So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Based on our prototyping activity, we have noticed that the Ringer tubes included in the kit of parts don't take much interaction to pop. I would predict that there will be a number of deflated tubes during this game.

Anyone else have this same experience?

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

We have only inflated one so far. But having thrown it around and played with it, it seems fairly durable. However we have not used it with metal so a robot could easily smash it or pop it if you arent careful.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Some of us were throwing the two tubes we have at our rack to see how difficult it would be to toss a tube onto it (it's hopeless, really), and one of them hit the brace for the light at the top. It's now got some very stylish green duct tape to show off its battle scar.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Not sure how we punctured it exactly, but somewhere along in the prototyping our tube has sprung a rather large leak.
It looks like this will be a rather large factor in the games...

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

team 1086 were also trying to throw the tube onto the rack from the controller station(which someone did once!!) and it developed a slow leak.

~Alex~

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Over the wall, too? Our guys were all excited because they could make it once in a while, until I pointed out that there'll be a 6 and a half foot wall in front of them.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

whell with a person holding their hands above their heads in front of them.

~Alex~

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Thanks for tape, our tube is back to normal. I think it was cut on some metal.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Somehow both of our tubes have survived, i don't know how really

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

One has some battle scars but they aren't from testing.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

All of our tubes are alive and well, but other then use them as chairs we haven't done anything that could possibly damage them.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

After going through lots of testing, both of our tubes are popped. I will not be surprised if most of the tubes at regionals will develop a "slow leak". I am sure there will be hundreds of extra tubes, but it will be hard for the re-setters to find ones that have a leak, and replace them.

Because of that our team is making our manipulator adjustable so that we can account for partially deflated tubes.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Best thing I can tell yous... debur your edges... maybe add a couple layers of tape to any metal edge that might come in contact with a tube.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

We only inflated one tube so far, so we guarantee that we'll have another until we order some more. ;)

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Not yet but the pop sound is coming!

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

We have been lucky in this department so far. Probably because all of our prototypes are made out of wood and not metal. It will be important for your manipulator to be able to pick up partially deflated tubes.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Or completely deflated tubes, since it is just a likely that that will happen is there is a big enough puncture. We actually hid one of the tubes from the rest of the team unitl we saw that they weren't playing around with them dangerously, so we "found" the second one for testing. So far, no holes.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Hmm... we haven't popped any.

We've been prototyping our manipulator, motor and all, and we still haven't popped any. What are we doing wrong... or right?

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

We haven't popped any and we are trying to order more just in case. I'm surprised due to the sharp edges on our manipulator prototypes.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

we were playing with our old robots with it and we havnt had problems with them yet. Maybe our kids that blew them up have strong air?

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

To the best of my knowledge, we haven't popped any, but no one tells animation anything. We have had fun with the label that says "not a life saving device".

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

our tubes developed a slow leak the first day we got them during brainstorming. we were manipulating them alot. Now there is atleast 2 peices of ductape each.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

The joke around our team for throwing them over the wall: find someone who's really good at Ultimate Frisbee and put them on stilts. The GDC never said anything about what the HP's could wear on their feet...:D

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

RTM! That's a competitive advantage and as such is disallowed. See Section 9, as follows:

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

We are now on official tube-throwing restriction since we've punctured/slashed both our tubes by throwing them at the rack. (But hey, we were getting pretty good at scoring them!)

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

We have popped both, I have no idea how.

I agree, there will be many deflated tubes.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

So the edges of your rack are pretty rough? I don't think this will be a factor in an actual match because you know the edges of everything will be filed off, and there won't be wood splinters all over everything--it's diamond plating.

We haven't popped ours (?yet?), but we have yet to see what the actual robot will do to them. It would be interesting to watch a team's untested pneumatic manipulator reach down, line up with the tube, and with a simple "click" and "hiss" of the pneumatics, make a huge "POP" as the tube is subjected to the full force of the pneumatic...:ahh:

But seriously, after I saw the game piece, I got the visual of it deflating and getting caught in our wheels, going around and around until the end of the match. Should be interesting. I hope someone keeps a count of destroyed pieces just for the heck of it. Just think, a record for "Most inflatable pool toys popped in March". That would be one for the books.

JBot

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Ours are made of diamond plate, we have a fully functional rack (aside from the spider legs, they're PVC instead of alluminum pipe). It's the silly bar at the top that will support the lights once we get them assembled; its edges are killer.

Ours haven't exactly made a noise, we could only tell when they started going flat.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

That's why it's a joke... but now that you mention it, the guy on our team who's like 6'2", 6'4" (something like that- TALL) could throw it over... There's a height restriction on the robot, but they never said anything about the height of the human player...:D

But back to the topic. As far as I know, we only have one spider leg out in the shop, and we haven't even really been testing on it yet...we'll have to wait and see though...

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

so far weve inflated both tubes, but weve only really used one to practice with on the prototyping manipulators, and yet no leaks:cool:

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

so far weve inflated both tubes, but weve only really used one to practice with on the prototyping manipulators, and yet no leaks:cool:

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

None here yet. I'm pretty sure that a lot of rounded edges on the end effectors are going to be pretty important. Either that, or adding some sort of sheath for corners.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Same for 675 xD


Yep, same for 675


I am so anal about deburring things. I swear, I've deburred every edge I can get to.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

One popped and one with a slow leak. I believe the first one popped while using our '05 bot to practice and it hit an exposed screw tip on a spider foot. I then made sure they debur and sand all our spider feet. Our second one has a slow leak, it was caused by a wood splinter since we practice on a wood floor and the spider feet are just OSB chipboard. Live and learn :)

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

We haven't popped either of ours yet, and neither of them are leaking, which is pretty good considering how often we use them as chairs, hula hoops, or play large-scale horseshoe games with them (using team members as the little post to throw the rings around).

