this year my rookie team is planning to build a robot which can manipulate the goals. unfortunately, my personal idea has already been dimissed. i think that a hybrid between a ball and goal manipulator would be much better, as long as it could pick up at least 30 balls. being able to move all three goals could only score a robot 30 points, but a robot with only one goal and 30 balls would be worth 40. also, controlling all the goals would not allow your opponents to score any points, and therefore if you won, you would get nothing. onother reason, is that if you only control one of the three goals, it will be less likely that someone will try and take it from you since there are two others.

good luck to everyone
:D :D :D :D :D

;)
 

hhhhhooooovvvvveeeeeeerrrrrrr
is a hoovering bot possible....we shall see...

Martin
907

canadiens
 

only a canadien would think of using a hover bot

Wait till FIRST decides to replace the carpet with ice next year, and watch all those canadian teams skate circles around us ;).

-Andy A.

you betcha :)

Re: ;)
 

You know, the funny thing is that you have enough muffin fans to do a hover bot :)
~bobb
Team 804

best robot
 

....<indent>...The best robot would be the one that doesn't do what the majority of all the other robots do. Last year, almost everyone could put balls on top of the goals (yipeee!), but the ones that could balance both goals always stole the show (b/c not that many could, and it was the hardest task to perfect). But, like everyone else said, with a game so simple, it would be hard to pick out the trait that no one else will focus on. ******. :p

and that whole not being able to indent thing bothers me.

Do Everything Bot
 

Well, we have designed a do everything bot. It is marvelous!!!! It has one small problem: it weighs 140lbs. Now I know we stripped out weight everywhere we could without degrading robustness, but we are too fat!!! We designed the bot to grab 2 goals, lift them (the hard way, not the wedge way), have a continuously variable transmission (pseudocontinuous), and get 6 balls to put in either goal we had control of. We have to get rid of something.

Any team out there that makes a bot that can really do it all ... I will be extremely impressed.


-Paul

Omnibot. That is what we always build.
During our brainstorming, three times we took a vote on weather to focus exclusivly on one or two abilitys, and then maximize the potential of those ability(s), or try and do everything.
Each time the vote was like 30-1 in favor of a simple bot.
But we split evenly each time we voted on what ability to do, so we are building another omnibot. Or call it a compromisebot.
I still like the simple perfected robot rather than the enginering marvel that can do it all.
Those box-on-wheels robots can be annoying, if they have competent drivers...

couple of robots I have in mind...
 

There are a few robots I have in mind, that will be really effective robots for this year's game.

1. A ball robot that is REALLY fast, can collect about 30~40 balls on the field, and can dump most of them in really quickly.

2. A really fast one goal/balls robot, can get to the near goal faster than anyone else, collect most of the balls on the side while they push the goal forward, and have great maneuverability to run away from opponent robots with one goal, and stay around the goal zone.

3. A robot with some sort of on the fly transmission, that reach to two goals faster than anyone else, and push forward as soon as it got the two goals in low gear, push with forces so strong that opponents can't stop them. They score the two goals, lock down on the field by lifting both goals up for traction on their locking device.


With three of these robots on an alliance together in finals, they will be hard to beat. Any two of the combination can dominate the game pretty well.

What would be really cool and useful would be a continusly variable transmission, like Audi has....

mutters to self about how these things need to be though of BEFORE starting to build a robot

I might as well throw in my $0.02, and just remind you that it is worth every penny you pay for it!

I think that the GOAL controller willbe the most popular because by definition, if a robot can move, it can do some form of goal control. (at the very least by blocking and running interference.)

I think the next most popular thing will be the goal "muscle machine". I think that trying to be one, and actually doing it are totally different....but I belieeve this will be the goal of many because the goals are worth cso much, and this sort of machine (on the surface) seems tro be simple....requiring only one (or two) critical design functions. (drive and gripper?)

But as I said....doing it, and doing it well might be on opposite sides of the spectrum.

I think the other way to control 10 points (besides controlling which scoring zone you end up in) is to control the balls in the human player station.

To me, this was the "simple" strategy that we totally "missed" two years ago when teams would simply spend the first 15 seconds of a match loading their machines with balls as they sat at the driver stations.....then with a simple "dumper" they filled the goals.....

if you think of it, this could be a form of "low hanging fruit" since these balls are pretty much 100% within your control without competition.

We shall see if this turns out to be a widely used capability/strategy....but in terms of "cost-benefit", it seems like a good one.

-Quentin
:D :D

With that said, I wonder if goal grabbing robots will be able to extend something, like guides, or basketball hoop backboard, to help human players score the 10 human player station balls.

it would be easy
 

All you need to make a hover bot is the 2 chippies!!!!!! We mounted a 8 inch wheel directly over the gear. Even then it was a fan hehe. All you need to do is mount fan blades over the gear. Have one for lift and one for movement. lol

That would be great to see. The only down side is that you wouldnt have any pulling power

Continuously Variable Transmissions
 

In case you missed Paul Copioli's post: Team 217 will be running with CVT's. They are so sweet! If you want details on our Crazy Chicken Transmissions (CCT's) you'll have to stop by and see us at the competitions. Best of luck to you all and your bots.

Wayne