obstructed, but even 10 seconds of moving can affect a chassis balancing team.

And actually holding three balls then shooting them is almost 2.5 pounds to shoot. There is no way to shoot that much weight at one time from 10 plus feet. that is too much torque that when geared down, is too low an RPM even with the CIM motors. Our design holds 2 yet the bot will only weigh around 50 pounds and is an active collector and shooter from literally all spots on the field. A collector in this game may not be worth it since it would be difficult to drive a ball into the narrow side of the bot that has a maximum of 11 inch opening and the wide side (22 inches) where any corners could damage the ball by running over it. (and the ball is also 8 inches in diameter which means a claw in that area would have to be very slender) Also, the driver will be 30+ feet away to gather the balls if it hasn't any in the bot itself which could be facing away from it. The driver is threading a needle.

I'm not going to get into an argument with you so this is the last time I'm going to post in this thread.:]

1. Build a bridge and try to balance a robot on it, it's not that hard. You really don't need anything special.
2. Those 15 holes are less than 1/4 inch deep. They only go through the polycarb covering on the bridge.
3. You will have a difficult time trying to block a robot that is balancing from it's ally.
4. You are presumably not shooting all of your balls at the exact same time (you would have a difficult time making them all go into the basket.)
5. You do not need a CIM geared down for torque to shoot 8" foam balls.
6. You should not expect to be able to score into a basket from anywhere on the field consistantly.
7. Collecting off the ground in this game is extremely worth it. It's called Rebound Rumble for a reason.
8. Drivers have been "threading needles" for years in FRC. You have to get good at it or expect to loose to someone else who can.

Good Luck in your first FIRST season, and try to stay open to new ideas and alternative perspectives.
Bryan

farmersvilleRob 15-01-2012 23:55

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by BJC (Post 1106534)
I'm not going to get into an argument with you so this is the last time I'm going to post in this thread.:]

1. Build a bridge and try to balance a robot on it, it's not that hard. You really don't need anything special.
2. Those 15 holes are less than 1/4 inch deep. They only go through the polycarb covering on the bridge.
3. You will have a difficult time trying to block a robot that is balancing from it's ally.
4. You are presumably not shooting all of your balls at the exact same time (you would have a difficult time making them all go into the basket.)
5. You do not need a CIM geared down for torque to shoot 8" foam balls.
6. You should not expect to be able to score into a basket from anywhere on the field consistantly.
7. Collecting off the ground in this game is extremely worth it. It's called Rebound Rumble for a reason.
8. Drivers have been "threading needles" for years in FRC. You have to get good at it or expect to loose to someone else who can.

Good Luck in your first FIRST season, and try to stay open to new ideas and alternative perspectives.
Bryan

You can shoot from anywhere and make it every time with math :]
And we did until we weighed pros and cons with prototyping and mathematical analysis. Balancing will be a huge challenge considering its worth a lot of points (relatively) and the boards are pretty small for 3 bots. Also, collecting off the ground doesn't necessarily mean something that runs along the ground. Gripping on the holes is considered grappling as well if suction cups are, so I would avoid even touching them. Draw a spreadsheet to find the needed acceleration and muzzle velocity for even 20 feet away. It's some rather big numbers for that 11.2 oz ball. You can block an alley easy if you just rolled over there in the last half minute "collecting basketballs". And when threading the needle, I would rather have my robot thread a needle than a driver. Like a sewing machine versus a hand sewer. Though the hand stitching may look prettier, the sewing machine proves a better more precise, versatile, dependable stitch.

apalrd 16-01-2012 00:20

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by farmersvilleRob (Post 1106529)
But if you geared down one motor, when applying the ball to the system, one motor has more torque that gives more resistance to the ball's inertia. But at the same time, the other motor takes the same resistance to the ball's inertia, but has less torque than the geared down motor so it slows down more and gives the ball an odd trajectory and speed and backspin.

FALSE.

If you mix two motors in a given system, and gear them appropriately, they will share the load.

Why?

