Stinger
 

I've heard numerous references to the "stingers" from 2012, but I have no idea what they are. Pictures? Video? Descriptions?

Re: Stinger
 

http://youtu.be/kJREahxuy4Q?t=1m53s

This is 33's from last year. I picked them because bees=stringers and such, but 148 was the first team to show one off at Alamo(I believe). It's the long thing on the back of their robot that helps them balance the bridge.

Re: Stinger
 

Team 33, The Killer Bees, would be the team to look at. They would hang the front of their robot off of a bridge balanced on a fulcrum, use a mechanism to get the bridge to near level, allow their alliance partners to move around until the bridge became balanced, and then retract the mechanism.

Re: Stinger
 

A stinger was a termed coined to describe a bridge balancing aid. Team 148 was the first team, IMO that used this term and it became widely used by most teams.
Here's a video highlighting 340's stinger added post championship.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...&postcount=108

Re: Stinger
 

For a 2-robot balance, we specifically told our alliance partners to NOT move.

We had enough rear reach to push them to the balance point without them moving any further.

For a 3-robot balance, neither robot in front of us has to move (in fact the tripple in our reveal video was done with 2 unpowered robots), but we don't need any rearward reach for that anyway.

We also don't need to retract (the max downward reach is 10"), but we do because it's easier on the pit crew to not have to tether and boot up the robot to get ready for the next match (especially in elims).

IMO, there were two similar devices in 2012:
-The Stinger, what we have, with rearward reach, which is capable of being used in both 2-robot and 3-robot balances
-The Dingus (coined by Paul Copioli), fully contained within the frame perimeter, which is only capable of 3-robot balance without the other team moving. This is what 148 and many other teams had.

There's also what 67 had, which is neither.