pic: 103's electrical system
 

Re: pic: 103's electrical system
 

All the wiring look so nice and neat. If only it looked like that in real life :D

Re: pic: 103's electrical system
 

I see someone likes to use motors... I see 8 Victors on there... :yikes:

Re: pic: 103's electrical system
 

does your people want to come over to New York next year and help?? ha ha that looks excellent congrats on the award!

Re: pic: 103's electrical system
 

To do the wiring, did you use the cable/harness feature or a 3D sketch? Or did you make a separate part?

It looks professional. When I saw this on your submission I was very impressed.

-Daniel

Re: pic: 103's electrical system
 

We used a 3D sketch for the wiring. Oh and you guys from NY ever have any questions feel free to ask. I'm always willing to help out another team. Usually if you contact me on CD I'll respond in a day or two. (just cause I'm addicted and I check that often) :D

Re: pic: 103's electrical system
 

Out of curiosity, how were you planning to attach the battery to the plate that the rest of the electronics sit on? From this perspective it looks as though the battery would fall off if the robot accelerated quickly. Awesome wiring though.


...Andrew

Re: pic: 103's electrical system
 

WOW!!!
Very nice job, what a great drawing, the detail is wonderful and the rendering is perfect. Keep up the good work!

Re: pic: 103's electrical system
 

I'm trying to get J to do a constraint-driven animation of the electrons in the wires, but he seems to be ignoring me...

We use electrostatic attraction between the battery case and the lexan electronics panel to keep it planted. However, since we are firm believers in the belt-and-suspenders philosophy, we back that up with a nylon strap to the robot frame. Ya never know when someone might try to break Coulomb's law!

Re: pic: 103's electrical system
 

Pete,
I was wondering how you modify the surface of the battery and the plate to reduce to a minimum the inverse square law between electrons and account for production variances in the battery. I would have thought you would lay the battery down to increase the surface area, exposing more electrons to each other for the electrostatic force to increase. It would seem that just when you need it the most, a fingerprint on the battery upsets the force and the battery is launched out of the robot. This is just an aside as I know it is against the rules to modify the battery.

Re: pic: 103's electrical system
 

Al-
Just between you and me (you've got to promise not to let anyone in on our secret) we have a method of amplifying the surface charge on the battery that is completely within FIRST rules. We discovered this quite by accident during build season when we asked one of our freshmen, Fluffy, to wipe the fingerprints off the battery. Fluffy's picture is attached. Once she was done with it, that battery stuck to the lexan like glue!

The biggest problem we had was getting Fluffy away from Miss Daisy's pit to take care of the batteries. She has this strange thing about Daisies... She doesn't talk much, either...

Re: pic: 103's electrical system
 

It would seem that Fluffy has a pretty electric personality then. Although looking at the picture, keeping Fluffy on the team shouldn't be a problem, it would seem that you need to come up with some way to corral her (him?) to be available when needed.

Re: pic: 103's electrical system
 

You might say we get a charge out of her.

Re: pic: 103's electrical system
 

Pete I already had the fans spinning on the speed controllers. I don't think that making the electrons go through the wires could be too hard :D .