Re: Teams going after the ramp?
 

I really have to agree with you there. You are basically testing how well your robot can perform under crappy conditions.
What about gyroscopes? Oh yeah, are any teams attempting to have their robot shoot from the ramp?

Re: Teams going after the ramp?
 

I dont care how many gyroscopes you have.. if you cant change the position of the base over the COG (in the direction of gravity), you are going to tip!

Re: Teams going after the ramp?
 

Nonsense. If you tip the robot in the same direction you accellerate, with appropriate gyroscopic control it could have it's COG over the base indefinately. Some clever fellow a few years back made a little scooter based on this principal and made so much on the idea he can afford the finest denim in the land.

Blocking someone from getting up the ramp is strategically equivalent, and an order of magnitude easier, than getting up the ramp. We will not be going up the ramp this year and if you're against us, you won't be either. ;)

Re: Teams going after the ramp?
 

Team 204 will be able to go up the ramp. It was one of the first items we talk about.

Re: Teams going after the ramp?
 

our team is deffinatley gonna try for the ramp. and if at all possible we're gonna try and get as many other teams up as we can if we can push em' up.

Re: Teams going after the ramp?
 

were gonna try to make it but if some one on our alince cant we plan to block the other teams robots for getting on the platform :)

Re: Teams going after the ramp?
 

That would make an ideal trait for robots this year. I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but I will mention it again if I have. To be able to push other alliance members up the ramp you should be able to push yourself up. If during the seeding process you accumulate a decent amount of points for your current alliance you will be one of the top pick for the leading teams. Your alliance afterward would gain a significant advantage.

but then again, there will be teams who will do what I just said. That would kind of lessen the chances of winding up on a good alliance.

Re: Teams going after the ramp?
 

We initially considered running up the ramp REALLY FAST, but then we realized that if you went fast enough, you would bounce off of the top. :ahh:

Re: Teams going after the ramp?
 

Our approach and departure angle is enough to clear. We have 6 wheels so there is no center clearance problem. However, between the front and middle wheels, and between the middle and rear wheels, there is not enough clearance. We are probably about 1" too low. I think it will still make it up if it teeters properly but I'm not 100% sure. We might need to make a forceful run at it. If that doesn't work, we'll be able to get and stay on the diamondplate. If we roll back down. We'll make a brake. We might not get on the horizontal part, but we'll definitely get and stay on the diamondplate which is just as good for scoring points.

Re: Teams going after the ramp?
 

So far we are having no trouble with the ramp.
We are still in build/adjust mode though.

Carolyn

Re: Teams going after the ramp?
 

O.K. people, we have two weeks left to build. your team should really pick up the pace.

You mean you are relying on your momentum? If you ever manage to get fast enough you have ground clearence, a crucial point brought up by sanddrag(thank you very much), and the possibility that you may just launch yourself a few inches from the ground, hit the wall, and crash on to the ramp. this may sound minor at first, consider the chance something broke inside or you basically ruin the field. even if it was a total accident you should avoid this. Besides, you may also richochet off the wall and your robot slide down the ramp and touches the carpet. Before you can get it off the carpet the time runs out.

Re: Teams going after the ramp?
 

Our robot shouldn't have much trouble going up the ramp from what I've seen it do so far (it ran over a team member on tile floor - unexpectedly). I can't wait until we get to test it out.

Re: Teams going after the ramp?
 

If you make a robot robust enough, why not go for the ramp, it's one of the easiest things in the competition to do.

Re: Teams going after the ramp?
 

WOW! Have you even thought about all the variables that go into going up the ramp? If your CoG is high then that CoG will most likely be moved off the base when you go up a 30 deg. ramp! Let’s do the math. If you have a robot whose CoG is 40 inches above the ground and in the center of the robot then using trig you find that the CoG is moved around 23 inches on a 30 deg incline, and with that the CoG is bound to be outside of the base. But if you want more proof, then if its at 30 inches the movement is 17 inches which is you add in momentum and other factors might be enough to get up the ramp but that’s not taking into account all of the diamond plate that’s on the ramp that very slick and hard to get up.
(not 100% sure on the math (tan Theta x dist??))

Pushing around balls/robots has got to be the easiest part of the game (not collecting them). But other than that our team has decided that the ramp isn’t worth enough to go for it but if the robot can do it then good.

Re: Teams going after the ramp?
 

Ditto with team 1523. We have four wheel drive and built into design enough clearance to make, specifically to prevent problems such as this: http://chiefdelphi.com/forums/pictur...&quiet=Verbose

I think the problem with six wheel design is that the robot will likely have a high center of gravity. This, coupled with the robot matching the angle of the ramp until it reaches the crest where it could potentially slam down onto the flat surface of the ramp, damaging components.