Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Team 254, NASA Ames Robotics "The Cheesy Poofs", proudly presents our 2013 robot, Overkill.



(See team254.com/2013frc for more details and a photo without the text.)

Robot features:

• Quick and highly maneuverable 6-wheel drive. Driven by 6 motors in two-speed gearboxes with max speed of 20+ ft/sec
• Fast and reliable two-disc-wide intake acquires discs from floor, aligns them and indexes them in conveyor
• Dual angle adjustable-range shooter shoots discs from many positions on the near side of field
• Fast, high-powered conveyor and lifter mechanism ensure reliable feeding of discs into shooter
• Fast and reliable 10 point hanging mechanism can lift robot to hang from bar at the match end buzzer
• Quick 30 point hang mechanism lifts robot to top of pyramid with 2000+ watts of power from a drive gearbox power take-off (PTO)

Overkill will compete at the San Diego Regional, the Silicon Valley Regional, and the FIRST Championship.

Team 254 is sponsored by NASA Ames Research Center, BAE Systems, Ooyala, Gilbert Spray Coat, Pacific Coast Metal, Modern Machine, Polytec Products, S&S Welding, Good Plastics, Vivid-Hosting, Lumenetix, Arteris, Alta Energy, The Kumar Family, The Schnoor Family, Central Concrete, and Bellarmine College Preparatory.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

As always beautiful!

How long for the climb?

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Nice beautiful robot as always.
I particularly like the bolded above. :) Comes in handy when trying to unload the last set of 4 discs with less than 5 seconds left.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

I see you have 2 CIMs driving your shooter and a 6 motor drive- what are you driving your drivetrain with?

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

I think those are MiniCIMS on the shooter

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Beautiful as always, 254.

One question - how many discs can you hold? At your practice day, it seemed like you were only long enough to hold two.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Nice photo as always! Also, I see another arm / spatula for picking up frisbees, but this time it serves as a drop down intake. I can't wait to see it in action on the webcasts for San Diego. What a marvel of engineering

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Amazing packaging...there's a 30 point climber in there? :P

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Nice CAD model, now post a picture of your robot! oh wait....

Cant wait to see how you deal with the shifting COG when climbing that quickly, this will be a fun robot to watch.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Beautiful robot, as always. I love the special kind of elegance 254 brings to their bots. I definitely can't wait to watch the stream to see it in action at San Diego!

I'd imagine there is a funny back story to the name 'Overkill'..?

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

How does the pickup align discs for the conveyor? Passive alignment? Does the width allow you to pick up two discs at the same time, or just make things easier on the drivers?

Beautiful bot.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Looks killer! Can't wait to see it in action.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

I believe you mean "Overkiller"

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

It can intake 2 discs at the same time and is sorted with a passive funnel that is not shown.

It can hold 4 discs.

This is the most complicated and "Overkill" robot we have built in our history. The name was fitting.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Looks amazing guys! Can't wait to see it compete this weekend and then in person at champs, love everything about it!

One question though, is the front intake roller hinged or stationary?

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Regarding the name, Overkill appears to be a cassette tape that transforms into a dinosaur. Don't judge this poof by its cover.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

20 ft/sec...

As always, excellent robot, can't wait to see it climb this weekend!

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Great looking robot! Can't wait to compete with you guys at SD.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Super clean as always. Good luck Poofs!

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

As mentioned, those are mini CIMs on the shooter. We have all 6 full size CIMS on the drive. We wanted to have an all CIM robot and nickname it CIMBot in honor of 1114, but we ended up having to throw on a 550. Bummer.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Darn BAG motor inductor problems. :(

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

No BAG motors. 4 Mini CIMs and 6 Full size. We just needed 1 more motor.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

They have a dual level conveyor. There's a neat little flipper that moves between the two.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

6 x CIM drivetrain
2x Mini-CIM shooter
1x Mini-CIM ground accumulator
1x Mini-CIM conveyor
1x 550 ground accumulator articulation?

Assuming you're using pneumatics for the shifting and PTO, why not just go with a pneumatic deployment for the groud accumulator? Or am I guessing wrong for the application of the 550?

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Correct.

We ran out of time and a versaplanetary was used instead of a more complicated pneumatic linkage. We have the extra solenoids on a manifold to do a pneumatic actuation if time permits and we feel it would be better.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Change the shooter wheels before you take the picture.:rolleyes:

Another awesome looking cheesy bot, I've been waiting to see this for weeks.:) Surprised that you guys didn't go with the traditional frame style that you used since 2007 (except for 2010).