Say I have a CIM (free speed say 5000rpm for this simplified example, with a torque of 1 units) and a FP (free speed say 20000rpm for this simplified example, with a torque of 0.2 units)

I gear the FP down 4:1 before mixing it with the CIM. The free speeds now match, but the FP only has an equiv. torque of 0.8 - the sum of the stall torques of the two motors geared together is now 1.8 units

When I apply a load to this system, the motors will slow down because there is a load. Say I apply a torque of 0.9 - half of our stall 1.8. Assuming everything is perfectly linear, the motors will slow down to half speed. Because they are geared together, they HAVE TO RUN AT THE SAME (relative) SPEED. Since, at a given speed, each contributes a different amount of power, the power they contribute is approximately correct, the sum of their power output is equal to the load, and given the power output of the motors, the larger motors will contribute more power than the smaller motors. - In this example, the CIM would contribute 0.5 torque units and the FP would contribute 0.4 after gearing (the FP sees 0.1).

You can effectively gear motors relative to one another and add their (geared) torques without much issue, and design the system as if it was a single super motor. To make things even better, most of the motors in the KOP come in pairs, and you can have up to 4 CIM or BB's, so you don't often need to mix motors of different types.

(as a side note, BJC and I wrote up some TI-84 equations/graphs for throwing a ball, and it wasn't as bad as you make it sound, balancing the ramp isn't very hard for a single human-driven robot, and if you are ever in the opposing alley it's a penalty under [G28], even if you were collecting balls)

Tom I 16-01-2012 00:23

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by farmersvilleRob (Post 1106544)
You can shoot from anywhere and make it every time with math :]
And we did until we weighed pros and cons with prototyping and mathematical analysis. Balancing will be a huge challenge considering its worth a lot of points (relatively) and the boards are pretty small for 3 bots. Also, collecting off the ground doesn't necessarily mean something that runs along the ground. Gripping on the holes is considered grappling as well if suction cups are, so I would avoid even touching them. Draw a spreadsheet to find the needed acceleration and muzzle velocity for even 20 feet away. It's some rather big numbers for that 11.2 oz ball. You can block an alley easy if you just rolled over there in the last half minute "collecting basketballs". And when threading the needle, I would rather have my robot thread a needle than a driver. Like a sewing machine versus a hand sewer. Though the hand stitching may look prettier, the sewing machine proves a better more precise, versatile, dependable stitch.

Look I really hate chewing someone out on this forum, I feel that it's destructive to the FIRST environment and goes against Gracious Professionalism, but you sir are off your rocker. Do you really doubt the ability to throw 3 poof balls at the same time?? FIRST Team 95, the Grasshoppers, seemed to have no problems launching 6 balls in the air at the same time in 2006... and that was with 2 FP's... Seriously, I think a lot of your opinions are exactly that, opinions. Please trust the people who've "been there and done it" when it comes to what is feasible. Stating your ideas is wonderful and encouraged, but bashing others' opinions is not GP and over the line. Please back off.

EricH 16-01-2012 00:31

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by apalrd (Post 1106560)
and if you are ever in the opposing alley it's a penalty under [G28], even if you were collecting balls)

Palardy, I don't see anything in [G28] that bars entry to the Key or Alley (Bridge is covered elsewhere).

Quote:

[G28]
Robots may not touch an opponent Robot in contact with its Key, Alley, or Bridge.
Violation: Foul; Technical-Foul for purposeful, consequential contact.
And neither does the GDC:
Quote:

Game - The Game » Robot-Robot Interaction » G28
Q. Can a robot (that is not in violation of G28) touch or enter the key or alley of the other alliance?
A. Yes

Thermal 16-01-2012 00:36

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by farmersvilleRob (Post 1106544)
You can shoot from anywhere and make it every time with math :]
And we did until we weighed pros and cons with prototyping and mathematical analysis. Balancing will be a huge challenge considering its worth a lot of points (relatively) and the boards are pretty small for 3 bots. Also, collecting off the ground doesn't necessarily mean something that runs along the ground. Gripping on the holes is considered grappling as well if suction cups are, so I would avoid even touching them. Draw a spreadsheet to find the needed acceleration and muzzle velocity for even 20 feet away. It's some rather big numbers for that 11.2 oz ball. You can block an alley easy if you just rolled over there in the last half minute "collecting basketballs". And when threading the needle, I would rather have my robot thread a needle than a driver. Like a sewing machine versus a hand sewer. Though the hand stitching may look prettier, the sewing machine proves a better more precise, versatile, dependable stitch.

