Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
 

The 2015 Season and Recycle Rush have caused our team to get "Out of our Comfort Zone" and really learn some new (to us) equipment that many teams have used for years. We were not afraid to try them because we knew there would be a lot of good information available on CD and other sources and we were correct so I wanted to start this thread to thank some of the teams and people whose knowledge we were able to use because they Graciously posted their knowledge in white papers for all teams to use. I am betting we are not the only team that had this type of experience so post yours.

New Items for 2015

Mecanum Wheels & Gyro

I put these two items together because you really need the gyro to get the most out of the mecanum wheels. We implemented a two joystick system with one stick field centric (needs gyro) and one that is robot centric. We could never have done this without information provided by two teams, 1361 Nightmare Robotics and the other was team 353 Pobots paper on the gyro and labview programming. THANKS Guys!!!

We are not using vision this year but it was crucial to us in 2012 and we were clueless until we read some of the advice on implementing vision from NI's Greg McKaskle. Thank You Greg. I didn't ask the questions but I found your replies to other users by searching CD with my questions.

If you have used some ones papers etc... to get a leg up give them a shout out.

Re: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
 

Thank you to 2363 Triple Helix for this video of their "tote chute" within the robot; it inspired us to do the same thing (which by a ton of luck was 100% compatible with several weeks of build already elapsed). It helped make us a pretty effective feed station bot.

Also, we made a button box (which we haven't done since 2011?) using the TI Launchpad to switch between autonomous routines, so thanks to their guides, this Wikipedia page, and Digikey, we have cool lighted rocker switches to select modes.

And thanks to REV extrusion and linear motion parts, 857 has its best lift mechanism in probably a decade.

PS: 2054, that was an awesome autonomous at Kentwood.

Re: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
 

Thanks for that. You guys were looking good and a lot more consistent than we were in the seeding.

I thought our student was NUTS when she suggested the 28 point auto in week one but the she and the mechanical mentors figured out their end of it and 9 matches in the competition later and hours on the practice field we finally got it work as intended. Also thanks to all the teams that loaned us their bins to practice with.

Re: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
 

Yeah, she was nuts. And aren't we glad for that? :)

Thanks again, Tech Vikes!

Re: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
 

In last 3 years the Devastators have gone through a complete reformation. Their are just so many teams that inspired us and have changed the way we worked that I don't think I can name all of them but I'll try. I hope we can be as much help to your teams as you guys were to us!

• 3847

Thanks for always answering any questions that we might have during the build season and offseason! You guys have helped us out so many times that we have forgotten the count!

• 148, 118, 624, 254

Your teams have always acted as inspiration for us and you have been so kind to answer any question that we might have. I know we look up to you guys and hope that one day we can compete along side you guys at worlds.

• 1477 & 1114

You introduced into the world of the Chairman's Award and have posted some amazing material to help guide us and teaching us how to connect with our community, which has led to our teams increased success.

• CD community

Everyone in this community has helped our team in some way shape or form. You might have posted a picture of your robot which led us to investigate more about your robot and learn a new technique. So thank you to the CD community!

Re: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
 

1493 has built some robots in the past that were laughable as we look back. This past season we worked hard on off season improvement and I cant thank Chris and Brian from 2791 enough for all the advice they have given us the past year.

We build our first belt in tube WCD this year and added the ease of gussett and rivets into our design/building thanks to them, along with countless other tips.

These may seem like simple improvements for most teams but having the help and advice from other teams really is the key to improving. I hope we can pay it forward one day ourselves

Re: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
 

There is no doubt that we could not field a competitive robot without the fantastic COTS robot-ready hardware and software out there. For a team whose most precise power tool is a drill press that was vandalized and been through four years of FIRSTers, all the COTS gearboxes and wheels and even the kit frame are like gold.

The really high-value stuff comes from an incredibly wide swath of people who either post on or who we found through CD. Ether, JVN, and Karthik top the list, but a variety of white papers and power points and spreadsheets on drive systems and other mechanisms have definitely broadened the horizons of what we can do mechanically.

The sharing of thoughts, expectations, and design clues on CD throughout build seasons have been invaluable in figuring out what adjustments we need to make - usually before stop build day, but continuing up to competition.

CD resources have also been invaluable in creating our training programs, in particular our "robocamp" this summer when we held a robot camp split over five Saturdays which culminated in the campers splitting into red and blue teams by a serpentine selection to build 18"x18" robots to play "capture the cubes". This a game was developed by two of our 2014 seniors, and leveraged the peculiar tile patterns in the classroom where we build. Team Try Hard beat Vive Le Resistance in two straight matches.

Re: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
 

We learn something new every year...mostly 'what not to do' haha. But it all started back when we were created by team 217.

Our students all go to the same schools and we see each other as rivals but at the end of the day we are friends. We used a lead-screw mechanism driven off of a window motor our very first year...it took 23 seconds to prime out lunacy ball dumper. 217 taught us about pneumatics in FIRST and we improved in our scoring ability by a ton in our second tournament. Their designs every year were inspiring, from the 217 & 148 collaboration on Nano-drive in 2010 to the arm-and-wrist arm of 2011.

Basically what I'm trying to say is no matter how much tension to beat out the other Utica Community Schools team is, and no matter how heated we get (especially when we wear our KFC bucket hats) they will always be our big brother who showed us the ropes.

Re: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
 

Thank you for the credit but we'll have to pass that along to 4481, we got the idea from them after seeing some pictures of their robot design.

We have also pulled several design decision over the years from many other teams. After using the Team 221 chassis for a couple of years and seeing their chain-in-tube design it inspired us to design our own which is being used on the competition bot this year.