Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

The video says it all...

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

It was growling at me and it made me flinch, but it was worth it.

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

We were so proud..

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

Awww. Chief Delphi ate my post. :)

Guys, you all did a great job today, and an amazing job over the last 2 weeks! Well done!

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

The same connection problem happened to us yesterday when we ran it for the first time

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

Congrats on getting the robot running.

Can't wait to see y'all at BAE.

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

That is great to get that far so soon! I'll be up at BAE on Saturday cant wait to see what it turns into

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

HELLOOoooo from the North East USA :yikes:
Great job on the bot looks like this will work fine now you must try the ramp.. Good luck you have done a ton of work in only 2 weeks. KEEP GOING ::ouch:: you are going to a tough Reg. as they all are, dont stop now. May your team have a super season. May we at TEAM 88 wish you LUCK in 2010.
Moe and TEAM 88 TJ2 OH YEAH !!!! :D

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

The offset 4 wheel design is interesting. How does it compare to a six wheeled design in terms of mobility and battery drain. How does it fare on the bump?

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

Nice to see that you have it working! Just out of curiosity, why the offset 4wd? And do you plan on adding two more wheels to help with the stability?

Good luck, can't wait to see you guys up here!

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

I sat there forever trying to figure out why you had an offset 4 wheel... Then I figured it out.... You had mounting blocks for the other 2.... The other 2 haven't come in yet have they? :D

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

Great job 3132! I thought that the best part of that video was the expression on the student's faces when it moved and started spinning. Everyone looked so proud!

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

About the offset wheel design, yes, we have other wheels waiting to be put on. 2 of the guys are taking a 1+hr bus ride (each way) to pick up bearings this morning, then we'll mount all the wheels.

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

Nice bot. I'd like to know how you got the Battlecry 9 shirt though ;)

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

Actually, that was my mom. My family and I used to live in NH, and for the past two years I was on 2342. We are part of a secret CIA operation to bring FIRST to Australia, and our team is "not entirely" funded by the CIA. But don't tell anyone... ;)

As Steve mentioned, the only reason we had an off-set 4WD system was we didn't have enough bearings. Getting the imperial parts for the AndyMark wheels is a LITTLE hard in a country using the metric system. Two of our students are currently on the public transport system (they have to take 2 trains and 4 buses) going the whole way across Sydney. They expect the trip to take 2-ish hours each way. :ahh:

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

The students are back from getting the bearings!

By the way, if you can guess where I got the quote in my above post (and you are not on 3132) I will extremely impressed. :]

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

I know what it is! ;)

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

Yes you do, and I am impressed. Does anybody else know?

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

We got up at 4am and caught the earliest train... got to the place and bought 6 bearings then came back....

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

And we were very proud of the two of you.

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

I really like the sound of "Imperial parts from AndyMark". Images of working on the Death-Star and A.B. in a Vader costume come to mind...:rolleyes:

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

I may be biased as one of the teams mentors, but I think a driving base in 15 days from a rookie team is a really great achievement.

And it worked on the first integration test.

AND we have to chase kangaroos and wombats out of the shed just to get to our tools! Crikey! (Ok, not really...)

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

As an unbiased member of the FIRST community, I think that it's quite an achievement (you're farther along than we are...but we're trying for a different drivetrain that we haven't done before).

Can we have some of your kangaroos? Pleaseeee? If you gave them away at competitions instead of pins, I'd totally come out to BAE...

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

I'd agree with Kara. You guys are going really well for a rookie team. Our team is on our third drivebase, but this is the farthest along our team has been in a while as we made getting drivebases moving over the bumps as a high priority so we could test them.

Congratulations guys, keep it up!

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

Thanks Kara and Brendan! We have been trying really hard to keep pace with the veteran USA teams despite the fact that orders from AndyMark order take so long to get... :rolleyes:

Today we are supposed to be "taking the day off" since it is Australia Day, but you can all see how well that is going! We may not be at the university but a few of us are still on CD.

Finally, as for the kangaroos, well lets just say koalas are not as big, and easier to fit in our sutcases...:]

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

Good on 'ya, mates. Seeing "life" in the machine for the first time is really cool, and I could see it on the student's faces that this is something they'll remember for a while to come.

I hadn't really thought about the fact that in most of the world, the imperial sized parts would be the difficult ones to find. Here in Canada we've been officially metric since the seventies, but since our dear friends and #1 trading partners just to the south of us haven't got on board, it is still easier to find imperial parts on the shelves.


Jason

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

I'm glad that us Americans are good for something. :D ;)

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

Kangaroos are dangerous... Koalas are dangerous... in fact everything here is out to kill you ;)

Did you know that there is a tree here called "The Stinging Tree" (Dendrocnide moroides) and "It is best known for stinging hairs which cover the whole plant and deliver a potent toxin when touched. It is the most virulent species of stinging tree. Contact with the leaves or twigs causes the hollow silica-tipped hairs to penetrate the skin. The sting causes a painful stinging sensation which can last for days or even months and the injured area becomes covered with small red spots joining together to form a red, swollen mass. The sting is known to have killed one human, and it can also kill dogs and horses."

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

Yeah, good one Tony. Now nobody will want to come visit. :ahh:

Now we'll have to take Tim Tams over to GSR to calm them all down!

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

But those things are addicting. And yes, Tony has pushed me away from ever going there!:p

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

So, are you guys making notes and keeping track of everything you are doing as rookie team? Documenting your journey? It will be interesting to see how you work through and/or avoid some of these challenges next year or if they are just built in challenges that you will have to contend with each year.

Your team's commitment is inspiring and it's fun to hear about your experiences.

Jane

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

Well, we know that there is some "historical" compnent to what we are doing. After all, it is not everyday that FRC starts on a new continent!!! :yikes: We have been trying to record what we are doing to help other teams in Australia--and around the world--in the upcoming years.

We are trying to get Press Coverage to promote FRC--as well as FLL--and get the programs better known. One of the ways that we are doing this is by having our own five-man film crew. They follow us everywhere, and do interviews. They are all recent students at Macquarie University's Film School. At first, the big cameras and microphone were annoying, but now they have just become part of the team. We hope to get the documentry onto a major TV station in Australia! Do you have any suggestions on other ways we can promote the program/record what we are doing?

Re: Thunder Down Under's driving robot
 

We thought about just having a camera rolling throughout our epic journey through the city. But we probably would run out of tape. :)