I'm pretty curious as to these "rather large" numbers you're coming up with, because right now you're making it sound like my tape measure was actually measuring in centimeters when I fired a ball 20ft on saturday with some rough cut plywood, poor bushings, a very skewed chain run, and 2 fisher price motors powering a single traction wheel.....

I believe after your first regional, you'll appreciate what BJC and artdutra are saying a little bit more. No offense, but they have a combined 14 years of FIRST experience. If you think 20ft is hard with a poof ball, you should of seen the teams doing it with a 12lb track ball in 2008....

farmersvilleRob 16-01-2012 00:41

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom I (Post 1106561)
Look I really hate chewing someone out on this forum, I feel that it's destructive to the FIRST environment and goes against Gracious Professionalism, but you sir are off your rocker. Do you really doubt the ability to throw 3 poof balls at the same time?? FIRST Team 95, the Grasshoppers, seemed to have no problems launching 6 balls in the air at the same time in 2006... and that was with 2 FP's... Seriously, I think a lot of your opinions are exactly that, opinions. Please trust the people who've "been there and done it" when it comes to what is feasible. Stating your ideas is wonderful and encouraged, but bashing others' opinions is not GP and over the line. Please back off.

GP? When ideas clash ideas clash, and there's nothing wrong with arguing about designs. And everything on here can be considered opinions considering I seriously doubt anyone has a fully functioning robot. Also, your "been there done that" idea shouldn't make that big of an impact in the game since it's not the same game. I'm actually not bashing other's opinions either. Criticism means pointing out the flaws which is more important than pointing out the pros. It's about weighing the flaws that provides the necessary modifications or what have you. If I were to post a question about my design ideas or my design, I would rather have flaws pointed out than encouragement.

farmersvilleRob 16-01-2012 00:44

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Thermal (Post 1106568)
I'm pretty curious as to these "rather large" numbers you're coming up with, because right now you're making it sound like my tape measure was actually measuring in centimeters when I fired a ball 20ft on saturday with some rough cut plywood, poor bushings, a very skewed chain run, and 2 fisher price motors powering a single traction wheel.....

I believe after your first regional, you'll appreciate what BJC and artdutra are saying a little bit more. No offense, but they have a combined 14 years of FIRST experience. If you think 20ft is hard with a poof ball, you should of seen the teams doing it with a 12lb track ball in 2008....

The math from my team's calculations says a 20 foot shot requires a ball to be traveling at 30.008 ft per sec. and up to 60 feet it's 49.004 ft per second.

Thermal 16-01-2012 00:46

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by farmersvilleRob (Post 1106571)
The math from my team's calculations says a 20 foot shot requires a ball to be traveling at 30.008 ft per sec. and up to 60 feet it's 49.004 ft per second.

And what makes 30fps hard to reach? Your robot already travels at 12-15 and it weighs 135lb...

Andrew Lawrence 16-01-2012 00:54

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by farmersvilleRob (Post 1106569)
GP? When ideas clash ideas clash, and there's nothing wrong with arguing about designs. And everything on here can be considered opinions considering I seriously doubt anyone has a fully functioning robot. Also, your "been there done that" idea shouldn't make that big of an impact in the game since it's not the same game. I'm actually not bashing other's opinions either. Criticism means pointing out the flaws which is more important than pointing out the pros. It's about weighing the flaws that provides the necessary modifications or what have you. If I were to post a question about my design ideas or my design, I would rather have flaws pointed out than encouragement.

Not to butt-in on the conversation, but this is getting way off-topic for terrible reasons. If this was an intelligent, well-developed conversation that actually benefitted people, then I wouldn't mind. However, that's not the case. I don't know how much engineering experience you have or how good you are at math/science, but everything you have been saying in this forum has been incorrect on all regards. Furthermore, you are arguing (yes, arguing, don't say you're not) with a few very highly esteemed people on Chief Delphi. These people are not only great engineers, but also people who know what they're talking about. So I ask that you please act graciously professional here, and respect everyone. CD is a fun place, but can be frustrating if you make it.

I'm not saying you're a bad guy/girl, however this is just a heads up. Double, if not triple check what you're about to say before you say it. Sometimes it can stop you from saying things you would have really regretted.

