Robots that are "different"
 

This year, I have seen more similar robots than any past year I can remember. It looks like most robots have gone with some variation of roller collector and catapult, either a high pivot catapult like team Copioli, or a low pivot catapult like team JVN (most are like the latter). There are also a sprinkling of Boom Done style bots with el-toro. There are some exceptions, like the awesome roller shooter from 383, and the cool cannon of the Robonauts.

Are there any other "different" designs out there? I would like to see something different.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Excellent example! thank you!

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Not sure if you've already seen it, but here's our build season video with our robot reveal in it for "Freyja" which has a JVN style intake, but we opted for a back loading pivoting ballista/crossbow style launcher instead of a catapult.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KxsA...e_gdata_player

In the past few years, notably 2012, 2013, and 2014 my team has done a design that breaks away from the norm of design of lot of other robots. We do this intentionally to challenge our students, and now with Ri3D we try to not copy their designs entirely, or at all. In 2012 we had a short shooter that could stack a robot on top for double or triple balances, in 2013 we had a tall disk shooter that pivoted and organized disks linearly instead of stacked in a bucket style hopper, and in 2014 we did our launcher instead of a catapult.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

We also did a crossbow style launcher. I'll see if my team will let me post a pic today.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Given our relative inexperience (mostly have freshmen this year), using a more proven system enabled us to get a robot quickly done, test it successfully, and teach the freshmen members how to work the design process to a finish with minimal tool access (no access to CNC, plasma, 3D, adnauseum). Unique? Yep, we love plywood, Modulox transmissions and the AndyMark chassis! :) Different? Maybe....we got done and tested BEFORE "Bag and Tag" night was done! Did my team have a bunch of "stuff eatin' grins" when we were done? Yep! THAT was different!!!
See some of y'all at the Dallas Regional very soon.....

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Here's our team's bot, which I think is quite different than some of the other robots I've seen thus far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCSSvPxBeOM

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I think we have a somewhat unique design http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39687?

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

http://youtu.be/uk7nVST1lAQ

T-rx 145 used the el toro intake, but went with a hammer/boot/5lbs of steel weights ball launcher.

Simple yet effective.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Our difference comes in the how more than the what. We used constant force springs to tension our catapult, a pneumatic piston to lock the catapult down, and of course the articulating arms to lift the ball.

http://tinyurl.com/3337reveal

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Watch out for The Sabercats (4146) at AZ and LV. They have one of those unique designs that's right down your alley. :)

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater
This is our robot, I haven't seen any others like it, but there are probably some out there that are.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

My team has a robot that's pretty different. It has a linear launcher powered by surgical tubing and drawer sliders for shooting and to pick up and load the ball, we have a claw.
there's a picture on our website
http://trinitytritonsrobotics.com/gallery/

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I like to think our is pretty unique. Can't post anything yet though until premiere night is over.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Does a triangler bot count as different?

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

How can it be that no one has posted this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpSgUrsghv4
That's about as different as it gets. I really hope this is what their robot looks like (but obviously aluminum and powder coated a gorgeous blue).

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I think ours is pretty unique! Circular base with a swerve drive train and wheeled shooter.

Check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qom3cB0o2gA

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Our robot is turning out to be pretty different, although I didn't expect it to be. Check it out during premiere night.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Team 2403 uses a standard catapult, but we have a fairly unique pickup mechanism:
http://youtu.be/e1u6t0XuI4A

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

While 3512's design can clearly be traced back to a certain dominate robot from 2008, I think we have done a lot to make it our own. I have certainly not seen a bot with the same style of launcher as ours!

*Will be posting pictures and videos soon!

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...39#post1344939

1710 has a unique play style this year.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

We used a standard pickup and catcher, but will have a surprise this year. :)

Also, we have this: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...hreadid=127021

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

4301 went with an open-topped catcher (the framework of which can be seen here.)

We're also working on a combined pickup/release mechanism similar to 384 and 1086's 2008 robots.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I haven't seen too many robots like ours.

We went with a passive intake and a passive catching area.
Shooter is a swinging "hammer" (I know I have seen a few of those though.)

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39664

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Ours is not a copy
http://youtu.be/Bu5-NvMUQ-Y

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

There are a lot more design details in variations in the arm shooter class of robots. Similar form factor but tons of variety there.

I've seen a lot of cool catapult catching mechanisms too.

I expect the level of robot design parity to be similar to 2011.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Watch Dallas week 3...:rolleyes:

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Our robot is very unique! We wanted to share earlier but since we were part of the FRC Top 25 Premiere we had to wait until now.

