Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

We (team 662) just realized a problem with our arm, so we're scrapping that design and redesigning. How about your team?

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Our team seems to be making strides in the positive direction of meeting the build deadline without those sudden panic nights. I had a nice chat this weekend with our CAD (design) Engineer, and he projected his progress at twenty days ahead of last year! Always a positive note!

Good Luck to you on redesigning! :]

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

We have a movable robot i predict we will have a start on the the other parts tonight. :p

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

I think our answer to this poll would have to be smeared across several of the options. Some pieces of the competition 'bot are already assembled, some are fully CADded up and ready for fabrication, some are fully designed in concept but not yet drawn up, and others are still in the doodling-on-a-napkin stage. The software is scattered across last year's robot, the kitbot chassis, and a growing collection of paper covered with geometry formulas.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

We have a mobile robot using the KOP base and transmissions. We also have the upper frame mostly built. Arm is on the drawing board. Arm lift just about ready to build. And the gripper device is still in being thought up.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

we are about 3-4 weeks ahead of previous years lol.... we have a programming team who are making stuff. Me and another guy are sorting out drive trains, hoping to have at least one wheel built by the weekend, the tetra manipulator has been scheduled for building on saturday... generally good for comparison to 3 days of frantic designing and building in the last 2 years! :)

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Electrical: We've got the Victors wired, and the drivetrain is turning in the right direction. Wheels mounted shortly.

Armory (get it? arm? (groan)): Still being worked on and tinkered with. We've got a pretty solid idea together; now we just have to implement it.

Software: Well, the robot's got motors running, doesn't it?

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

We are taking on a few tasks simulataneously.

Our chassis is being fabricated and should assemble very quickly once the remaining parts that we need arrive.

Lifting mechanisms are nearly complete in CAD form, though nothing has been done as far as fabrication for those parts. Parts for those mechanisms will be ordered tomorrow.

Grabbing mechanisms are still in the prototype stage with two main contenders vying for final implementation. That decisions relies somewhat on the final design and abilities of the lifting mechanisms.

I'm doing an unprecedented amount of feedback integration onto the robot systems this season -- moreso than anything I've done in previous years, but not necessarily anything to get excited about. Our autonomous strategy relies less on pie-in-the-sky idealism and more on determining what our robot is best at doing on the field and accomplishing that task autonomously.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Base: Mostly cadded, wired, but has not driven yet. (~1 day behind schedule)
Arm: Mostly cadded, final stage built and tested, lift being fabricated (on schedule)
Other peripherals: On drawing board

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Our base is done minus chain, our arm is still being debated, and we have not even had a chance to look at the programing due to computer access issue at school. :(

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Chassis material bought and cut to length but still needs lots of machining and then welding. The transmission design is virtually complete. All the transmission parts are ordered and on their way. The transmission side plates and motor mount plates are all machined. Pillow blocks and gearbox standoffs are nearly done, just a few holes. We will start on wheels and gears hopefully by the end of this week. The arm is rough in CAD, and even rougher on paper. Parts ordering for the arm will begin on Wednesday. We need to figure out how to mount the arm to the frame. Programming team has put the camera on the olf robot and gotten it to chase people around. Still needs a good mount though.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

We have the chassis mostly built and the arm currently in redesign, parts being ordered today. We blew a speed controller before we even drove the thing so we're stuck in the water for now...but overnight mailing works wonderfully! Funny how things work. Good luck everyone!

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Sitting by the front door waiting for the architecture team to deal with it.
It's been dubbed X-WhAt(with an emphasis on the "A").

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

We have over 90% of our robot in CAD. Our frame is planned out and ready to be welded. Our arm (i think) will wait for the frame to return. We have order most of our parts. And last but (definitely) not least, our Electronics should (and will) be planned and ready by the end of this week.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Eh...we didn't start CADing it yet, but our guys are building the KitBot chassis and the gearboxes.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

For Week 4 I'll enable the you to vote for multiple choices. Any other suggestions for options?

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Team 1318 has the KitBot Frame and transmissions assembled. Drivetrain is stalled because of a lack of support pieces/chain tensioners (They have been CADed and reupped, hopefully some progress will occur by our next meeting on Thurs.), We have investigated and scrapped three different arm designs. A gripper design looked most promising, but was eventually found to be impossible with parts provided. The base of the arm has been decided on (I think) but the gripper part/pick up has yet to be decided on. Electronics is DIW until arm specs are complete.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Team 237 has the frame we built assembled with wheels and gearboxes/motors attached and we are working on our arm currently. The frame will still be dismantled a few times as we machine holes and make some modifications to mount the arm and it's hardware.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Ummm, we have a kit bot that we built last week. The Team and I havn't been in the shop since last week. due to the snow and our school system. Maybe just maybe we can get into the shop sometime this week, i hope.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Ha! A few times, that's funny.. It will be disassembled and rebuilt about a hundred or so times until about week 5 or 6. Then, the last last time being disassembled it will be just to make it pretty.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