Thanks for listening, and good luck this season! :D

farmersvilleRob 16-01-2012 00:55

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Thermal (Post 1106572)
And what makes 30fps hard to reach? Your robot already travels at 12-15 and it weighs 135lb...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8U9u...eature=related

So this is basically a direct drive with 2 CIM motors, the chunkiest of the chunky, and at the maximum distance angle (45 degrees) he is hitting 23 feet. That's far enough to also cause more problems. (note the editing might not have been for just collecting the ball). And it doesn't seem to include the ball after ball wheel slow down either.

Andrew Lawrence 16-01-2012 00:57

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by farmersvilleRob (Post 1106576)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8U9u...eature=related

So this is basically a direct drive with 2 CIM motors, the chunkiest of the chunky, and at the maximum distance angle (45 degrees) he is hitting 23 feet. That's far enough to also cause more problems. (note the editing might not have been for just collecting the ball). And it doesn't seem to include the ball after ball wheel slow down either.

We did something similar (not saying exact though, team secret ;) ), and now have balls shooting out about 58-60 feet. No gearing, 100% legal.

Tom I 16-01-2012 01:05

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
So getting back to the OP, let's actually imagine these three robots actually coming to fruition and 3 teams out there actually fitting the predictions very closely. I think we'd all agree if they were on the same alliance, I sure as heck wouldn't wanna face them!! But how do you think they'd fair in the competition alone?

With bot 1, honestly I think that's what we're going to see the most of. A reliable close range shooter seems like a flexible design that can play the game very well. I think it'll have no problems playing alone or with any combination of other robots.
Bot 2 would definitely be impressive, but I feel as if defending teams could potentially learn it's weaknesses early in the competition and exploit them from then on out (for example, starve their ball supply somehow?). If that were to happen, the effectiveness of the design would go down as the competition progressed.
Bot 3 is definitely an interesting option, as it is a potentially "easy" concept for a new team to pursue and still be a very valuable alliance partner and competitor. I feel as if, however, unless they have a set alliance with a bot 1 and bot 2 going into a competition, I doubt they'd want to hide their ability. They'd probably want to show it off well and early to gain notoriety and increase their chances of being pick for an alliance, if they're not high seeded to begin with.

If you can't tell, I love this kind of theory-robotics! Of course, I also love the real world magic that teams make happen, and I can't wait for week 1 at GSR to see the designs that do get built. Good luck to all!

Alex.q 16-01-2012 01:08

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by farmersvilleRob (Post 1106544)
You can shoot from anywhere and make it every time with math :]
And we did until we weighed pros and cons with prototyping and mathematical analysis. Balancing will be a huge challenge considering its worth a lot of points (relatively) and the boards are pretty small for 3 bots. Also, collecting off the ground doesn't necessarily mean something that runs along the ground. Gripping on the holes is considered grappling as well if suction cups are, so I would avoid even touching them. Draw a spreadsheet to find the needed acceleration and muzzle velocity for even 20 feet away. It's some rather big numbers for that 11.2 oz ball. You can block an alley easy if you just rolled over there in the last half minute "collecting basketballs". And when threading the needle, I would rather have my robot thread a needle than a driver. Like a sewing machine versus a hand sewer. Though the hand stitching may look prettier, the sewing machine proves a better more precise, versatile, dependable stitch.

Even if you are jsut collecting balls, I believe contact in the alley is a 9pt penalty. Fairly substatial.

Katie_UPS 16-01-2012 01:12

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
I wanna one-up the half court shooter. I wanna see a robot that can line up in front of the feeder station and pitch-machine top hoop goals consistently. I'm not well-versed on motor math, so I have no idea how feasible this is, but its something I'd like to see.

qwerty 16-01-2012 01:21

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom I (Post 1106583)
Bot 2 would definitely be impressive, but I feel as if defending teams could potentially learn it's weaknesses early in the competition and exploit them from then on out (for example, starve their ball supply somehow?). If that were to happen, the effectiveness of the design would go down as the competition progressed.

But the only way to starve it from balls is to not score because the balls that go to the robot would come from the corral. That is obviously not a thing you would want to be doing. And because the lane is protected, you can not play defense in that area on the robot without being penalized.

Tom I 16-01-2012 01:28

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by qwerty (Post 1106598)
But the only way to starve it from balls is to not score because the balls that go to the robot would come from the corral. That is obviously not a thing you would want to be doing. And because the lane is protected, you can not play defense in that area on the robot without being penalized.