Check out Sea Cobra here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfgvXcCyOnI

6 blue nitrile traction wheels that are 2" wide.
6 CIM VEX Pro Ball shifter 2.65x spread with 60:24 final reduction.
The 6" diameter shooter roller is powered by 2 RS550's in simile gearboxes to a 18:36 belt reduction.
The 3.5" pickup roller is powered by a miniCIM to a 15:62 belt reduction.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

The video of our robot SeaCobra is also on our new website as well as several pictures:

http://www.hbrlive.com :D

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5liIF6r0ZA

We use a "clamp" pickup which allows us to place the ball into another robot. We also have a shooter that can shoot from 18ft+ and a 2 ball autonomous.

EDIT: Better shot of the 2 ball autonomous. http://instagram.com/p/klCbsUMxFD/

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

4328 has a robot that's quite different.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k06o3UTVE8

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I'm not sure that they would appreciate you announcing that publicly...

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

95's robot is a bit different from the rest this year.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLDyeW2rJdc
I don't know how different it is, but I'm proud of it.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

But in all serious-ness, between 2008, build blitz, and Ri3D bots, there is very little that's actually different.

I will add, however, that the robots that are launching balls with wheels are very cool. My team ruled that design out due to the size of the ball, but props to teams for willing to give those designs their fair shake.

- Sunny G.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I personally think there is a good amount of variety. Maybe it's just me, but 3 different types of intake (horizontal roller, el toro, grabber) and 6 different types of shooter (pneumatic catapult, motor catapult, spring catapult, puncher, hammer, flywheels) is pretty good.

That being said, my team has an extremely unique design. We have never seen anything remotely similar to our intake, and only a few similar shooters. Plus, we have a couple of unique strategies that I don't see any teams designed for.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

And you respond to this graciousness with...

Maybe you should rethink your approach here lest others not be quite so gracious in the future. If they WANTED that information out there don't you think they'd share it?

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Actually when people asked if they could see the robot up close/take pictures we said yes, with the specific qualifier that any pictures or other information not be distributed beyond their own team members.

In general it is safe to assume that if a team has not posted pictures/video/details of their robot it is because they have a reason for wanting to do so at a later date.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I would echo this sentiment. It seems really odd to me that anyone would publicly discuss or reveal someone elses robot prior to the team itself revealing it or the teams first competition.

I'd be interested in understanding how someone would justify posting a photo to facebook or something like that without getting permission first.

Maybe I'm just getting to old.

-Adam

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Much wow, such different...

Seriously I loved the bot and the vid. Speaking of different Robots...

Here's ours:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsNYEIyRJWo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNV5pLFEB7E

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Ours is a bit different. I hope that turns out to be a good thing. We are hoping to play a game where the ball never touches the floor (we have Toro sticks for when that doesn't happen - like most of the time). Our shooter is a variable speed, belt driven, linear rail gun. The top end consists of bounce-free Lexan panels that don't require precise throws/alignment.We don't have our own video, but we play a cameo role in 2054's reveal (by the way, they had our permission to include us in the video): http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=127044

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

You robot does a great catch! Your panels really do seem bounce-free. That ball just sets in nicely. I can't remember which team I saw that had a net, but a net seems to be the other bounce-free solution to catching. I think your difference will benefit you in your catches. I'm glad to see more teams with linear lauching mechanisms. Good luck!

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

We do not have video posted of our complete robot yet, but we're using a 3-stage pneumatic puncher. With 7 pistons total, each powered by its own solenoid and tank, it fully extends in about 0.033 seconds. Look for the "Team 178 2014 Build" thread to see how we made it work.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I've always thought from the beginning that the challenge of Aerial Assist wasn't the robot, but the game. I'm far less interested in unique robot designs than I am in unique gameplay.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Seconded.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

The game definitely was something that I saw as a challenge more than the robot, especially since it relies on other teams to maximize the score. Our philosophy now is that we make a robot that can win matches on its own, or at least do well on its own in the event that alliance partners' robots don't show up, or do not work on the field. But in this year's game, the curve ball thrown is that we pretty much have to rely on other teams for points.

There are some strategies, however, that use one robot and human players to gain points, so no other robots are required to gain points that may have needed two robots in a strategy, so there's still a good chance of a match win with one robot against two or three.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Imitation is the best form of flattery.
Take this thread into consideration.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Team 4004 has a very different method compared to most teams! We would have submitted a video for top 25 however our catapult arm broke and bent in half! With that we spent all day Sunday and part of Monday to rebuild it stronger, improve the launch design overall, and put it all back together. That didn't leave us with enought time, so we hope to use part of our 6 hours to make one, LEDs flashing and all :D with that, we will be introducing Our 2014 robot, Grimlock.




