Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

In harmony with (and to help promote) The 2016 Dave Lavery Animation Award for Excellence in Animation contest that is sponsored by Automation Direct, we would like to give away EVEN MORE robotics parts.

That’s right – we already put one voucher in each team's 2016 KOP for $30 worth of free stuff from our webstore. Did YOUR team get YOUR free parts yet? (if not, the instructions are here)

The theme for the 2016 animation contest is “IMPACT” – see the above link – and entrants are free to define “IMPACT” anyway they wish, for the purposes of the animation contest...

And so, for this FREE PARTS CONTEST – we are going to use the same theme. Tell us about the IMPACT of the FREE AutomationDirect parts for your team.

Is it a part you can’t get anywhere else? Is it an advantage that a particular part provides? Do you prefer our tools? or Safety Gear? Past years' IMPACT stories are fine, we're just hoping that other teams might learn from your experiences.

We’ll provide another $30 voucher to the first 10 teams that respond (on this thread) with a UNIQUE* story about how our KOP voucher IMPACTS your team.

Good Luck!

The AutomationDirect Team


* We WILL define UNIQUE: to mean that each valid entry has to pick a different advantage. So no “ditto for our team” entries ;-)

PS We're giving out $30 vouchers here - nothing to sneeze at - but for some serious prizes, go take a look at the Animation Contest also posted here on CD. There are thousands of dollars of AutomationDirect.com parts up-for-grabs over there.

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

The KOP voucher are very important to teams like ours as they provide some parts that we would not otherwise buy. Being a new team, we have limited budget and are constantly looking for ways to save while trying to be competitive.

Being a rookie team, we are starting this endeavor from scratch and company like Automation Direct directly IMPACT and allow us to build some type of inventory for thing like wires, sensors, connectors and many other type of material.

The IMPACT that the vouchers have on our team is greatly appreciated and we are looking forward to fully used them to make some very cool robots in the future.

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

OK, nice... One extra voucher to team 5860!

Please remember that additional entries must mention 'unique' advantages ;-)

Chip

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

The generosity of Automation Direct has given our FRC team access to industrial grade, high quality sensors and encoders for use on our robots. Especially in games with obstacles and defense, such as this season’s challenge, the strength and reliability of sensors and encoders are of high importance. Especially when used on critical applications such as on the Drivetrain. The failure of an encoder can cause collisions and robot damage in Autonomous, and the failure of a limit switch can cause mechanisms to be damaged. These problems have happened to our team at competitions in previous seasons. The Automation Direct voucher gives our team access to high quality and reliable components, which gives us reassurance in practise and on the field.

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

We are a new team (not officially designated a rookie status by FIRST because of the number of FRC veteran students, but rookies in every other sense) and many of our mentors (including both lead mentors) are software engineers. We can code our way through almost anything that's not a hardware problem ;) But some of us (i.e. me!) are limited in our knowledge of mechanisms and hardware.

The IMPACT of your voucher is that it opens up our eyes to what is out there - you can't buy and use something if you don't know it exists! Browsing your website I feel like a kid in a candy store.

(Edited to add: We do have some excellent hardware/mechanical oriented mentors, and students with fabrication experience. Frankly, I think they are wizards.)

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

Awesome !!! Thank you !!!

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

Being a team that never makes up its mind until the last minute. Not only arefree parts cool. But Impact of Free same day shipping of part orders over $49.00 means that we can quickly implement new ideas. Last year we used the voucher to buy safety glasses to keep the impact out of our eyes.

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

Not really a story but since we got a few deburring tools with our voucher, we have probably saved a combined 2 hours not needing to deburr parts with files.

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

OK, 5 down, 5 to go...

Industrial grade parts - Team 4613

Breath of product offering (we have almost 20,000 items) - Team 2706

Fast (same-day if ordered by 6 Eastern) FREE (if order over $49) Shipping - Team 2974

Save time with the right tool - Team 0316

Tools & Test Equipment

Grinders & Burrs


Keep 'em coming...

Chip

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

The avalibility of Pistons make it quick and easy to purchase the right parts for a robot. With the limitations of our budget it makes it great to be able to buy the right parts the FIRST time!

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

Thanks Chip!!! And for all you do both for First and Ga First! Not to mention Automation Direct makes the best Off Season event trophies.

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

Thankyou, this will be a great help to our team this season. We purchased some Incremental J-Series Standard Shaft Encoders using the 2016 KOP voucher discount and they are fantastic.

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

OK, we'll give Clayton credit for mentioning our NITRA brand "Pneumatic Cylinders" ;-)

They are quite popular with many teams!

Chip

All Pneumatic Components

A Series Cylinders (most popular cylinder with FRC)

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

Encoders, why yes, we have hundreds (248 part numbers, to be exact) of sizes, styles, and communication options.

Thanks for noticing, pilleya! (we already awarded you one extra voucher above - you almost had me going for a second ;-)

Only 4 left!

Chip

Encoders Selection Guide
Encoders Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Most teams like the "open collector" (OC) outputs on the encoders, because the roboRio ties it's inputs high...

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

As a young team, building an inventory of parts is important. It makes it much easier for our students to design if they can physically see what we have to work with in our parts cabinet. We are a hands on team that likes to put mechanisms together from our parts pile. Using free and donated items is the easiest way to grow our library of parts.

Haven't used this years voucher yet, time to start browsing..

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

Hmm, building inventory - I guess that WOULD have impact... Done!

Team - 5442

Chip

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

We use both encoders and pneumatic components from Automation Direct, which have provided great service and performance. I have four rotary encoders on my desk now from the 2008 season that are about to go on our test drive base.

However, the feature I really like is the "learn more" tag that allows a student to accidentally learn a little more about the parts.

Walter Everett
FIRST Robotics Team 1758

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

It's one thing for a team to get enough safety glass for their team, but a whole other game to find a supplier for different colors, and accessories for safety glasses, the number one part all FRC teams need.

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

Last year we stocked up our pneumatic inventory at Automation Direct. The kids also learned to properly cut tubing with the tubing cutter we bought - a big improvement over scissors.

Thank you!

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

OK:

Learning More - Team 1758

We also have tons of educational videos and other in-depth content on our website

Safety Glasses in many styles, colors - Team 4004

(as an "old man" I really like the ones with the built-in "readers")

Tubing cutter, excellent - Team 2601

Yes good point, and many teams have already found this out: we include a free tubing cutter with every voucher order that teams place with us! The robot inspectors tell us that poorly cut tubing is possibly the number one cause of leaks that they see in FRC pneumatic systems.

OK, the contest is officially over with 10 vouchers already awarded - but please keep the ideas coming - other teams may still benefit from your expertise with our products!

(I'll PM the winners with voucher codes first thing tomorrow morning)

Re: Free Parts Contest from AutomationDirect.com (Win ANOTHER $30 voucher!)
 

This is actually our first year, as a team, putting out an safety animation we're proud of, essentially defining our robot's draw plans within a week, and even having a truly dedicated safety program, from which most of our safety gear (in not all) has been from Automation Direct. In terms of overall work, Automation Direct has certainly made an impact on us, and we're planning on making an impact in the game's challenge this year. Can't wait for another powerful animation this year with the hopes of winning this competition provided by you guys!