Build Progress?
 

I've always been curious as to how quickly robots come along on other teams... So, where are you at?

Re: Build Progress?
 

CAD.

Re: Build Progress?
 

CAD and a liiiiiitle bit of the kit drivetrain.

Are we including field elements cause we look good there...

Re: Build Progress?
 

Drivetrain is done and rolling. Speed bump field element is done. Next step is IMU integration into our mecanum drive.

The big hold up is purchasing a linear slide system. First vendor with product availability wins.

Re: Build Progress?
 

We just need a couple of parts (currently out-of-stock) from Vex in order to complete the base - aside from a couple of sizing adjustments that may be needed later to fit our manipulators. Our two primary manipulators are being proto-typed now - but coming along. We hope to be building one/both by this weekend....

Re: Build Progress?
 

All sheet metal has been CADded and sent to Coach & Equipment for laser cutting and bending.

Most non-sheet metal parts are in some stage of being built, one is still being designed.

We hope to have every part necessary to assemble, wire, and see what goes wrong by this Saturday, though that could be optimistic by a matter of days.

Re: Build Progress?
 

Still working on CAD, haven't ordered anything yet.

We made the kitbot though, to keep the new students entertained... :rolleyes:

Re: Build Progress?
 

CAD should be done this week! Parts should be cut this weekend. Currently driving test base.

Re: Build Progress?
 

we have prototype manipulators that can pick up the totes and containers...totes when they're upright, container either way. Working on CAD to connect them to the robot. Have a plan for most of it, there are some gaps. Got the new chassis driving around last night, after installing the new electronics in a temporary box and wiring up the drive motors.

I'm happy with our progress so far. There is a whole lot more to do.

Re: Build Progress?
 

We have a Design Review tomorrow night to present the chosen concepts for this year's robot to the rest of the team and their parents. Our detailed CAD will begin on Friday and we should be able to start fabrication on Saturday.

We believe it is important to not rush the design and prototyping stages of the build cycle. If you do the math and do everything right the first time, then a robot should come together in no time even if the detailed design doesn't start until Week 3.

The tricky part, however, is doing everything right the first time.

Re: Build Progress?
 

Hmm, I'm starting to feel more worried after reading this thread. Our team has the list of capabilities we want our robot to have done, and we have built prototypes for several ways to manipulate game pieces (several powered and several non-powered). But we haven't even started making versions that would be ready to be integrated on a robot.
But then again, we always spend more time prototyping and less time with a fully assembled robot. And it has worked out pretty well so far.

Re: Build Progress?
 

This is the fastest year we've ever had. All our prototypes worked well right out of the gate--and I'm sure we'll have some unknown-but-anticipated problems when we move into the assembly stage, and more still in initial testing.

Re: Build Progress?
 

Prototyping complete, design selected, and CAD at 65%. Two major subsystems down, with another well on its way. Haven't made a single part for the real robot yet.

Re: Build Progress?
 

We are currently prototyping manipulators, building a test elevator, and buying parts for our drive base.

This year is the fastest we have ever moved and are looking forward to the rest of the season.

Re: Build Progress?
 

Manipulators and drivebase are mostly CADed. Would like to integrate on Saturday. Hopefully cutting metal on Saturday too.

Re: Build Progress?
 

1076 is on schedule. Prototype/Practice robot should be mechanically complete Saturday 1/17, and the competition robot should be mechanically finished before the end of the month. Code will be done whenever. Competition robot drive train is already started.

That leaves all of February to prep for our week 1 district event. Oh boy!!!

Re: Build Progress?
 

Field elements, strategy and conceptual design done. Initial prototyping done. More refined prototypes being constructed. Lots of parts orders coming in.

Competition drivetrain and elevator CAD ~75% complete. We expect to have the practice robot's drivetrain by the end of the week.

Re: Build Progress?
 

We, as of last night, have a really good idea of what we want to CAD/build. We just need to decide what can manipulator we are going to use. There are two competing prototypes right now.

Re: Build Progress?
 

We are still waiting on our main parts. We have solid prototypes built, and at least our material delay is giving CAD a little more time than normal.

Re: Build Progress?
 

We are not as far along as we would like. But mostly because of weather and hosting an FLL District Tournament on Jan. 10. We have two prototype drive trains together, and are testing them to see which we want to use. A number of prototype grabbers for totes and/or containers. A prototype elevator frame and a prototype garage door style lifter to power it. We hope to get one of the grabbers mounted to the elevator frame, powered and on a robot on Saturday. I am not going to hold my breath. I do think that by the end of Saturday we will have settled on a basic overall design.

We tend to do our CAD work in pieces. We will CAD the final drive base once we have settled on the exact design and the space required for the devices that will mount to it. Then the various device teams will do their own CAD work and we will integrate it. We have found that we are more successful when each component team knows the space allocated to it, and iterates its designs off of that. With a process to petition for more/different space based off of our design hierarchy. This allows them to have a "virtual box" on the prototype chassis that they can play with as they desire. This does put more pressure on the wiring team than I would like, but has tended to produce better robots for us since we started doing it in 2011.

As we have a large team we are also working on several other prototypes for lifting/grabbing, a Vex model holonomic slide drive and a few community outreach engineering projects.