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Not sure what you mean. This frame is almost identical in construction to our 2011 robot.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

The vertical piece that goes close to the height limit with every thing integrated nicely onto it.

2007 - elevator
2008 - ball grabbing elevator
2009 - ball transferring system + hopper
2011 - elevator
2012 - hopper and shooter

I am cheesy bot obsessed, it could be a problem.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

LOL I actually still have that Transformer in a bag somewhere.

Quality bot as always - can't wait to see how it works out.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

I think you are talking about the super-structure. If so, its still there! Everything on this years robot is small and packaged in/around/behind/on top of everything else. The hanging arms mount to a 1 x 2 super structure that is hidden behind the side shield.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

I dont see a decepticon sticker. Im a bit skeptical this is real ;)

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Ounces are hard to come by...the back panel with the nameplate got put on the chopping block.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

They have them on a whole lot of their robots, look at the bridge here and shooter here.

What is the story behind these? I have always wondered...

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

All our robots since 2008 have been named after Decepticons.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

10 pt after match hanger and 30 pt pto? How does it all fit inside that tiny robot? I take it the 10 is on gas shocks, and the 30's are something similar to how Titanium's 30pt hooks come out of the abyss of their robot?

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

The 10's are on some beefy pneumatic pistons. For the 30 pointer, the 10 point hooks work together with the PTO arms to scale the ladder.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

How do you get pistons to raise post match?

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

If the double solenoids are fired the instant before the buzzer, the pressure will lift the robot.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Because it uses pneumatics, as long as you tell it to start moving before power gets killed, it will keep moving until it reaches the end. another option is to use a single solenoid that is always down when no power is applied. That way you apply power to raise it, and no matter what it will always retract at the end. Our climber lock uses a mechanism like this to make it so our robot cannot fall.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Any chance of posting pictures of those pto drive train gearboxes?

Awesome robot, I think I will have to go to San diego to see this robot and 1538's.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

It is actually a single solenoid, default retracted (hanging). When the robot is disabled, the solenoid power is cut and the piston retracts, raising the robot if the hooks are over the bar.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

On a side note, is CIM really supposed to be pronounced like "sim"? We've always said "see eye em".

I'm also really interested in seeing those PTO gearboxes.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

We call it "sim". It's faster to say. Most people say it the same way, I think, though some say CIM.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

My new desktop background... Great job guys.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Looks stretched and pixely, try this instead.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Why did you guys choose the minicims over the bag motors for your shooter/collector? I'm guessing you had the weight to spare and just geared them to your liking.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

and the 233 + 254 collaboration continues...

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Oh don't worry, that's just the screenshot being low res. I have the full res version (4928x3264). :)

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

We tried two BAG motors. They don't have enough oomph for our liking.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Do you guys have any interesting programming or electrical designs (that obviously wouldn't come out in a picture)?

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

The electrical system is pretty standard, nothing but stock components and off the shelf sensors.

We release our software every season after Championships, so check back then for more info. I can tell you that we decided to move from C++ to Java this year and are pretty pleased.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

This machine is too cool. Can't wait to see it up close.

How's the wear on the banebot wheels (assuming that's what those are) in your shooter? We've found (the hard way) that once they're well worn, you may as well not have a shooter at all.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

So beautiful. Your machines always inspire me.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Oh boy, can't wait to see the Java codebase :)

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

So, how about a back view or a close up on your climber? Or are you hiding that until competition?

A close up of your drive pto would be nice too! xP

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Is their a release video of "Overkill" be nice to see it o well cant wait to watch it on the webcast

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

I can't stop staring. Thanks for posting this beauty.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

So, to tally up the votes, a close up of everything, code included, would be nice. If you could just disassemble your robot and include a how to Overkill guide, that would be much appreciated. Please and thank you! :rolleyes: :D

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Heck, you could release a full CAD model, while we're at it... :rolleyes:

But seriously. I'm incredibly sad I'll be missing seeing Overkill in action (that entire attending a regional thing) until SVR.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Well that's just silly. What is this "CAD" thing you speak of? Isn't the saying measure once, cut twice? :rolleyes:

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Wait, this picture isn't a CAD render? :rolleyes:

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

do you know what will happen if you high-center on a frisbee? if your other bots are anything to go on, your usual diamond- pattern bellypan might not agree with a fribee.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Interesting how 696's design is very similar in many ways, at least in concept. Makes me think we might have done something right. However, yours is much more refined, as usual. See you in San Diego on Saturday!

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

I have a lot of friends who want to see close up pictures of your robot but may not be attending championships to see it. Would you be alright with me taking some pictures at SVR and distributing them?

