Vacuum Pickup
 

Here's a quick test we did using a cut-down bucket left over from our 2013 Frisbee hopper: http://youtu.be/tPNvIXTAd4s

Obviously we couldn't use a 110VAC shop vac, but we could connect a legal motor to the blower.

Re: Vacuum Pickup
 

That seems possible. Then, you could have a kicker to kick the ball away from the robot.
If you do that, don't forget to place a shoe on the armature, just for the sake of LOLs.

You might want to try it out with a BAG. They will get up to 14,000RPM, so you'd need to see if that'd work, otherwise, 550s, 775s, AMs, etc. Just don't try a window motor :D.

For the kicker, you'd need to relieve the pressure as soon as kicker is about to hit it, to prevent having your vacuum following the ball into the goal, breaking it and getting your robot disabled.

Also, are you going to use the vacuum cleaner or are you going to build your own contraption? I'd like to see how it goes :D

Re: Vacuum Pickup
 

We used a vacuum in 2010 and it worked well. we cut the guts out of a shop vac like the one in the video and replaced the motor that drove the fan with a Fisher Price motor. It worked well.

Re: Vacuum Pickup
 

Yeah, having our robot kick itself to death would be entertaining for the spectators, but won't help us win any matches.

A kicker might work. Or swing the ball up & drop it in a catapult.

Re: Vacuum Pickup
 

Just for ha has I ordered the 'snowblower motor' that was on Andymark FIRST Choice. (Was practically the only thing left to order.) Don' know if we'll use it, but wanted to see if it could be used for ball pick-up or perhaps autonomous defense;)

Re: Vacuum Pickup
 

How far is the effective range on this? I'd like to see a prototype with a miniCIM or something to actually evaluate the effectiveness. Looks way too good to be true.

Re: Vacuum Pickup
 

The minicim would need to be geared up (increase rpm) to really be effective. Plenty of other motors could be run direct drive with this.

Re: Vacuum Pickup
 

There really isn't a "range". We have to make contact with the ball to get a seal. Alignment will be a challenge (as with any floor pick-up device). Perhaps v-shaped guides on the front of the bot?

A proper vacuum cup would probably be more forgiving to misalignment, but we had a lot of butchered-up buckets lying around the shop.

Re: Vacuum Pickup
 

I've got a shop vac like that, 2.5hp IIRC. That's about 1800watts of power. For reference, a CIM peaks around 350W and generally all other motors are less.

You might have a rough time given power limitations of FIRST-legal motors and the battery. Prototype, prototype, prototype... and consider contingency plans.

Re: Vacuum Pickup
 

Pay no attention to the power ratings of shop vacs, they are sales hype. That vac does not produce 2 1/2 HP. They play with inrush current and/or stall current to get the "peak horsepower" rating.

Re: Vacuum Pickup
 

Dont go by what the HP rating is on the vac the manufactures play games with those numbers. Shop vacs dont draw 15 amps. I am looking at ours thats rated for 2.5 HP peak and it draws slightly less than 8 and is rated at 9 amps. Still not close to 350w.

Re: Vacuum Pickup
 

Most multimeters should be able to measure the average current draw.

Re: Vacuum Pickup
 

Good info, thanks.

Re: Vacuum Pickup
 

We made a suction system for the 2008 game, FRC1771 did also.
You can see a modified version used in our quick video from this year:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FyQQt_3u0Y.

This is a banebots 550 running a shop vac impeller. The seal is not ideal, as we just ripped the weather stripping previously used at the edge to form a seal around a smaller circle in the cone. The cone is also not shaped to this size ball.

Re: Vacuum Pickup
 

Careful. Most multimeters have an internal fuse and are very limited in the amount of current they can measure. You will probably need an ammeter if you're using a 12V motor.

We tried to use a single fisher price for vacuum since the centrifugal fan that came from our 12V shop vac was rated at 16,000 rpm. However, the fan was enough load that the constant motion destroyed the FP. I remember another team that geared up cims and used 2 to create enough suction to hold the soccer ball.

I can't remember which team it was, but they did post the pictures here on Delphi.

Here's a part of the thread where they discuss the model number:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...cim+impell er