Chassis-Twins or single
 

I was just wondering how many teams are going to make 2 chassis's this year. One for practice and one for competition. Just asking around.:)

Our team has twins and they are at perfect health.(SO FAR):ahh:

Re: Chassis-Twins or single
 

Team 195 is making two whole robots so we can practice with the one we don't ship. Right now we are maching parts and we just make two times the amount we need per robot.

Re: Chassis-Twins or single
 

We will probably throw together the kitbot with last year's motors, electronics, etc. after shipdate to mess around a little bit, practice driving, but mostly practice programming (we did this last year). That and build some type of pit display.

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We are assembling two full identical robots.

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Two robots here.

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Uno... too expensive, and time consuming (at least at the moment).

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No Money = 1 Robot (Hopefully!)

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Way to keep things secret Alex... But yes, we are building two identical robots. As of now both are approximately 1/2 way there, minus assembly work. Not quite sure how we got into the two robots boat, but how do other teams make the decision? Is it planned ahead or does it just fall into place after the game is announced?

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One robot over here too

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Same as last year, 2 full robots.

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Wish Deere gave us more moolah... then we could make two robots. But as it stands right now... and for a long time coming, we'll only have one robot. One great one though...

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Same, we can hardly afford one robot!

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One.

We don't have the time or the resources for two currently...

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We already have two drivable chassis.

We built the first one over winter break, and it was available for testing on day 1 of build.

Using the g-code from the first chassis, our machinist was able to manufacture all the parts for our second chassis after school. Both chassis are sitting in our workroom.

I think this years game requires a great deal of skill, and a practice bot will be an invaluable resource.

As to being expensive, our chassis were designed to be quick and easy, using many recycled components. The only costs were the two AM shifters, and the 16 drive sprockets.

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I have an only child (the robot is my baby). We are using last year’s drive train for driver practice.

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wait...people acually have the time and money to make TWO robots? crazy
Thats way over our team's head as we currently have neither the time nor money.

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2 robots is not a ridiculous concept. Honestly how much money do you spend on extra parts and what not for the 1 robot you have. Yes its more expensive no arguments, but its well worth the extra money you put into it.

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Team 166 is building 2 machines.

Wouldn't be possible without the generosity of our sponsor!

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team 1757 is building one robot. it's our second season and our financing-mobile is running on fumes. can we borrow one of yours?

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We have one powder coated chassis for the competition robot, and another complete un-powder coated chassis for a practice robot, as well as a handful of additional backup parts. (It was actually more economical for our sponsor to punch out two complete CNC sheet metal chassis' for us and use a complete sheet 4'x8' sheet of 0.125" aluminum, rather than use only half of one to make a single chassis and have to store the rest in his shop until another client would need it.) ;)

Re: Chassis-Twins or single
 

73 is building 2. 1 is made from 80/20 and the other is a welded competition chasis. They won't be exactly the same but they will be about 90%.

As for the money, we are doing both on a ~3k budget. What people need to understand is that id doesn't take much more money to build 2 vs 1. Mainly because you can use old parts and things you have lying around because legality for the competition isn't required. Anyone who is using the AM single speed with a kit bot chassis should be able to build a double on last years kit chassis and tranny. It doesn't take much more then a little extra thought and the benefits can be great.

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We're building three-and-a-half. :)

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Team 234 has one chassis already made to practice things such as programming, electronics and driving, but this one won't work well in the competition. We're building two others as well. One for the competition and another mayber to help start a new team for next year.

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We r only having 1 base but a spare drivetrain

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Its only worth the extra money if you actually have the extra money to spend...which, unfortunately, we don't have. And, we should probably try to get one build first, before even thinking of trying to build a second one:p

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It makes sense to at least have a moving practice chassis. If you think about it, this is very feasible for most teams. Since we are using a custom chassis for our competition bot, we have the kit bot lying around - we actually have THREE fully assebled kitbot frames just lying around in storage, the one from this year, and two from 2005 and 2006. We are going to cut it down to the actual dimensions of this years bot, then build it up with last year's electronics and gearboxes. Not 100% accurate, but it'll work for driving practice and manuevering, but more importantly, programming. For non-rookie teams, it is very possible to build at least a moving chassis without spending a dime. You can even use last year's bot just to practice.

Now for rookie teams, its not so easy.....but can still be done, just not for free.

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You should approach it as you are building 1 robot, but jsut build 2. If you have a fancy pants drivetrain (i know we sure do), you do not need to build an exact duplicate...take the kit trannies from last year and slap those on the kit frame, there ya go drivetrain done. Arm: If you have yours made nice out of alumnium and such, AWESOME, but you don't need aluminum on your 2nd bot, grab some PVC and wood and you are good to go. Use old electronics and just slap something together. As long as it functions the same its just as good. If you have a slightly larger budget, start building duplicate of all of your parts, it really doesnt take as long as some may think.

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Building a second robot also makes a GREAT freshman project. Perfect way for them to get a hands-on learning experience by building a complete, more or less FIRST robot - with practically no deadline or pressure.

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Ok we discuss this each year - and we just seem to never be able to swing and while it doesn't seem to hard to just make 2 of each of your parts (totally doable for us this year), you still end up with the problem of the computer and electronics. So for all of you who build two bots....

Do you purchase and additional RC, Victors, and such or do you scavange it off of previous year's bots?

If you purchase an additional RC/OI, victors, you can figure around another $1000 to the budget, right?

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If your team has been around in FIRST for a while, then you probably have a boatload of "illegal" electronics and pneumatics laying around, such as Victor 883 speed controllers or Parker/SMC pneumatic cylinders, as well as a lot of parts from previous Kit of Parts.

This year we'll probably put our 2006 KoP IFI trannies on our practice robot, as well as a bunch of Skyway wheels (instead of our custom Aluminum ones). We won't build our entire 80/20 elevator, but I don't see it being out of the question to put an arm and manipulator on it. (Okay, so maybe I just want to revive the Van Door motor. ;))

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Two robots this year!

This is the first time we've built two robots since 2003, if not at all. I'm kind of excited. We even named the robot based off of that fact.

Gemini.

We figured if we are building two chassis, one for competition and one for software to play with, we might as well finish the second one and use it for driver practice as well.

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Actually, I have a question. Has any 1 team actually fielded 2 robots at a competition, and is this legal?

Ahh, first rule in the book. Have to keep my eyes open.

-Alex

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Its not legal. You'd have to do something similar to what 494 and 340 do now-- register two seperate teams from one high school.

And to prevent teams from bringing two robots, and just swapping in the first one when the second gets broken.. there's the rule about the weight of the replacement parts you can bring in..

In the past 27 and 157 brought both their robots to competition, and if I remember correctly they only used one for competition. They may have swapped one out for the other, I don't know, but the rules were different then.

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Working on our second one...(while finishing the first...:p )