pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

BIG WHEEL KEEP ON TURNIN', PROUD MARY KEEP ON BURNIN'

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

Holy cow, it's NOT a box!!!! looks awsome. by far one of the coolest looking robots this year!

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

looks sharp, but the name might reflect your drive all too well from the looks of it.

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

sweet looking bot.............

way to think outside "the box!"

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

For some reason, I really like the design. It's just different from most of the typical bots you will see at regionals. Nice job 1447.

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

Definitely one of my favorite robots so far. Its just awesome. The wheel, the ball collector, the perch of the shooter. It has a real industrial design mistique about it that most robots lack.

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

Very unique... good luck at the competition.

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I like the overall design, but i would recommend putting the battery to a place where the wires dont hang out the back (I'm going to assume thats a temporary location). Hows battery life with both minibikes on there?

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

wow, it looks like a time machine from 1930!

very nice industrial design

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

that looks really cool. looks much cooler then my team. how fast does it go and how many balls can it hold

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

very similar to the loader mechanism we were going to use prior to running out of weight
we had a 27" bike wheel that we used to move balls aroung a circular track up to our loader
yours looks much better though

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

Wow. I have to say you guys did an awesome job with this 'bot. I absolutely love the design! Is that holonomic drive?! If not youre just gonna have to ignore that...my eyes are really bad. lol. Very nice! Wish you all luck! Great robot! :)

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

I want you guys to win

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

It looks amazing, but I don't see the practical point of the HUGE wheel that takes up like your whole robot. There must be simpler and smaller solutions.

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

Very cool robot you guys, well done.

I just have one question. How do ensure that when you collect balls you ensure that you make the most of your storage space on the big wheel? If you constantly run the wheel, you are bound to get gaps in the balls, thus reducing your storage capabilities. It seems that it would be too dificult to run the wheel only when a ball was about to be gathered, unless you had some sort of sensor to realize when a ball is ready to be grabed.

Anyways, i still really like the unique design, and it will definietly be turning a lot of heads this year. Good luck 1447!

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

Drivetrain, battery cable, big wheel, ... blah blah blah.

This robot rocks. I really admire a team that follows a different vision. Good on you!

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

Very cool !
I see you practice in the library like we did... (until a few years ago because our robots arm was taller than the ceiling)

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

It seems, judging from all I've seen and read about in FIRST, that the oddball designs are always the wild cards that can win it all. (Beatty in 2002, anyone?)

Best of luck this season--I like the look!

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

Well you got my award for best name!

It was going to the team with "mega maid" but yours defently fits!

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

Great design that is one of the coolest wheel cannons ive seen so far! :p

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

It looks like an off-the-shelf BMX or motorcycle wheel. Anytime you can use an existing OTS component you save a huge amount of engineering resources.

The way the balls are queued it looks like it can fire them in a very rapid succession - like 10 balls in < 3 S?

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

I dunno. Scaling from the Poof balls, it looks bigger than that. Maybe a wheelchair wheel? What it looks like is a Victorian cast iron flywheel from a steam engine, but that might be a little too heavy, right?

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

"MARTY! IT RUNS ON STEAM!" -Emmet Brown

I would pay money to see a steam powered FIRST robot!

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

Lol. It would take much more space to do that.

I'm very impressed. I hope you guys do well. I was hoping to see the snail in action, but I guess I have to wait until nationals, if my team and yours both go.

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

Not only does it look awesome, it appears very functional as well. Great design.

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

love it ok name how fast does it go

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

WOW. just wow :yikes: looking awesome, good job :D

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

Ken, how much would you pay to see a hydrogen powered FIRST robot?

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

I do like the unique shape this robot has to it. The name totally reflects that! Awesome job! Good luck at regionals!

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

This is a tottallyyyy awesome bot!

Love the design

I think the fold out ball intake is pretty clever

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

But not a cooler lookin' one that's for sure..

Gary The Snail-bot is a must see on my list this year.
Are you going to Nationals?

How about a Fuel Cell powered one? We got a couple of those companies up in this part of CT. what do you say Ben? lol We'll make one, impress Ken, and share the money.. w00t w00t!

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

I think this is the first use of wood on a FIRST robot that gets my seal of coolness.

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

Don't listen to the haters. That's classy man.

Re: pic: TEAM 1447 "GARY THE SNAIL"
 

A few comments to what some of you had posted:

No, we do not move like a snail as our name refers. The name came up because the case that teh wheel is in resembles a snail shell. Gary was just sorta picked up along the way.

The robot can go a pretty decent speed, we're not sure exactly how fast. Kit transmission, gears and two SIM motors were used for the wheels. We're able to hold up to 9 balls.

We have set up our paddle wheel with spring loaded retractable paddles. The wheel is on constant rotation and there is never any gaps. There is a stopper at the top of the wheel to keep from premature fire.

Yes, we did practice in the library.. other than the gym it was the only place with a high enough roof for us to not break anything =)

We would love to go to nationals but we don't have that kind of money. So far our only plans are the regionals competition at Great Lakes, Michigan. Hopefully we get some more money through our fundraisers.

Yes, our giant wheel is that of a wheel chair. Thank you for all your positive comments, it's great to hear that our design is loved by the masses =)