Public Service Announcement: Ramp Bots Beware.
 

This just a little reminder that while climbing ramps this year be very careful! We all know from last year that for many teams ramps can be difficult to climb and this year with ramps that are narrow its easy to fall off. When at regionals get a lot of practice going up them! Or teams should consider building their own before ship.

Also note: This was just a simple case of driver error, 1065's ramps are a great set. They performed exactly the way they should, and because of this mistake they developled a slightly different technique where they would load the bots against the wall, and pull away, its actually pretty awesome. The thread, pictures and video can be seen here.

I forsee a lot of the same stuff happening this year so becareful all!

Re: Public Service Announcement: Ramp Bots Beware.
 

Ouch that hurts.


Man who was driving? They should be fired!!!!!!!!!

Re: Public Service Announcement: Ramp Bots Beware.
 

I have also seen at least one ramp appear to fail in one of the scrimmage videos. How were the ramps in general at your scrimmage?

Build 'em strong people. Afraid of being forklifted up? I think I'd be more afraid of a ramp that could fail at any particular moment.

Re: Public Service Announcement: Ramp Bots Beware.
 

*cough*dan*cough*
But for any other attempts, he was right next to the ramp to make sure if it fell...he was there to catch it.
Jezz Dan...way to kill my teams bandwidth (Actually I don't care but thanks for the publicity)

Re: Public Service Announcement: Ramp Bots Beware.
 

This is why our ramp has edges to prevent robots driving off the sides.

Re: Public Service Announcement: Ramp Bots Beware.
 

wait, driving with ramps down? i gotta see. any video of it?

Re: Public Service Announcement: Ramp Bots Beware.
 

http://www.team1065.com/multi.php
It's under the link "Driving with Ramps Down"

It's a pretty robust ramp, it defiantly wont crumble under weight.


As you can see.. the ramp material is not only for ramps and hurricane shutters, but it makes a good lawn chair! It doesn't sag even under my 140lbs of weight.

Re: Public Service Announcement: Ramp Bots Beware.
 

Our ramps have a guardrail to prevent robots from driving off the side or end. It also has a wider portion at the bottom of the ramp to "funnel" robots in.

Re: Public Service Announcement: Ramp Bots Beware.
 

We plan on sacrificing some excess support under our ramps for tapered guard rails on the sides.

Re: Public Service Announcement: Ramp Bots Beware.
 

By the way, can any teams with a ramp bring a practice ramp to BAE in Manchester? We've been practicing with our plywood practice ramp (we don't have a ramp we deploy, but we can climb rather well), but it would be nice to have some practice pit time with a ramp.

Re: Public Service Announcement: Ramp Bots Beware.
 

Prior to a design change, our ramps were set inside 20x20 Extruded Aluminum and made of alumalite. They took a beating but changes were made.