Modular Bots??
 

Just wants to see how many people might be going with Modular Bots.....

Would you define modular please? Do you mean a removable subsystem?

our team is building a modular bot. our current plan is to make two mount points on the front so 1 large or 2 small devices can be attatched.

team 31 has been modular since 2001 and we plan to be modular again this year, how many modes hasnt been determined yet.

asher

Sorry I did not specify. Yes I mean removable subsystems

Our robot will have retractable arms for sure. We will try to build a stacker and throw it on if there's time and wieght permits. The stacker is not allowed to interfere with the production of the rest of the bot. As for swapable subsystems, probably not.

what he said. You aren't on my team, are you?(kidding)

Great minds think alike.:)

were looking into the posibilty. Not a 100% sure yet

We're thinking of some modes for the bot. Confidential :P

Unknown to anybody outside our team...Chuck was modular last year. We in fact had a ball hopper...it was never used. It was destroyed after Nats to make space.

also we have a primary design, our team is considering building additional modules, mostly because we cant agree, but also because it would help us adapt to our opponent, and ally robots since there are so many different strategies.

If the point of being modular is to adapt to different opponents and allies, what happens when all four robots in a game are modular?
I forsee some kind of secret veil to be put over the robots and removed at the last possible moment so that nobody knows what mode you are in.

Rookies: Quick tip for modular bots: Note Rule M5. All your possible modular systems have to clear the 130lb weight limit, with all installed at the same time.

Not exactly. You can have 500 lbs of robot "stuff" ... but you can only put 130 lbs of it on the field at a time. Each module plus the drive base has to be 130 lbs or less. At the time of the inspection, you must weigh in each combination of modules that you will be putting on the field in order to pass the inspection.
- Katie

I think you're reading that rule incorrectly Katie.
"At the time of robot inspection, you must present all mechanisms that you will use on the robot during the entire competition event... Only mechanisms that were present during the inspection may be added, removed or reconfigured between matches." Means that you must pass the inspection with everything that will ever be on your robot installed. This means that all of them combined must be under 130lbs. If you change the systems, you have to be re-inspected.

I suppose in theory you could design three or four different systems, with the robot being in weight limits if only one of them was on, but every time you swapped out the system, you would need to be re-inspected. Have any teams done this, I wonder?

In past years we would have to weigh in with each modular system separately. Last year for example. 59 had two modular system and we would have to weigh in each time. Yet, maybe its different this year.

What they mean:
 

What FIRST means here is this (in my opinion, of course):

For example:

You can have a drive base that weighs 100 lbs.

Then, you can have these appendages:
1. a lift mechanism that weighs 29 lbs.
2. an arm that weighs 19 lbs.
3. a thrower than weighs 10 lbs.
4. a fence device that weighs 29 lbs.

So, when you go to weigh in and get inspected, you would configure your robot in EACH of the different ways that you plan on setting it up for competition play. You not only have to weigh at or under 130 lbs. for each configuration, but you also have to fit within the box for each configuration. All of your components don't have to total under 130 lbs... just each configuration.

We have done this before (2001)... and like BBFIRSTCHICK says, other teams have done this. Probably the best example of a team doing this was Wildstang in 2001, when they had a ramp, a hitch, and a 2 goal pusher. If they put all of these components on their robot at once, it probably would've weighed 180 lbs... but they played at or below 130 lbs. for each match.

Andy B.

Your wrong bucko,

she is right, if you have lets say...3 modular systems, you present all of your modular peices, and weigh them all with the robot, but not all of them at the same time, you wiegh them with the robot individually. and the modular parts cannot exceed 130 with the robot.


bad

You're reading it the way you want to hear it, and not the way it says.

It doesn't say anything at all about all mechanisms being on the robot at time of inspection. They just have to be present. They mostly want this so they can inspect the modules for other things such as electrical and pneumatics stuff. I'm sure they'll probabaly make you put each module on so they can check weight and dimensions.


Modular robot is a good thing. Then you can change the purpose of your robot to fit the opposing alliance and your alliance.

I'm sure it would win you a few technical awards in doing so...




The real question is: Do all the modules have to cost less than $3500 combined or just the different combinations on the robot? I'd imagine they would have to be the entire combined cost because of the ability to make your robot do everything. It would be no different than having all the modules on at once.

goota loooove
 

gotta love heated message board posts :)
but i must say that you can have more than 130lb if interchangable.....that way you dont have any advantage on the playing field...correct ? so i dont know why it would be disallowed.......
its like saying you would haveto weigh the robot with both batteries on.....for example last year we were exactly at the weight limit...if they made us weigh with 2 batteries....which would be stupid....we would be over the limit...........
get my point ?



:D

Official answer:
Yeah, you were right :] Actually, I think this is great. If your robot truly is faster, better, cheaper (what we're going for this year), and you're done with two weeks left to practice, you might as well add a simple function to your robot in the time until ship date, even if your primary systems are already at weight, so you have the option of another strategy.

I hope we do a modular bot this year.

See, the whole idea behind modular bots is that you can be more flexible when you're looking for an alliance or one is decided for you.

Let's say you see a great bulldozer-like bot, and you have a bulldozer thing but there's is better...

this way instead of using that, you can swap over to something else, and in essence, get a much better alliance.

Just remember all tools have to be pretty good ;)