Chassis is up and running
 

We have been driving our chassis around a little. We discovered we had to strengthen some things and that traction was a problem. After a few tweaks we are back in business. Just working on a couple sub assemblies now.

Our base is welded and we have mounted the wheels, but we are still waiting on a couple of parts for our gearbox to come in so we can finish the drive train.

Heh, about time, our wheels finally came today! Our robot chassis is in pieces (as of 4 PM this afternoon) because someone wanted to paint it. Yes, you'll all know which is the Smithtown robot...

Anyways, we mounted a big piece of plywood with all the motors, speed controllers, relays, etc. that we need, so I could start programming. As of 4 PM this afternoon, 99% of the programming is done! It feels so great to get something done, although i know i'm gona have to change the whole code. :D

We have most of the stuff to make our robot move, we just need to put it all together now. Considering we're a rookie team, i'm surprised we're so far (from what i can tell).

Wow, considering that we are a rookie team, we seem to be right on pace with all the other teams, if not ahead of them!!

We thought we were extremely behind, but we had our robot driving around last Saturday!! (Jan 26)....makes us feel good...

And we went with a very simple design this year since we are rookies, thinking we wouldnt have enough time or knowledge...and here we are ahead of the game ;)

We hope to have our gripped mounted and working tomorrow afternoon :cool: then we have two whole weeks to tweak/test/strategize/"make it pretty"

cant wait till the competition :) And BTW, we got our Tshirts and hats today...and our new safety glasses (stylish!) Hehe....

Should be driving with a compleate bot on Monday.

At least, thats the plan...

I can't stress enough to teams that are not driving yet to get something out there (almost anything at this point) to see if your design for traction and power is going to work. Don't let the goal fool you either. To move it forward and back is pretty easy, we don't even spin a wheel. To drive around with one or two connected to your robot, let's put it this way, your hot rod ferrari robot looks like its caught in a Michigan Snowstorm sliding and spinning and not going where you think. I am SURE there are teams out there that will be able to 'handle' the goals quite well. For the rest of us that goal weighs more than your robot keep that in mind and good luck

Our Team Practice with our robot (the final product) wedensday we practiced moving goals and driving around



Actually we are gonna win not to gloat or anything

WE DROVE TONIGHT!!! I'm so happy :). Cross the field in a little less than 4 secs :)

Beat me to the punch... jackass...
:D

DART darting
 

As of midnight last night, Hampton is running...that is, moving. Still many features to build, though!

Eric
De Anza Robotics Team

We, here at the Strath Haven Robotics Club, have had a moving chassis for almost a week now. We knew what we wanted to do from the end of the first week. We kept it similar to last year's chassis so we knew what to do. After recieving the chain and sprokets from Small Parts, we worked endlessly to finish the drive system. In fact, there were some of the students, me included who's been in school for 12 hours straight working on putting the drivetrain together. :eek: The only thing that held us back was the service from Skyway. We were delayed for a few days because they didn't manufacture the pneumatic wheels that we ordered until the day they were suppposed to be shipped.:mad:

But all in all, we are happy with the drive train. When I tested it, we can pull about 100 lbs of force on carpet from an 80 lb robot which includes most of our mechanism. That is some friction. I love these wheels. :cool:

a little behind
 

We drove the chassis around for the first time on saturday. It went well, now we have to adjust some gearing and finish the sub-systems and we are off.

Re: DART darting
 

Bill told us that your team did the exact same thing we did...
Good job, sir.

Our robot should be driving around this Tuesday. We had a 3-week argument about the drive system :D

Finally!!!
 

Our various drive train parts all arrived on thursday, with our FIRST supplemental parts, and we drove on Friday. We're putting the finishing touches on our "self-tracking super-grip tread" system today, and should be driving well in an hour or two. Our robot is so low riding that it appears to hover and float as it drives around.