Scariest Robot
 

to have fun with todays holiday i though it might be fun to see what teams though the scariest FRC robot was. I will leave what scariest means up for interpretation

I will start it off
- 1678 (Citruis Circuits) 2015. There can wips were crazy fast and super scary

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Can you say harpoon cannons?




The worst part was talking with the MC that was going to have to walk around on the field with this thing fully loaded!

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- 4646 2014 offseason. Lost control at the 2014 Des Moines Maker Faire and ran into a row of chairs. (blame the several year old battlebot control system we used)
- 3928 2014. Lost control at the 2015 Des Moines Maker Faire and ran into a row of chairs.
- 4646 2016. Ran into a chair at the DMACC STEM festival after crossing a moat.

The robot uprising is coming for your chairs first, people.

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Definitely the scariest this decade.

Also worthy of consideration:

180, 2002. They called it Fluffy, because there was nothing cuddly about this thing at all. This was the robot that smashed a dominant 71 into the barrier and busted their wheel mount in Einstein finals, because that was the only way anyone was going to stop them.

25, 2003. Originally titled Opportunity Knocks, this robot was beastly on the top of the hill that year--including knocking their own alliance partner off. That led game announcer to proclaim "That is an evil machine!" The name has been applied to most-if-not-every 25 robot since.

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I don't remember the team, but one robot in 2014 used a car suspension spring for launching the ball by catapult. I was scared to be near it when it was in compression.

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Being anywhere around the field or the pits when 2013 (Cybergnomes) have either their 2014 or 2016 robot.

1114's 2015 robot.

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Team 60 Bulldogs 2002 robot spinning two mobile goals around...you didn't go anywhere near it.

Team 125 Nutrons 2008 robot that almost took out lighting trusses at multiple events shooting the 40" ball with garage door springs.

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Easy. Team 71's, Team Hammond, robot from 2002. I know it gets brought up a lot in these types of threads but it deserves it. That thing was pretty much unstoppable. Once it got its hooks in the goals there was nothing stopping it. Also, knowing that they were gonna win their third straight Championship was scary also. Deserved, but scary. There's a reason they're the Beast.

A very close second would be Team 60, Bionic Bulldogs, from 2002. I was lucky enough to be around when they came to our pre-ship scrimmage and got to see that thing up close and personal. Just for fun, they lifted the two goals and spun them around. It was insane how much power that thing had. Also, it was FAST. They had a very early iteration of shifting gearboxes and man, that thing could move.

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You likely weren't talking about us, but in 2014 we used four (4) 500lb. springs and it was scary. Scary enough that it struggled to pass inspection. That catapult rocked the whole robot every time it fired. And I'm pretty sure that if the cable that pulled the spring mechanism had snapped it would have ripped the entire robot apart. Another robot that was pretty scary was 1619's 2013 robot. You would watch it scale the pyramid and it turned out that scaling by the corner although ingenious was really scary because the whole pyramid would shake every time the bumpers passed a rung.

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FRC1519's robot kicking Dean in the face with a soccer ball!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnE0j69_gYk

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Easily these.

Also, if we're talking about robots that sound scary, 5817 and 5012's 2016 robots both had shooters that sounded like leafblowers when they spun up, and 5817's shot looked like it had the potential to mess someone up if it went astray.

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Any of 276's (RIP in Peace) "rotary walker" bots.

Talk about a slasher - this guy would (inadvertently) climb on top of other robots and rip and rend their innards to pieces.

Back in the day, I believe FIRST used a video of their biggest rotary walker (I think it was their 2003 robot) climbing on top of another robot as part of some promo video. I believe they called that robot "Goliath".

I'm not sure if this was their largest iteration:



(Koko Ed likes this. He loves him some Mad Cows.)

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I'm surprised 2826 in 2015 hasn't been mentioned yet. That thing looked like it wanted to eat my firstborn child. To quote myself in an earlier thread:

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https://youtu.be/n-ZHapIVG_c

How about 33, 2014 bot? I mean it basically looked like a coffin on wheels, and the noise it made when they shot.... thumbPOP! :)

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Thanks for finding that link for me!

Speaking as someone that worked on making these grabbers, that thing was terrifying. This teather-able cheesecake mechanism had far more power than our actual robot did, just look how far it lofted the cinder blocks and sand bags holding it down.

Working on our 2010 robot's kicker was also scary, I have no doubt it would shatter bones, not break them.

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Both 195's 2014 and 2016 robots have tried to kill me.

In 2014, the robot was halfway through the firing sequence when it was disabled at the end of the match. When I tried to move it even a little bit in an effort to turn it off and put the safety in, the punch mechanism fired. It came about an inch from my nose.

In 2016, I was helping a student place the robot on the ground while @ IRI. We were in a rush and carelessly forgot to put the safety in while moving it. While placing it on the ground, posture had me bent over the center of the bot. The impact of the ground led the robot to fire the catapult, knocking my safety glasses off my face. The corner of my safety glasses cut my eyelid open as they flew off.

I need to be more careful around stored energy.... ::ouch::

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FRC 340's 2015 robot looked like a black mantis with it's long can grabbing mechanisms. It looks like it wants to swipe an unaware volunteer from the side of the field and devour them alive to show the audience what it's capable of. One time the tether broke loose at Tech Valley and one of the arms got caught in 195 and came precariously close to tearing out some parts of 195's innards.

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We didn't have any velocity control on this arm (we ran it through a Spike), so when it came down it was rather scary. (One of the many names for that robot was (appropriately) The Rim Reaper.)

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Team 620 in 2013. Without a doubt the hardest shooting robot I saw all season. (Full court shooting from bottom right):
https://youtu.be/lqoYS9SxmIo?t=42s


And Team 4084 in 2012:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LGwFCfUN9U

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I feel bad for any robot those things were strapped onto.

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Technically they weren't mechanically strapped to a robot. The configuration in the video is how it would have been placed on the field except 1678's robot would be sitting where the cinder blocks are.

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The scariest thing I have been a part of in FIRST was testing shooter prototypes for Stronghold. From the terrifying-looking "double barrel" spring-puncher to the time we were manually drawing back the puncher and the rope snapped (this resulted in the puncher rod hitting the ceiling hard enough to tear it). The scariest robot-combat moment I have seen is this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=stSRTk_CAlg

(Another angle)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=avyj5kQ8v0s


The scariest ROBOT I have seen, however, has to be Hellachopper (this thing was disqualified from Battlebots season 2 because it was deemed "too dangerous". It's weapons are either spinning hammers that can reach 8' in diameter while traveling at the speed of sound or "beast mode", which has a 6' diameter, shown in the video below.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_vph7wZEFAc

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I saw 620 at the 2013 DC Regional. In one practice match, they misfired straight up and hit the rafters 30-40ft above. In another match, they pushed a blue alliance defender across the entire field and left them stuck on the red alliance's pyramid.

A truly ~~spooktacular~~ robot.

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In 2014 we were testing our puncher in our shop, the force was so great that it sheared the connecting bolts and flew forward. I was in front of it. Somehow I managed to escape it's wrath. Now every time I see it in our closet, I get haunting memories.

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Yeah, we got nervous every time it climbed up the pyramid. It fell off once during the Colorado quarterfinals from the second rung, and all that was damaged was a bent bolt. We joke that was the only reason our team won the Quality Award that year.

Some of the scariest robots I've ever seen include:

• 1678 in 2015. How on Earth did you all get those can grabbers to be so fast?
• 2122 in 2016. They were scary simply because they would give you a preview of what their next big feature would be at their next regional.
• 195 in 2016. I stand by my argument that they had the most accurate and effective two-ball auto this season.
• 3418 in 2016. See this video.

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Equal parts engineering, iteration, and a casual disregard for human safety.

We had to have made at least 10 different iterations over the course of the season.

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980 in 2003. It was an 18ft telescoping pole that spun around horizontally. It nearly clipped a ref in the head a couple times.

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Thank you! I had been trying to remember who did that for years. That Frisbee BOUNCED off the ceiling.

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192 in 1999. Several teams that year had big arms that they used to play defense (see team 45 tip over two robots here*: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0CDop_IwW8). However, 192 was the scariest. They put a gyro on their arm, and used PID control (quite a feat when the processor was a basic stamp 2 programmed in PBASIC, and they had to use analog integration of the gyro). It worked great most of the time, but sometimes when pushing on another robot, there would be integral windup and the arm would start to oscillate over 90 degrees, and would start beating on the robot.

_{*Bonus, you get to see Andy Baker 17 years ago}

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About a decade ago, Team 118 made a couple of robots posed a rather visible above-average risk to nearby fingers, etc.. I don't believe either one ever actually caused any serious injury in this manner, but they certainly look scary.
Chainzilla (2005) and Redline (2007)

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3310 in 2015, most robots just have a few dangerous places to stand (in front of catapults for example), but the Arm on that thing had a huge death radius to where I just didn't stand near it :o

-Aren

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Can anyone link any close up photos of the shooter or have any info on it?

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Team 1126, 2014: https://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2014nytr_qf1m1

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I'dd say 148 in 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYgpg0k4uwI

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Seconded.
Its well earned nickname: THE CANNON

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I may be a little biased on this one but 4069's bot from 2013 was one of the biggest hazards I've ever been a part of, shooting Frisbees at 80 miles an hour seems like a horrible idea looking back at it, and they did get loosed into the pits in Waterloo a couple times. Still not sure how they could not have had a speed limit that year like they did in 2006 with Aim High.

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The scariest robot we've ever built would certainly be our 2015 bot. Combine 18 ft long telescoping wings with hooks on them with season-long gyro and steering issues and you're sure to get some scares - like when we almost decapitated a judge at an offseason.

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I'd like confirmation from someone on 620, but I'm pretty sure they told me it multiple flywheels mounted both vertically and horizontally.

It doesn't show a whole lot, but this is the best image I could find:
https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...5c&oe=5894AE00

Re: Scariest Robot
 

We considered naming our 2014 robot "Please Don't Point it at Me". I think the name fits.

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Hey, that was with the crummy old access points :P I'm just happy it was at the end of the day and that we didn't take out anyone. Just imagine...

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Now, I've heard horror stories about our 2013 robot, taking off a fair bit of someone's finger (That robot's name is Charlie, for anyone who cares enough to get a 5 year old meme),

But I wasn't there for that, I was there for our 2015 robot, Anna (I think), to break the finger of our lead mentor in the middle of GKC,

We won the safety award. hooray.

Re: Scariest Robot
 

the two scariest robots I've ever seen were:
125's 2015 robot, literally slinging tennis balls at trashcans on the end of slim ropes attached to fishing poles that could win the infamous 1/4 second can wars.
and 254's 2013 robot, that thing was scary fast going up the tower

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Our 2010 robot was genuinely frightening. To kick the ball we had these spinning tines of death that would spin up inside the robot frame to the point where the entire robot frame started to shake. Then, pistons would throw the entire mechanism forward at the right moment to let the spinning tines hit the soccer ball. I wish I had a better way to describe what it sounded like. If you got any body part in range of the front of the robot, it's fair to say it was gonna mess you up. No idea how we passed inspection that year.
http://www1.team639.org/sites/defaul...?itok=BMG3pL-i

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Scary is up to interpretation. For us, it is the shameful killing machine we call a failure. Ares from 2014, Ariel Assist. There are countless stories of this bot. Between borderline finger injuries and headshots from poofballs, don't mess with the Bot of War.

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That was before they got it under control... Which if they hadn't, they'd have been DQ'd from more than one event. Anybody within 20 feet was at risk (the last couple feet from the shock of the near-miss).

Oh, and did I mention that the only thing powering it out--or in!--was physics--no cable, spring, or anything. Gravity and centripetal force outbound, gravity alone inbound (at least there was a latch to keep it in once it passed a certain point).


I was a bit scared by the 1197 robot this last year--you knew when the shooter was on, and I kind of didn't want to be directly in front of it.

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Lol Our Team (5842 Royal Robotics) Used 2 100 lb pressurized gas shocks like those found in cars to hold a hood or tailgate up, for our scaling mechanism. Unfortunately however we never got to scale in a match with these.

At the South Florida Regional last year we were using our new amazing "safe" way to torque out the shock till they locked in the match starting position when something happened.... ill put it short. "Do not over extend gas shocks!"

The end of the 100lb shock shot out right in the direction of where one of our students had just been standing where it ricocheted of a steel knight helmet ( leaving in a sense a bullet ricochet mark) and shot through another pit putting a hole in their team toolbox lid and the disappearing forever.

We now know if FRC does not allow gas shocks in the 2017 season we were the reason why....

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I did mess someone up... I took a ricochet to the face, even after the ball hit a wall it still felt terrible.

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Any CNC lathe.

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Holy god, that 2013 2016 robot. You weren't kidding. What kind of motors/ratio were they running on that shooter?!

Seconded.

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You could ride up and down in our 2015 elevator and while I totally disapprove of this someone did actually try it. Not only that but I'm fairly confident in saying it was the fastest 2015 elevator in FRC. I was always so scared someone would get caught in it while moving. Sadly a mentor ended up getting finger crushed in the elevator requiring multiple surgeries to fix. Not fun.

Cybergnome's 2014 bot was pretty terrifying too far more than their 2016 one IMO.

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Each shooter wheel was direct driven by a CIM, they used a Alumnium wheel( probably around 3 inches in diameter) with rough top tread which meant that there was a large amount of KE stored.

You can see it pretty clearly in the picture, the CIM is inside the wheel and is supported at the bottom of the steel motor casing.

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Just for fun, we had a team member take a direct shot to the stomach from about 6 inches away. The resulting ripple effect was fun to watch in slow motion :D

After that I tried to see if I could catch a shot to the side of me from 10 feet. Although I got it on the second try (beginner's luck?) I definitely felt some fear being on the receiving end of our bot.

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Awesome, thank you!

Just a headsup, the request for a photo was of 620's 2013 shooter, but I do appreciate the photo of 2013!

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This is the business end of the 900/1114 shooter. Think about our decisions based on the potential energy and/or failure to shoot during the match. May not be the scariest but is certainly very near the top of my list.

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I love this thread. I'm learning new things. :)

Our 2014 robot was putting about 300lbs-400lbs of force into launching the ball the 50ft or so to the human player. As a mentor, it was scary if it ever got stuck in the down position under full load. We had a clamp with red tape on it that we could quickly apply to keep it secured.

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That is scary. Highly suggestive of this.

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Two words. (Or numbers)

469. 2010.

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I was pretty scared of our (4965) 2014 robot. It had a spring + pnematic powered catapult and that thing was powerful. You did not want to be anywhere near it when it fired. When we were at the Palmetto Regional, someone had unfastened the arm that held the ball from the catapult so it could be worked on. Somehow the catapult got accidentally triggered and sent the arm into one of my mentor's faces. Good thing he was wearing safety glasses.

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Aw come on they just wanted to say hi to their friends in the pits :P