Re: Shooter designs from the 2008 Overdrive season
 

This should give you all of the info you need. It goes into detail with pictures of what mechanisms Simbot SS had to win Championships. Take a look!

Re: Shooter designs from the 2008 Overdrive season
 

Does anybody know how long the winch took to cycle? That is:

How long did it take between one shot and the next firing at max rate? I understand that max rate fire wasn't important in 2008, but this year....

Re: Shooter designs from the 2008 Overdrive season
 

We actually looked at doing a 2008 SS clone of some sort.
After some intense discussions, we feel that robots like 16's and what we've seen with 3 day robots are more suited for this year's game.
If we are just shooting over a truss, then absolutely. But passing, making high/low goal shots, catching, etc. makes it a lot tougher.

This year especially, I highly doubt we will see a dominating robot like SS was during 2008. I hope I'm proven wrong..

Re: Shooter designs from the 2008 Overdrive season
 

We started doing some "resizing" of 1114's 2008 bot and found that the the new aspects that you pointed out make their design quite difficult to apply to this game. It will be interesting to see if anyone can cram that design into a package that can accomplish all the game aspects. I hope to see it.

As for the dominance of Simbot SS, that is a robot with a dominance that will be VERY hard to ever duplicate.

Re: Shooter designs from the 2008 Overdrive season
 

I have not digested this year's rules yet.
Does the "robot in 3 days" conform to this year's rules?

It looks like it might be a good start but might be best to add more punch to the ball launcher and add some way to change the pitch for shooting or passing at various distances.

Also, wouldn't meccanum wheels and a fast geared up bot be useful in this year's game?

I anticipate a lot of scrimmage and a manuverable bot that can get in and out of spots might be the ticket.

Any thoughts on this?

thanks fo the ideas guys...

Re: Shooter designs from the 2008 Overdrive season
 

The winch retracted the launcher back to firing position in about 2 seconds. We could have geared it faster, but it wasn't necessary. (We could drive around field pretty quickly that year, but not that quickly. :P)

Re: Shooter designs from the 2008 Overdrive season
 

Wild guess...2/3 of the time you will be playing defense. So build a drive base that is good at pushing other robots around.

Re: Shooter designs from the 2008 Overdrive season
 

Seconded.

Re: Shooter designs from the 2008 Overdrive season
 

Yes please, please do that.

Sincerely, every one of your future alliance partners.

Re: Shooter designs from the 2008 Overdrive season
 

Considering how much your success depends on how well you work with others how well a team works together and works with others is actually more important than the robot itself.

Re: Shooter designs from the 2008 Overdrive season
 

If done right, a mecanum drive might be a great way to go. Defensively it might be good at being in the way of the low goal and playing 'kinetic defense' whereby you ram another robot at a high speed to disrupt whatever activity they are attempting.

I think just getting in the way, especially causing fast robots to slow down to avoid you and/or force robots to push you (ideally sideways) will be the most efficient way to play defense. I would be awfully surprised if a robot could routinely 'open field pin' another robot and force it back across the field, especially during eliminations. Success against the average kit-bot? Probably. Success against many custom drivetrains with high traction wheels? I am doubtful.

Re: Shooter designs from the 2008 Overdrive season
 

team 1248 has been looking at 2008's game and noticed that only small modifications will be needed to team 16's pick up design. Now the idea of catching the ball with such robot is a bit tougher. anyone have any ideas on teams with catching mechanisms that will fit with a design like that?

Re: Shooter designs from the 2008 Overdrive season
 

I think this will help a bit. im pretty sure this robot was a big factor in at least a regional win. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvAT-a1TkMQ