What did your robot sacrifice for First Frenzy?
 

I have noticed a trend this year among robots- many are designed to achieve some aspect of this year's game. As this years game has rather demanding obstacles (steps, bar), the design those teams have are actually a disability in the main battlefield. (Example- huge wheels, drivetrain designed to go up steps, high center of gravity for hanging mechanism/ball picker, all of which can sacrifice speed/torque/center of gravity) I was just wondering what your team sacrificed to achieve your goal in this year's game, and how you plan to overcome that sacrifice..

Re: What did your robot sacrifice for First Frenzy?
 

we didnt really sacrifice anything...if all works out...we can do everything. Center of gravity is not a problem. If we get flipped be instantly can right ourselves. We should be able to hang, climb, manipulate the 2x, and heard. If anything, we did not focus on herding

Re: What did your robot sacrifice for First Frenzy?
 

We sacrificed our need to do everything. We used to always try and build a bot that does everything, but this year (and last year) we chose to build a bot that does one thing well, and have had much more success.

Re: What did your robot sacrifice for First Frenzy?
 

Last year we did everything and also had success

Re: What did your robot sacrifice for First Frenzy?
 

In previous years, I've learned that it's nearly impossible to be able to do everything, and harder to do them all well. Last year was an exception, of course, because there really wasn't that much to do (stack, knock down boxes, stay on ramp, effective autonomous - and even stacking was nulled)

So in order to be a good bot, it's best to do just one thing, and do it well. Ultimately, the winners are the alliances that have one robot do only one thing, and the other do only one other thing. 2002 Ex: One bot controls goals, and the other bot fills them with balls.


Back to the main thread topic, one thing our team sacrificed was the need to have a fancy, complicated robot. It's much simpler than in previous years, which should help us in the long run. A simple design decreases the chance of finding unforeseen problems that we have to fix. :)

Re: What did your robot sacrifice for First Frenzy?
 

we originally had a bot that could do everything, but we had to sacrifice the ability to get on the platform because of weight issues. we can still hang from the carpet though, so i hope it won't hurt us too badly.

Re: What did your robot sacrifice for First Frenzy?
 

You can never make your robot into a 'swiss army knife' (essentially a robot that does everything). Yes, it may be able to do certain (or all) things, but it will not be proficient at any of these tasks, which is why you must have a primary task that you want your robot to be exemplarily phenomenal. So every year, you should focus your robot to do one thing and that thing extremely well. So as a team, you guys (as an example) have to decide if you want to be the best ball-herding robot, or the best bar-hanging robot, and what is the team going to do to make that idea, that dream, a reality.

In other words, our team sacrificed a lot in order to be the best at what we believe we do well.

Re: What did your robot sacrifice for First Frenzy?
 

Let's see...

Last year we sacrificed driving for ... well, just sitting there and not driving. Turns out that wasn't such a good idea! So this year we decided not to do that again. :)

We willingly sacrificed treads for wheels (yeah!!!).

We willingly sacrificed sleep to finish the robot (almost - the day isn't over yet)...

We willingly sacrificed our sanity to allow several members of the team to stay on...

We willingly sacrificed our home lives, free time with our families, several assignments at work, grades at school, personal hygene, tools from our shop, money from our pockets, any semblance of a nutritious diet, all forms of an ordered lifestyle, and endless hours in the robot shop, all to build a team that quickly became "family"...

and finally - I willingly sacrificed my humility and self-respect for a box of Krispy Kreme donuts.

-dave

Re: What did your robot sacrifice for First Frenzy?
 

Dave,

I think this might be the time to bring back your description of Krispy Kreme donuts for all the new members of the CD Family.

Ken Loyd
Team 64

PS. Any chance of seeing you in Phoenix for the Reginal?

Re: What did your robot sacrifice for First Frenzy?
 

With only 6 weeks for the Design/Build/Test, you can do it all, just not well.

Given enough time you can
1. Drive extremely well.
2. Manipulate objects extremely well.
3. Climb extremely well.
4. Lift/Hoist extremely well.

I think the secret is to, decide what you want to do,
Design a solution "that meets the needs" (not exceeds)
Build it
Test it
Fine tune it for performance when you have time.

If you weant to do it all the "extremely well's" will by default drop to "just meets, but does the job"

Just my 2 cents.

Phil

Re: What did your robot sacrifice for First Frenzy?
 

We willingly sacrificed climbing onto the platform, but we should still be able to hang from the carpet.

As for doing everything, it is usually impossible. The key is to identify the tasks that aren't worth the effort to design a mechanism for. For example, stacking in 2003 and picking up the small balls that were on the field in 2001.

Re: What did your robot sacrifice for First Frenzy?
 

Herding, that's basically the only thing my team sacrificed. We figured it wouldn't be a deciding factor, and from the looks of the scrimages, it doesn't seem to be. It's the year of the hanging it looks like, and luckily we it with ease. Just my 2 cents. :)

Re: What did your robot sacrifice for First Frenzy?
 

We sacrificed sleep and a lot of our time in the preseason. We took a risk and laid out/built our drive train before the kickoff. That's why we're not stressed now and happily packed it into it's brand new, pretty painted crate tonight. We actually spent a lot of time on... i guess it would be... public appeal. It's quite shiny and our cart matches our crate which has hand painted detailed flames. We really haven't had much to do except having everybody drive at least once, messing with different programming (Making it more efficient to switch) and making it, as I say, pretty! This is the first year we're not stressed with weight. We're actually a tad under.

Re: What did your robot sacrifice for First Frenzy?
 

Yes, it's shiny because I wound up polishing/compounding almost every main part on our bot this year on what seemed like a weekly basis. It's always satisfying when you come back covered in compound after a hard long night.

Re: What did your robot sacrifice for First Frenzy?
 

we couldnt decide what we wanted to sacrifice.. so we made all different stuff to do everything, and we're gonna decide what looks best at regionals.. (8 arms in the crate baby)