Teaser: All-in-one mechanism. Pickup, shoot, catch. (Well somewhat catch, that's up to our programmers :D )

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

The design of our robot is not that different then most just how we power the shooter is different. We use 6 cims which is connected to the shooter by chain.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPc_...ature=youtu.be

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Ours is pretty different. Should be bringing out the unveil video next week. :cool:

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I'd like to introduce you to Maddox. (Though more of the team is leaning towards calling it Atlas, despite my input.)

All said and done, it performs much better than we expected! (But the math worked out, so why not try, right?) I'm sorry to say we don't have a video of picking up, but there are a few pretty nice shots in there!

In case you were wondering, our pickup is used by two extensions of the shooter mechanism acting as arms on servo control. (Here's a picture of it a bit more put together)

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

For me, the issue has always been how well someone does something, not just how creatively they do it. (Though there is definitely something to be said about effective use of unusual strategy.)

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I have seen many new drivetrain designs this year. 148, 118, 624, 3847 , 488 all have many unique drivetrain designs.

With only a single task and no endgame, designs all start to look very similar.
The VRC Toss Up Game has more challenges and wrinkles than the FRC game this year. Ultimate Ascent and Rebound Rumble were two of the best FRC games, Aerial Assist has to still play out, but the design and build season has been a bit underwhelming.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Aerial Assist is more complex than Rebound Rumble and on par with UA in terms of in game strategy. Though we have been spoiled the last two years.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Are there any other "different" designs out there? I would like to see something different.[/quote]

We are a the BoltBots Team 5040 and we are a rookie team with little experience . But our team built a wicked awesome goalie see our test
run . Sorry we don't have any slick production video to show off. Just this
video and some photos . The blocker center pole is 1 inch square steel tubing and has chain welded to the face of it . The
standard electrical channel supports the tubing . Extends to 112 inches in seconds . It can take a direct blow from the ball as hard as you can throw it and it deflect the shot . All these teams seem to be shooting great as long
as they have a clear shot at the goal. We may be the most hated team
out there for building such a beast . The ball shooter is a steel hammer that
swings around and hits the ball from the bottom . The ball picker is very simple like a fork lift style that also can be used to aim the ball at different targets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlBo...e_gdata_player

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39670

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39671

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39694

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39696

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39665

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39666

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39669

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39668

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

This robot is pretty sick.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I haven't seen many other catapult claws yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H1m34psFw8

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

1711 has such a "different" design this year.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I read through but are some teams (using the kicking style method) worried about their appendage damaging or snagging other robots during its swing for a G28 violation?

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Any game necessitates similar designs.

But here is one that is more unique?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FngzL85tBwE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Sg4yAD2YPY

Team 195, Southington CT CyberKnights.

Number 1 seed that lost in the QuarterFinals. (Check your bumpers!)

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Our robot is one of the only ones I've seen that uses belts to shoot the ball. The little flipper arms at the bottom move in and out like little arms to bring the ball closer, and the two sides with rollers and belts are tensioned with surgical tubing. We also have a winch-type system on the bottom of the cradle that the ball sits in and the winch pulls the arms tighter or lets them go looser. We 3D printed about 100 rollers in total, including extras.

http://imgur.com/czqIJg6

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Thanks PM, It is a unique design this year. 3 weeks of prototyping before the students even started the CAD. Looking forward to seeing you in Southington!

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I know somebody posted a CAD drawing of them earlier, but 1711 also uses belts fairly effectively. We worked with them at Escanaba and made it to Semifinals. Here's their release video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQY3FD4p6cA

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Ours is a bit different. We have a wheel shooter robot:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/40039?

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

With all due respect to 195, they have an incredible robot, the basic concept is similar to several teams this year (118, 971, 2590, 67...)

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

While our robot may not be unique in concept, being an elastic catapult, I think that what we do with it is pretty unique!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjSUAmLFnwY

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

And Shaker as well! Your utilization of constant force springs is impressive. We explored them, but ended up not using them. Very cool to see them implemented on another robot.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Check out 25

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I think we are a bit unique.

Youtube video here

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

My team 3467 Windham Windup has a robot like no other I've seen. The robot is completely ambidextrous. We have dual ball pickups, and a "sled-uchet" shooter; half sled and half trebuchet. The trebuchet part is a low mass sling which allows more energy to be transferred back into the ball for shooting/passing.

Here is the robot and UNH Competition footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EVAa...lMsJyhDvk57J7Q

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

433 has a unique looking robot, with more elastic tubing than you can imagine. I can't seem to find a picture of it though.