We have the base of our frame done, we are awaiting tires in order to built the drive train. We have the arm mechanism CAD'd and some parts of the arm in construction. The programmers are making progress on the camera and the early wiring design is being laid out.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

We were making the gearboxes...did anyone's kit come with the black collar for the chain sprocket? Ours seem to be missing.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

The spacers to which you are referring were not included in the kit. We made do with some left-over metal tube from last year. I checked IFI's site (the provider of the transmissions) and it looks like you will have to hack something together or buy spacers on your own.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

They released an advanced Bill of Materials before Kickoff that specified a 3/4" PVC pipe nipple - this was meant to be your "spacer" - we used a hose clamp for the time being!

Back to the question at hand - we built the kit bot the first week and played with the hall effect counters, new software and default code, camera. We're right with most people on designing, and fabricating an arm. Sounds like we'll be seeing a lot of similar robots this year!

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

We were hoping to have a moving drivebase by this time, but I guess that's just asking too much for our team. After many idea's scrapped, the team has is whiteboard drawings and very few CAD renderings. Oh yeah, we have our kit bot ready to roll, though.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Practice Bot/Kit Bot
completed early 1st week
Real Chassis
Everything is cadded, the pieces are cut and hopefully will start being welded tomorrow.
Arm
we have a very specific concept and quazi CADs but nothign physical yet.
Drivetrain
Using modified stock drivetrain with different wheels etc. This is held up by lack of chssis.
big scary gripper of doom
being fabricated
Electronics panel
Done
Pneumatics
I will do them tomorrow
Programming
rewrote a much more functional version of camera calibration tool
ARCAMS tool for monitoring robot, designing autonomous programs, and tweaking robot settings.
RC code mostly written.
Field
1 tetra
1 goal
1 autoloader

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

we're essentially where we were a week ago (idea is on the board but still ever changing) but at least we got a chassis build. The best way to describe our stage right now of the robot, to quote Douglas Adams, "I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by."

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Ha-ha, we got the number one gearbox built ha-ha take that. That is it so eat my scrap metal! Who builds the kit thing-a-ma-jig. I mean seriously an extruded aluminum chassis. Come now the tetras weigh in at about 9lbs. + whatever your robot ways that stuff will fail you at least slow you down.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Team 364 as of tonight has a running custom base with nice custom drivetrain and 90% finalized electrical layout. Our arm is currently being constructed. Weight is good manuevering is awesome and we are on track. This is going to be the greatest year (robot) ever.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Kit-Bot: Assembled and fully functional. Or program team has it following the Bonus Tetra around the room. Just needs final tweaking before installed in the Game-Bot.
Game-Bot: Fatal flaw discovered. We had an arm all ready to be built until one of our engineers crunched some numbers. He figured we would have close to 4,000 pounds of tension on a chain designed for 2,100 :ahh: And as you beef it up with larger sprockets and beefier chains the weight goes up. Again :ahh:
Third arm's a charm :rolleyes: It's going to turn heads and kick butt. But I'm biased :)

Good luck all

Wayne Doenges
CAD Mentor

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Ah yes, we have some serious tension in our chains too. Luckily I caught it in the middle of the design phase before anything had been purchased.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

well, our drivetrain is running... sort of. We've tested our two speed kit of parts gearbox. It works, could use a little tweaking, but if it had to go on a final robot it would work. Tomorrow the rest of the parts for it come in, wheels(assembly required), some more pulleys and belts. All of which will require some machining. So it should be rolling aorund by friday. Our forklift(its not still one, but the names stuck) just was redesigned again. But thankfully every redesign simplifies its construction, which amazes me. A semi-final prototype of it could be working by this weekend. The actual final design should be built by the middle of next week. Our secret magic mechanism is still being tested, its something thats very prototypeable so its going through revision after revision. Currently its far from completion though. Pretty good progress i think.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

I'm just glad one of our engineers caught it. Can you imagine what would happen if that chain would break under load :ahh: We have some pretty sharp engineers.
I wonder if there are any teams without technical back-up that could conceivably build a dangerous robot. There are a lot of stresses and forces that need to be considered (torsional, tension, shear etc).
Also, Lions and Tigers and Bears. Oh My! But that's just a fairy tale :rolleyes:
My advice, please be careful.

Wayne Doenges
CAD Mentor

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

Power Module is complete ready for installation, just uploaded pic.

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

umm still in the box question is which box is it in =) / =(

Re: Week 3: Where's your robot?
 

We seem to take a whole lot of time perfe4cting the design. I am striving to get the drawings and clearances as flawless as possible before we build. For the last three years we have taken this approach and it has worked well to our advantage. Though sometimes a mad scramble at the end, the more we design the less severe those copmetition-time problems turn out to be amist the battle.

And YES, the BruteForce is back for one more year