Right, I get that. But let's say this robot is parked right next to the bridge in the alley. That's almost 20 feet of open alley from where the balls are entered onto the field to their robot. Conceivably, a quick bot could slip in and out, stealing balls bouncing down the lane without being touched by other robots, before they get to Bot 2. I dunno, I'm just playing this out as a worst case scenario. My point is, there is no perfect solution to a FIRST game. If there was, everyone would do it! I'm betting that some team would find a creative way to "defend" somehow, and once that's known, every team would want to be sure to cover them if they're on opposing alliances. Again, this is all "theory robotics" with potential designs.

Hawiian Cadder 16-01-2012 02:04

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
There will definitely be some variation of a point blank range high level scoring robot. I think that another type of robot which could be neat is one where another robot is able to drive on top of it, and then both balance as a unit. because many robots will be able to drive over the bump and up the ramp i could see this being viable with a ramp which lowered down outside the bumpers.

Tom I 16-01-2012 02:16

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Hawiian Cadder (Post 1106626)
There will definitely be some variation of a point blank range high level scoring robot. I think that another type of robot which could be neat is one where another robot is able to drive on top of it, and then both balance as a unit. because many robots will be able to drive over the bump and up the ramp i could see this being viable with a ramp which lowered down outside the bumpers.

Balancing on top of another robot... now THAT's creative! haha we saw that in 2007 with Rack 'n' Roll. My only thing with that is I would soooooooooooo not trust anyone to be able to balance our robot atop theirs, navigate a 20 degree incline, and risk a 1' drop on either side of a balance teeter-totter... I think I'll stick with balancing the old fashioned way. But man that would be something to see!

CalTran 16-01-2012 02:45

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
That would be quite a site to see. It may end up being something like the 2337/2959 suspension of MSC back in 2010. But I agree with Tom I, I would most certainly not trust putting anyone on top of our robot. Imagine if something were to go wrong! The humanity of suddenly having 150lbs of robot suddenly falling on our baby! *gasp*

Djur 16-01-2012 10:02

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Katie_UPS (Post 1106590)
I wanna one-up the half court shooter. I wanna see a robot that can line up in front of the feeder station and pitch-machine top hoop goals consistently. I'm not well-versed on motor math, so I have no idea how feasible this is, but its something I'd like to see.

Seconded!

Alpha Beta 16-01-2012 11:50

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by CalTran (Post 1106640)
But I agree with Tom I, I would most certainly not trust putting anyone on top of our robot

I think the specialty robot would go on bottom. Show me you can do it, and I'd put mine on top for the extra 20 points.

The bridges in the practice area are going to be very busy during the saturday lunch break. Teams would bennfit from having extra bridges available at this time.

apalrd 16-01-2012 13:15

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Hawiian Cadder (Post 1106626)
I think that another type of robot which could be neat is one where another robot is able to drive on top of it, and then both balance as a unit.

Like This robot (another pic)

JesseK 16-01-2012 13:41

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Assuming a 60 degree arc length of contact on a 8" 1-wheel shooter at ~2400 RPM, the ball needs a minimum of 500 watts transferred to it after inefficiencies in order to go 54 feet (~42 ft/s for middle goal). This is doable with a heavy flywheel that has plenty of spin-up time and 4 Banebots RS-550 motors connected to the same wheel. At 63% overall efficiency, that's ~67 amps of current while a ball is in the shooter. If you sit in one spot, that's chump change.

The kinematic equations are your friends this year.
Vf^2 = Vi^2 + 2 * a * d
You have D, Vf, and Vi. You can find a, which then can give you required force via F = m * a, and then a torque via Tau = Force * radius of the wheel. Then you can multiply Torque (N*m) * Wheel speed (rotations / second) and you get power required.

Of course, that assumes a perfect flywheel effect and a perfect contact patch between ball and wheel, so YMMV. Prototype it.

It also assumes that a 84" tall robot will never block the shot, heh. We aren't even attempting it because the trajectory length is so long that a variance of ~0.7 degrees in the shooter causes the shot to miss. That's not worth putting 4 motors on the shooter.

