Re: Any teams build two robots to practice with after build season. (6 weeks)
 

Looks like we'll be building two ourselves. Which means we'll have robots running around the cage like crazy. It's a very scary thought. At least until the shipping date. Then we'll only be down one. Which only gives us a couple (our new one this year and a robot of old, if not two robots of old) to drive for afterwards practice. We were all pretty happy about the decision to build two. Practice is gonna be a huge thing.

Re: Any teams build two robots to practice with after build season. (6 weeks)
 

what we do is we start building our robot at the beginning of the season, and we use it to try out different ideas and see if they work. This robot is called "demo bot". once we settle on a final design we build the final version of the robot, without all the holes in the 80/20, without the eyeballed measurements, and it works a lot better than the demo bot." we then practice driving that robot after the ship date, and we bring it to the regionals so that, if something like the arm got completely destroyed in competition, we could just go out to the trailer and take it off of demo bot and it would work on the final bot. that way we have a duplicate of the robot in case something breaks.

Re: Any teams build two robots to practice with after build season. (6 weeks)
 

The difference is only really noticeable at the first competition. And our team is 100% student built and run.

Re: Any teams build two robots to practice with after build season. (6 weeks)
 

We have been building two robots since 2005 and its been a noticable difference in our on filed performance. I highly reccomend it.

Re: Any teams build two robots to practice with after build season. (6 weeks)
 

I wouldn't say we have a 100% student built robot but if you look at our photo album on our website (just click the sig to get there) our kids at least do 50%. One secret to our success is we use the same drive base year after year (with some modifications).. We also have a very detailed plan of when we want what done. It also helps that every single person on the team works thier behind off.

Re: Any teams build two robots to practice with after build season. (6 weeks)
 

We build two also. It is a big help for the drivers to practice on a robot with the same drive systems and mechanical devices while the main robot is sitting in a warehouse waiting on us. We changed drive systems this year and also have new drivers for the first time in four years, so we will really need the time to practice this year.

Re: Any teams build two robots to practice with after build season. (6 weeks)
 

1726 is opting for a compromise between the two system. This years robot will use a drive system very similar to last years so rather than build two robots we are leaving our prototype launcher (essentially the same as the main parts, but with some rough areas) on the 2007 robot to allow driver practice.

Re: Any teams build two robots to practice with after build season. (6 weeks)
 

233 is hoping to finish one robot, two is out of the question for us.
mike d

Re: Any teams build two robots to practice with after build season. (6 weeks)
 

<R41> Teams may bring a maximum of 25 pounds of custom FABRICATED ITEMS (SPARE PARTS, REPLACEMENT PARTS, and/or UPGRADE PARTS) to each competition event to be used to repair and/or upgrade their ROBOT at the competition site. All other FABRICATED ITEMS to be used on the ROBOT during the competition shall arrive at the competition venue packed in the shipping crate with the ROBOT.

Re: Any teams build two robots to practice with after build season. (6 weeks)
 

This is 195's second year building duplicate robots, and the only thing on our team that is not completed by students is welding. All Design/CNC/Milling etc is done entirely by students, and generally most of the machining is done by underclassmen while designing is handled by the seniors.

Also I have to disagree with the 70-80% extra man hours for building a second bot. While working with CNC its normally only a few minutes per extra part, the bulk of the work is in coding the initial piece. Now as far as hand machining, we always seem to have at least one extra lathe/mill lying around unoccupied so most work is done simultaneously by multiple students.

Building 2 robots really is an effective way to teach underclassmen how to do some of the raw machining and construction involved, getting your hands on real parts is always better than pre-season practice.

Re: Any teams build two robots to practice with after build season. (6 weeks)
 

We build 2, we call them the twins. the practice robot is generally not painted or lightened though so it is the "ugly twin". I think it is really helpful to have 2 robots though, plus then we have spare parts already made if we need them in the off season for presentations.

Re: Any teams build two robots to practice with after build season. (6 weeks)
 

Our 2007 bot is very similar to this year's bot. The chassis is essentially the same idea, only with different, lighter material, a better design for strength, and of course 6WD. We'll be making identical claws and attaching that to last years robot to practice driving. Picking up trackballs doesn't look like an easy task for a driver.

Re: Any teams build two robots to practice with after build season. (6 weeks)
 

We are building two robots this year.

We have also done it in the past. '05 and '07

Re: Any teams build two robots to practice with after build season. (6 weeks)
 

We are biulding our first second robot this season, althought it won't be exactly identical.

Re: Any teams build two robots to practice with after build season. (6 weeks)
 

We discussed today whether or not to start the second bot and this logic came up in our discussion also - "we can just bring the second robot with us to competition in case anything breaks". So... If a team were to bring their second bot to competition, but left it in a trailer and the fabricated parts that come off of it, don't exceed 25 pounds - would you still consider this to be legal? Sounds like a good YMTC.