Check out 25's bot too! http://www.raiderrobotix.org/

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

4146, as seen on the AZ practice field. They had some shooter trouble, but will be competing in Vegas in a couple of weeks.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Team 3018 certainly has a unique and effective design this year! We completely forwent any stored energy and rather utilized a winch-driven linear shooter. The carriage lowers to the ground to pick up the ball, and a multi-sided intake effectively collects the game piece.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8sxcxqOOMA
Our design has proven quite effective as an offensive robot, as it has won us the Lake Superior Regional and gotten us to the finals of the Wisconsin regional.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wBP8sIBLnM

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I would consider our robot, team rembrandts, differend. It has a unique hinging design that I havent seen on any other bot. Everything on the robot is lazer cut and anodised orange for it's smooth look. Also it's shooter is a unique design although more robots use the punch method, it's retraction method is unlike any other. And instead of using a board were we all the electro is attached on, we use an electro box drawer so we can easally take out our electro and keep on programming even without our robot.
Here is a picture of our robot in action:
http://nl.tinypic.com/view.php?pic=t...8#.UzMl__l5Pck
If you would like to see more pictures or video's, our wrap video for our time @ the NC Regional or our reveal video then please feel free to take a look at our website:
http://teamrembrandts.com/

Wouter Levering
Mentor of Team 4481: The Rembrandts
2014 NC regional Engineering Inspiration Award Winner
2013 NC regional Rookie All Star Winner

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Our 2014 robot is "different" with a roller shooter and a unique take on the mecanum drive train.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQa0vGsG9S4

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

2147 and cheesey poofs have similar shooting mechanisms, and team 360 (the Revolution) have an interesting design http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/360 (there's some videos of matches)... I saw another robot that was a tube that collected in one end, and out the other, but I forget the number

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

868's bot uses a linear shooter of sorts, with all the shooter wheels on the bottom. It gets some insane backspin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEYu_-5aUEc

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I haven't seen another robot this season that is very much like ours:




The design is symmetric, and the claw can flip a full 180 degrees for a double sided intake and shooter. The claw can be opened and closed with a lead screw attached to the back linkage bars. The shooter is drawn by a choo-choo gear mechanism, and the force comes from springs that are hidden inside the arms. The LEDs are indicators for the drivers to see which side of the robot faces them, since the whole thing is completely symmetric, and they correspond to green and red buttons on our custom control board that controls the position of the claw.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

My teams (1425) robot is very different. We have a variarion on the roller collector. This photo does not show it but the current iteration has mechanum and omni wheels to direct the ball to the center of the bot. We have a kiwi drive which is uncommon. To shoot we have two vertical wheels (much like a pitching machine) and a pneumatic "injector" that forces the ball between the wheels. Packaging this all together was quite a challenge so we ended up putting the top shooter wheel on the back of the collector "arm".

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Show me another intake like the CyberKnights.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

See 1519, Mechanical Mayhem.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

For a first year team your robot is extremely impressive! Do you have any videos of it in action?

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I'd say that our robot was pretty unique

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyq7cL5Ureg

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

I thought our team's bot was somewhat unique this year.

One of the announcers called it a 'Flinger' at the W. Canada Regional and I rather liked that particular rendition of a name for our firing mech XD

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Our robot deffently... Heck we won an award because how weird our arm was. We invented an arm this yeear, and won the creativity award for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBhZ5qYybao

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Our robot atlas. You can find out more here:

http://www.team533.com/frisbeeshooter-1/

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Our robot(1318) has tower that extends the pivot joint for the shooter assembly 10" out of the frame perimeter to make room for longer arms while still having a wide intake.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Our two 250 pounds force compressions springs were certainly "different". When the launcher was triggered, it went off with a bang.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

We used a slingshot in lieu of a catapult. Good for short, high trajectory shots. Safety with a catapult was a key concern.

http://wiki.team1640.com/index.php?t...BOT_X_Shooting

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

How bout this one? As far as I know we were the only team to incorporate both hockey sticks and an arm/catapult mechanism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH2TVUxMKOg

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

We saw Team 334 (TechKnights) at NYC, with an interesting intake design which let them turn to face the ball without knocking it out of the way. They also had a pivoting slingshot which proved very powerful.

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

Who says you need a shooter or even a pickup to be competitive....

6CIM WCD
4 Mini-CIM ball tunnel
Ball goes in one end and out the other

http://warp7.ca/wp-content/uploads/wppa/141.jpg?ver=1

Re: Robots that are "different"
 

In the Western Canada Regional the yoke for the winch clutch, which was 3D printed, shattered just before the elimination rounds. We competed with our arms up and all we can do is ball in and ball out and play defence. We win the regionals and proceeded to St. Louise. Didn't beat the 254 2056 865 record of 346 points but pretty darn close with 325 points.