Joe Ross 16-01-2012 13:42

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by apalrd (Post 1106879)

How about this: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/27756

JamesCH95 16-01-2012 13:47

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by JesseK (Post 1106913)
Assuming a 60 degree arc length of contact on a 8" 1-wheel shooter at ~2400 RPM, the ball needs a minimum of 500 watts transferred to it after inefficiencies in order to go 54 feet (~42 ft/s for middle goal). This is doable with a heavy flywheel that has plenty of spin-up time and 4 Banebots RS-550 motors connected to the same wheel. At 63% overall efficiency, that's ~67 amps of current while a ball is in the shooter. If you sit in one spot, that's chump change.

The kinematic equations are your friends this year.
Vf^2 = Vi^2 + 2 * a * d
You have D, Vf, and Vi. You can find a, which then can give you required force via F = m * a, and then a torque via Tau = Force * radius of the wheel. Then you can multiply Torque (N*m) * Wheel speed (rotations / second) and you get power required.

Of course, that assumes a perfect flywheel effect and a perfect contact patch between ball and wheel, so YMMV. Prototype it.

It also assumes that a 84" tall robot will never block the shot, heh. We aren't even attempting it because the trajectory length is so long that a variance of ~0.7 degrees in the shooter causes the shot to miss. That's not worth putting 4 motors on the shooter.

500 watts for what length of time?

JesseK 16-01-2012 13:49

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesCH95 (Post 1106924)
500 watts for what length of time?

Well, since I know the watts required, and the distance of the arc length in the shooter wheel, I suppose we can calculate time since [Power = Force * distance / time]. Yet the rotational power required was calculate via [Power = Torque * Rotation Speed]. Thus we didn't need time. It does make a couple of assumptions, such as Power In = Power Out (power required by the ball is available in the shooter wheel).

The whole point of the exercise is to figure out what motors to use and what shooter wheel radius to use. It's "doable", but personally I wouldn't bet my season on it being successful.

JamesCH95 16-01-2012 14:57

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by JesseK (Post 1106927)
Well, since I know the watts required, and the distance of the arc length in the shooter wheel, I suppose we can calculate time since [Power = Force * distance / time]. Yet the rotational power required was calculate via [Power = Torque * Rotation Speed]. Thus we didn't need time. It does make a couple of assumptions, such as Power In = Power Out (power required by the ball is available in the shooter wheel).

The whole point of the exercise is to figure out what motors to use and what shooter wheel radius to use. It's "doable", but personally I wouldn't bet my season on it being successful.

Okay, I didn't see anywhere that you assumed length of time/distance over which the ball would be in contact with the wheel and was curious. I also wanted to make sure you didn't have a units jumble somewhere.

JesseK 16-01-2012 15:49

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesCH95 (Post 1106993)
Okay, I didn't see anywhere that you assumed length of time/distance over which the ball would be in contact with the wheel and was curious. I also wanted to make sure you didn't have a units jumble somewhere.

Heh, distance was in the first few words of the post, but perhaps it should be "8-inch diameter 1-wheel shooter". And personally before I run calculations I convert everything to metric since most of the motors specs I have are metric (Newton-meter for torque). The units check out.

LafondaOnFire 16-01-2012 15:51

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
I'd love to see a robot that basically blocks the view of drivers. Since you can extend to 84 inches up and 14 inches out on the side of the field where you score, that is right in front of the opposing alliance's drive team right? Well I'm wondering if a team will abuse this fact and have a giant blanket to completely obstruct a drive team's view of the entire field. What a predicament that would be!

The drive team would need to rely on instructions from the Inbounders or other teams as to how to navigate their robot. This sort of robot would be a fantastic third pick for any alliance. With two solidly scoring robots, just pick a third as an annoyer. Well, more than an annoyer. It might deem teams unable to score or balance the bridge since they can see nothing.

Ninja_Bait 16-01-2012 15:53

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
*cough*R08*cough*

EricH 16-01-2012 16:01

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by LafondaOnFire (Post 1107022)
I'd love to see a robot that basically blocks the view of drivers. Since you can extend to 84 inches up and 14 inches out on the side of the field where you score, that is right in front of the opposing alliance's drive team right? Well I'm wondering if a team will abuse this fact and have a giant blanket to completely obstruct a drive team's view of the entire field. What a predicament that would be!

There's a chain of rules that will lead in the general direction of a Red Card if this strategy is attempted. [R01] starts the chain (inspection will keep the robot off the field), then you get the safety rules and egregious behavior rules, as well as having to be legal to compete (and failure to be legal is a disablement at minimum).

LafondaOnFire 16-01-2012 16:10

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by EricH (Post 1107032)
There's a chain of rules that will lead in the general direction of a Red Card if this strategy is attempted. [R01] starts the chain (inspection will keep the robot off the field), then you get the safety rules and egregious behavior rules, as well as having to be legal to compete (and failure to be legal is a disablement at minimum).

Well if you start 60 inches tall or less and have no appendages outside the perimeter of the frame would it still be an issue with R01? The only other possible rule violation I found is [G07]

Quote:

[G07]
If at any time a Robot’s operation or design is deemed unsafe, the Robot will be disabled for the remainder of the Match. If the safety violation is due to the Robot design, the Head Referee has the option to not allow the Robot back onto the Court until the design has been corrected.
Violation: Foul and disablement

An example of unsafe operation would be uncontrolled motion that cannot be stopped by the Drivers.
So the only concern I could think of is that it is unsafe to blindly be driving your robot on the field. Since the actions are fully intentional, it would have to cause an unsafe situation on the field.
If I missed a rule that does indeed clearly prevent this idea, please point it out. I can't find anything else in particular but it would be great for future reference. Not to mention I'd never see this idea :P

JesseK 16-01-2012 16:15

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Really, if you so wholeheartedly believe you will get away with blinding the opponents with a 84" blanket, go ahead. Just don't come crying to CD when you don't get to compete.

LafondaOnFire 16-01-2012 16:18

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by JesseK (Post 1107048)
Really, if you so wholeheartedly believe you will get away with blinding the opponents with a 84" blanket, go ahead. Just don't come crying to CD when you don't get to compete.

This isn't our design in the slightest - I just thought it would be a neat idea. Hence this thread's title: "3 robots designs I hope to see this season"
It's something I'd like to see this season :p A different strategy that I've never heard about before - maybe it's for a reason, though.

JesseK 16-01-2012 16:21

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by LafondaOnFire (Post 1107050)
This isn't our design in the slightest - I just thought it would be a neat idea. Hence this thread's title: "3 robots designs I hope to see this season"
It's something I'd like to see this season :p A different strategy that I've never heard about before - maybe it's for a reason, though.

So really you wish to see the inevitable heartbreak of another team rather than going through it yourself?

I could go on and on. Perhaps you should put down the shovel rather than keep digging; we'll just let this one slide :rolleyes:.

EricH 16-01-2012 16:23

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by LafondaOnFire (Post 1107043)
Well if you start 60 inches tall or less and have no appendages outside the perimeter of the frame would it still be an issue with R01?

Oops, I should have checked. [R08], see line A in the blue box. This is intended to interfere with vision, so it's a violation.

Then you throw in [G07]...

LafondaOnFire 16-01-2012 16:33

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by JesseK (Post 1107054)
So really you wish to see the inevitable heartbreak of another team rather than going through it yourself?

I could go on and on. Perhaps you should put down the shovel rather than keep digging; we'll just let this one slide :rolleyes:.

Haha, alright then.

On another note that is in full compliance with the rules (I hope, lol) is involving two robots working together to score. I've seen a number of people here talking about robots sitting in their alley and feeding the basketballs to their scoring side of the field. It would be impressive if the feeding robot could directly receive basketballs to a scoring ally robot, as in, the receiving robot has some way to receive basketballs in the top of their robot that are fed from the feederbot. This way, the only possibility for the opposing alliance to steal basketballs is from missed shots. Just another idea (even if more realistic) to throw out there.
I would also like to see the inbounders feeding basketballs to their robot this way in the last 30 seconds.

Something like this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricH (Post 1107055)
Oops, I should have checked. [R08], see line A in the blue box. This is intended to interfere with vision, so it's a violation.

Then you throw in [G07]...

Gotcha, I missed [R08] before. Thanks ^^

Ninja_Bait 16-01-2012 16:43

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Ninja_Bait (Post 1107025)
*cough*R08*cough*

Apparently I need to be more obvious with rule-based quotes. I said this an hour ago.

LafondaOnFire 16-01-2012 16:58

Re: 3 robots designs I hope to see this season
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Ninja_Bait (Post 1107068)
Apparently I need to be more obvious with rule-based quotes. I said this an hour ago.

For whatever reason, I misread that as [G08] and that rule was not applicable to a giant blanket. Sorry about that - you were indeed correct.


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