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Our red one has nice shiney grey duct tape on it in a couple of places. The other one has yet to make it down from the media center to build, so there has been no chance for robot-tube interaction.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

both of ours were gone after 2 days

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

We inflated both tubes, but used only one. We haven't used it with anything metal, but yesterday it seems to be losing air very slowly, so it must have a slow leak.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

We have only inflated one, and it has popped, we found that leak and sealed it with duct tape. Then it has get a few more holes since then. Now we can not find the leak, it is slow so we are going to keep using it for prototyping.

also does anyone know the manufacturers, or place to order new rings that are the same as the competition ones.

thanks for the help

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

I originally thought that it was insane that so many tubes were popped, but then after doing some prototyping, I quickly realized how easily they could be popped (we didn't pop any yet). Even with deburred edges, many corners were really sharp and had to be bent back or rounded off.

Just curious, when your tubes pop, is it loud, or does the air just slowly leak out?

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Today when I was testing my prototype, I noticed the tube was starting to deflate a bit....hmm....coincidence? :rolleyes:

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Tube order info is here.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Team 195 put rubber tubing around our manipulator prototypes to enhance grip and protect the tubes, we also ordered more.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

when our tubes popped it was just a slow leak, but you can also tear a hole in them. no loud noises were noticed.

Thanks for the order info also.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

any teams that have ordered the tubes, how long did it take to get them. I have an order # but i do not see any order tracking on the site.

thanks in advance for you help.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Aha.... Well, ours are on their way to being popped, no doubt. =D

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Surprisingly, 340 and 424 hasn't "popped" one yet. Well there's one that loses air a lot, but I don't know why.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

We inflated both of the tubes, but we've only popped one so far. It duct taped up just fine though. Duct tape forever!

Paul

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Due to all of the popped tubes, one would think somebody would have come up with a patch which is more permanent than duct tape by now. Has anyone out there exercised their inner perfectionist on this?

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

We popped one and the hole was sealed with a strip of clear packing tape.
No further leaks and the patch isn't noticable.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

An update- MOE has popped both of our tubes....Amazing what a little duct tape can fix....

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

We haven't popped one yet, but they are deflating over time. Very worried about variable tube inflation during the competition, and the grip we can get.

Not so much worried, as glad we TRY to account for it.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Hahaha, me and one of the other Nicks on our team(we have, at last count, 5 different "nicks" on our team) finished our prototype arm really fast, and I made sure that I got all the sharp aluminum edges off, so I wouldn't cut myself...Well, I got every single one of them except the one that hit the tube..needless to say, we had the first tube casualty very soon into the build season...

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Everyday I walk into the lab I could swear that at least one more tube has some tape on it.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

I have noticed many cannot find their leak... If you submerge the tube in water, and squeze the tube, look for bubbles. You will find you leak

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

One of our mentors ended up popping both our tubes on our rack in only the first 30 minutes of its life.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Good idea.

I don't think we had that problem, though; ours had more along the lines of gaping slashes than slow leaks...:rolleyes:

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

we popped one of ours the day after kickoff.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

The 2007 official game pieces are available at http://www.logoloc.com/first/

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Sitting here in 612's build room, I see the blue ringer (which has been in storage for the entire build season) sitting safely on the rack and a sad deflated red ringer (which we have been using for testing/practice) on the floor in front of it.

Hopefully we won't kill the blue one before competition starts!

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

I think the easier question will be who hasnt popped there tubes..but to agree with my team mate's post we have our tubes blown up w/masking tape on our holes and we also have tubes that are slowly losing air..in fact when i left our spoiler was deflatted

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

I'm pretty sure our extra tubes are in, but the mentors are holding them somewhere safe until we need them to prevent any damage...I really want to know what the survival rate will be for tubes at regionals.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

I was carrying one out to a car in the freezing cold and it started to rapidly shrink. I thought that I had popped it and the shrinking was way too rapid to just be the cold but when we got it back into heat it started to inflate so I was happy I was not responsible for our first tube casualty, which we havent had one so far.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Today we got and inflated (and played with) a lot of tubes. We didn't pop any of them, but four came popped.

Anyone else thinking about a pool party this summer :rolleyes:

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Two leaking. One came popped (or popped during inflation), one has a valve leak. The popped one was not fixable with duct tape.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

118 has popped a few already, more to come.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Not fixable with duct tape?!?
Is that even possible?!?

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

Yes. The air leaks out under the duct tape. Now, it may be possible by putting on huge layers, but that'll affect performance. And, as I told one of our mentors, it'll simulate the game conditions (half-inflated tubes, etc.).

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

67's only inflated 1 tube so far, but that one has a few battle scars and now sports a duct tape smiley face on the surface.....:yikes:

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

So who thinks that this will be a problem at regionals? I myself have not popped any tubes so far however I am very convinced that there is a small invisible hole in our tube because no matter how much carbon dioxide I expend blowing the tube up, the next day it is always deflated.

I'm willing to bet anything that there is a FIRST tube inspecition comitte inspecting tubes as we speak.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

our spoiler tube had a leak when we got it. it has a giant ducktape X on it now.

Re: So, who has popped their tubes?
 

we had to order the 12 pack for our human player he gets a little aggressive while practicing his throw :yikes: