Re: pic: 1678 Offseason Robot Progress
 

Nick's assessment is right on the money! It is stunning to see what has been built into such a tiny chassis.

Granted, Lemon Drop did not perform up to the level we have come to expect from 1678, it certainly does meet their engineeding capabilities.
I have little doubt that if they continue to refine the drive code, it will be exactly what you would expect from them!

Re: pic: 1678 Offseason Robot Progress
 

After watching it on stream, it looked like it only had a few small errors that knocked it out of the game, rather than a failure of the overall design.

Re: pic: 1678 Offseason Robot Progress
 

The robot was about 80% done. Building the bot took longer than expected which left the programmers without any time to test their code. The robot's new drive code was not ready so we wrote tank drive code in between matches. Tank drive, a short wheel base, and new drivers who did not have any driver practice contributed to the lack of control. The lack of time to test and find bugs also cause the robot to destroy itself.

Re: pic: 1678 Offseason Robot Progress
 

..

Re: pic: 1678 Offseason Robot Progress
 

So basically, you got a taste of what an average FRC team's season is like? :P

Re: pic: 1678 Offseason Robot Progress
 

While we wait for more updates from the folks on 1678, perhaps someone who went to the Madtown event could share some additional close-up pictures of this robot with the rest of us? :D

Re: pic: 1678 Offseason Robot Progress
 

Happy to!



Here it is being worked on in their pit.



While this is a photo of when it flipped, that's not why I took it and am sharing it. It shows the packaging on the bottom of the robot really well. Look at the spacing between those MiniCIMs :ahh:!

Re: pic: 1678 Offseason Robot Progress
 

Are those Talons/Victors attached to anything, or simply being held in place by wire tension? :confused:

Re: pic: 1678 Offseason Robot Progress
 

The ones on the bottom are zip-tied to the bellypan. We have a couple more on top of the bellypan that are pretty much just stuffed under the turret.

Re: pic: 1678 Offseason Robot Progress
 

Inquiring minds would love to see more details on this. Maybe its just me but the complexity of this machine seems like a change from the typical 1678 design mentality. Just pushing the boundaries for the "offseason"?

Re: pic: 1678 Offseason Robot Progress
 

To be fair, the same argument could be made for their 2016 in-season bot. It was pretty complicated with the rotating, telescoping arm.

I think it's probably a product of lots of experience gained over the past few years and some increased resources that have brought their build techniques to the next level.

Whatever it may be, 1678 never ceases to put out MFD designs, and I love it.

Re: pic: 1678 Offseason Robot Progress
 

Justin,

I think the kids are working to tidy up the CAD and get it out so people can take a better look at what went into the design.

First, there definitely was a desire to push the boundaries and see what the current group of students was capable of. The packaging was really intense, and took a lot of whiteboard sessions to figure most of it out.

We also got to try out 5-6 different mechanisms the team hasn't designed before, which was valuable experience. This has paid off for us in past years, so we thought we'd continue trying new mechanisms in the offseason, but built in the "1678 style".

Lastly, this process highlighted some of the general areas we can improve on in the next 1.5 months. With new students every year, there will invariably be strengths and weaknesses in their design, assembly, programming and project management skills (to name a few!). Going through something like this allows mentors like me to better focus my energies on growing students in the ways they need to develop, in order to work as a cohesive unit come January.

We'll find out soon enough if the efforts paid off!

-Mike

Re: pic: 1678 Offseason Robot Progress
 

Separate from all the cool engineering, I would love to hear more about how you worked on this. How to develop students is something we are always looking to improve on.