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

All I can think of when reading the motor allocations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygBP7...e_gdata_player

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

254 hasn't collaborated with 233, 968, or anyone since 2010. Source: my inside source.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

True for some definitions of collaboration. False for others.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Whoever CADded your DDI arm had way too much fun :p
Thanks for signing up for SD guys!

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Fair enough. It'd be weird to not talk to others at all. Then a good definition is collaborating to the extent of very similar looking robots like 2010.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Mentors from both our teams talk on a regular basis about what/how we're doing, but we've never formally exchanged ideas beyond a "hey, you have any ideas for ___" type deal.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

QFT.
I still remember calling you during week 3 of build season during 2010 asking about the use of FP motors with the AM planetary gearbox as our drive motors, because of your experiences using them.
Robot moved very smoothly as a wide-bot and was able to traverse the bump because CIMs in place of our drive motors couldn't clear it.
It was one of our worst build seasons to date because the motors kept stalling after hard use.

You asked me one question......."How about a long bot 8 wheel drive?"

We made the tough decision to scrap everything and start over.
However, it made the world of difference as we won 3 regionals that year, IRI, along with a 47 match non-losing streak at one point.

Sure it wasn't collaboration, but man, the advice on what not to do panned out.

Thanks Cory. :)

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

That kind of idea exchange is the way to go. We even do kickoff and the morning of day 1 with a few other teams from the area. Keeps ideas and advice flowing, but you aren't locked in with another team if there're disagreements. (25 and 103 seem to be a good counterexample though)

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Very nice looking robot. I think it's telling that we can see a picture of it versus a video. It was a trying season for us too.

Still thinking about a 9-disc autonomous (was eluded to in Week 4)?

Does it slot load over the top of the launcher, or from the floor?

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

I wouldn't look too into it. Although it has been a busy one, we've only ever had a polished release video once.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Awesome job guys, always a team that inspires. Any build blog to be released after the season over this year?

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Yeah, we should be releasing this year's blog after the end of the season.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

So how does your pickup arm work? Under the front roller and over the second? There seem to be a bunch of unused holes on the bottom edge of it, did you determine that a bottom piece was not needed or is that piece getting added on at competition?

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Funnel removed, it's a trade secret I bet.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

One thing I like about this pickup is that you don't have to drag a plate on the ground. I expected a lot more teams to use this sort of pickup, but so far I only know of two. ;)

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Always amazing cant wait to see you guys in St Louis!

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

I'll through my team into the list that used this style pickup although no where near as refined as 254 or 1986 its worked fairly well for us, we'll just have to see how it holds up this weekend

you can see it assorted pictures on our blog
http://team2175.com/blog/

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Our intake is nothing like 1986's. It doesn't articulate up to pull in frisbees. There are two rollers as others have mentioned which intake it through the slot in the bumpers.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Yep. We're different. Can't wait to see this in action. We're probably stuck at 7 discs in the autonomous with our design. I wonder if this will be fast enough to get 9? Very Cool. :cool:

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

This robot just inspires me FIRST is amazing

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

This sentence...

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Can't wait to see it, thanks for all the inspiration you guys deal out every year!

-D

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Do you guys have a video?

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Nope. We didn't have time before ship and our practice bot has too many bare metal parts on it right now ;)

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Like it?

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

That's cool! This has given me a cool idea for something to try later this year when we actually have time to take some nice photos. Just wondering if that background is supposed to be a gradient or if the banding is intentional? Like it either way.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

I liked the look of the banding, just a personal thing.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Got it. Just making sure it wasn't a color bit depth problem or something :) All to familiar with those from the horrid days of Windows Mobile.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

I just ended my days with Windows mobile yesterday. :D They weren't that horrid really. :)

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Might look better vector-traced? Since when you enlarge it distorts the image currently.

Also Shouldn't the background be "cheesy-blue" ;)?

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Actually 254 has a pretty defined branding document and page 13 has the specific color palettes and their uses.

Don't ask me how I know this info...

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Well, amazing. I am glad that team 751 did some things right. Our shooter looks less refined, but functionally the same. Also, I think, for a ten point hangar, ours is simpler and faster even

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

254's is a 30 point climber.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

They have both.

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

I thank thee for thine proof

Re: Team 254 Presents: Overkill
 

Does anybody know about 254's performance at San Diego today? It appears that they went 1-4 and are ranked 44/59. Just wondering if they got unlucky with alliance pairings or were they have issues communicating with the field?

Edit: I see on their twitter feed: