Re: Most creative use of a part or material in 2008
 

Skunkworks (1983) cut up an aluminum extension ladder to build their elevator: http://ahsrobotics.us/robotics/. Skunkworks is going to Championships as winners at Seattle.

Team 1346 used hockey sticks to grip the ball: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91j9iyWNIn8. It's appropriate. They're from Canada.

Re: Most creative use of a part or material in 2008
 

Team 188 also used electronic magnets like the ones on doors. These held the elevator in place till released then gas shocks pushed the elevator forward to eject the ball.

Re: Most creative use of a part or material in 2008
 

Out of the robots I personally witnessed my personal favorite design was 2337, because of their unique ball hammering method. It's one of the most creative way's I've seen to launch the trackball.

On a side note, we were going to use an electromagnet to hold down our launcher but we at first interpreted the rule as being no electromagnets whatsoever. By the time we realized we could use a magnet, we already had a working trigger.

Re: Most creative use of a part or material in 2008
 

Team 1155 had a fork lift style launch that used garage door rails as the rails for their forks to ride in. This was by far the simplest way to build a fork lift. There was little machining involved and worked out great.

Re: Most creative use of a part or material in 2008
 

One team (forget which number) at NYC used a backscratcher that we were giving out to knock the ball off of the overpass.

Re: Most creative use of a part or material in 2008
 

What about 1388's broom/rake mechanism to knock off balls?

Re: Most creative use of a part or material in 2008
 

2337 is, without question, the single COOLEST robot I have EVER seen at a FIRST competition. Bullet Bill is amazing.

Re: Most creative use of a part or material in 2008
 

Team 1468 used the soles from a pair of Sketcher sneakers mounted to their claw to grip the ball.

It worked real nice too............

I have to admit it felt funny writing it on the BOM though :D

Re: Most creative use of a part or material in 2008
 

Speaking of funny BOM items, to connect a servo to our trigger we needed some kind of rod we could bend into a good shape to act as a linkage between them. While scrounging around the shop for something I discovered a damaged umbrella that wouldn't be keeping the rain away anymore, so I cut off one of the poles that keeps the fabric taut and bent that into a linkage.

Of course when it came time to list it on the BOM we we're debating what the average cost of an umbrella was, and then someone pointed out we technically only used a portion of the umbrella. :p

Needless to say, we still have the umbrella cause it has many neat little parts for future use.

Re: Most creative use of a part or material in 2008
 

Remember that you can only pro-rate your cost based on the smallest piece commercially available. If you can't buy an umbrella stay by itself, you must account for the entire umbrella.
:P

Re: Most creative use of a part or material in 2008
 

Never thought we'd have to have that conversation regarding umbrellas...

Re: Most creative use of a part or material in 2008
 

Unfortunately I never got a chance to see their robot up close, but I heard that Team 100 (WildHats) used magnetic reed switches from a window alarm system to monitor the position of their elevator, and a bike disc brake to anchor the elevator drum in place when extended. At any rate, it worked very well for them at SVR!

Re: Most creative use of a part or material in 2008
 

Surprisingly, we weren't the only team to use a disk brake. There were at least five others at the Oregon Regional :eek: I was quite surprised.

I know for a fact that 1540 and 1280 were using them.

We used this one; it was really easy to implement. If you ever have need for a braking system check these things out. They're easy to rig up to a piston.

Re: Most creative use of a part or material in 2008
 

My Team uses a trash can lid connected to two vacuums as a suction device.