Roller/Gatherer Test
 

This was our test for a sort of gatherer, seems to work nicely

http://www.youtube.com/user/Frcteam1592

This is on our test bot, not the actual robot that we will use

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

cool! cant wait to see you guys at UCF

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

Would you mind sharing the RPM (or motor and gearing) and OD of the roller?

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

And the material. :)

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

This is cool, though of doing something like this with a little twist so the ball always stays in the middle of the roller, i'd like to see the roller tested on a mecanum drive driving sideways to see if the ball still stays in place.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

Looks like they are using a pool noodle. Looks good.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

ya, we had that idea too of doing like an archimedes screw towards the center from both sides so it stays centered but it will be hard cause then how it touches the ball will change too

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

I'll give u a hint the roller is something that will be on ever1s bot.... as for the other stuff test it :)

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

Dude, someone already guessed it lol

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

Brian cheats :)

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

We have tested the roller concept and plan on implementing it. I am writing up our parts order for our dribbler system right now actually.

I was just hoping to get additional test data to supplement ours

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

I hate to sound like a safety-maniac, but I was safety captain on my old team for the past 2 years and sometimes I just can't resist! (Sorry if this sounds mean, I just would hate for someone to get hurt :mad: )

The person in the background was holding wires into the battery, this is a huge safety violation. That battery outputs enough current to kill you, and it should be handled safely!!!

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

Yeah its wired correctly now. =)

And no worries we only lost one person (sarcasm mark)

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

great post!
Similar to what we will do, except heater pipe insulation.:D

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

they have heater pipes in Hawaii? :D

nice roller how well does it work when the robot spins 360?

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

when we were testing it the farthest i believe that we went was close to or around 180 degrees but from what we did it looks like it would be great even at 360

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

how quickly did you rotate with it?

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

well about as fast the 4 wheel base test bot of ours would turn, when we move it to our 6 wheeler it might be different though

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

Haven't tried it yet. The plates we are going to make for the outside should keep it from getting away from of though....In theory lol.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

from the link, the original test shows better how good it does first grabbing the ball

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

As a matter of fact, we do for the COLD 60 degree winter weather!!:ahh:

Actually, I meant for our water heater. A cold shower would be bad even in Hawaii......

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

We too tested our prototype rollers with pool noodles. Yet we found that at high speeds the pool noodle leaves some "noodle fuzz" behind on the balls. While I will not argue that it is 'damage' to a ball, we feel the residue is a potential gray area or complaint that may arise at competition. Ergo, we will test a different material this week.

I'm interested to see how the heating pipe insulation holds up at speed.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

Hmmm, thats odd, because we never left any fuzz or lost any of our noodles when we were testing it

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

We are currently testing/prototyping something very similar, except we are using PVC pipe at the moment. It's working pretty well. In fact, here's a video of the concept (it isn't on the robot yet).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKKRIxqkjjQ

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

Hmm, perhaps we have a lower quality noodle? Guess we have to use our noodles to solve this conundrum...

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

define high speeds?

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

The roller tip must match or surpass the maximum linear speed of the robot. This keeps the ball in front of the drive train with the roller while driving at max speed. If the roller tip is in excess of the drive train speed, then you will be able to 'dribble' the ball while driving at max speed.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

That makes sense but i think what he meant was how fast was your motors spinning your noodles when you lost part of them?

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

I know last year when we were putting our bumpers together we had noodle issues with them flaking apart figured it was the fact they were from a lot we bought several years prior. We purchased new ones and did not have this issue.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

Y dribble when u can posses?

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

It is possession people just refer to it as dribbling as the inspiration came form this video for most http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3Nb9NAxdeE

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

Hmm. A banebots RS-545 (just for testing; we know it's not 2010 legal) to a 4:1 transmission with 16:22 sprockets, so ~3000 RPM -- at a 2.5" roller diameter, this is roughly 3 feet per second faster than our drive train.

This (intake mechanism worksheet) may help.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

We want to have both options in the event that we're dribbling one ball and going in the direction of another. Thus we'd avoid possessing two balls at once. We feel this will inadvertently happen more than one might expect.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

same here.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

Well, if the roller can't keep up with the drive train, then you'll never keep the ball close to your bot as you drive away from it.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

thats just one thing you are just gonna have to work on

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

We're doing the same thing but with PVC pipe instead of a pool noodle.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

You guys all realize your final mechanism has to be inside your frame, right? See <G30>.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

The noodle fuzz? Yea, we know. Just thought I'd give you a heads up about it.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

Yes, like stated in my first thread, just a test bot, once put into actual robot it will be inside the frame

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

I am aware of that rule. I'll show you guys a blueprint of sorts if you would like to see it.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

That one's easy ... the roller's inside the frame no problem. On the field, back up to a ball and spin the roller so that the ball has a back spin, then keep the roller tip at the same speed or greater than the drive train as you drive in the opposite direction.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

Just checking. It's really a downer for an inspector to have to not allow a robot to compete.

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

That works amazingly! Have you tested to make sure you can't have possesion of 2 balls at a time?

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

well thats mostly from drivers ability, but i do believe that 2 balls might not fit but we would have to check that tomorrow

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

thats what i said, its mostly drivers ability to not possess 2 and i do believe that our roller cannot posses 2 balls at once, not enough room

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

Our team has been working on the roller idea too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYwvcTQfFxc
As far as rotation speed goes, is there an upper limit too? having a roller that goes too slow is an obvious problem, but is there a (reasonable, aka not speed of light) speed at which the ball would only be repelled?

Re: Roller/Gatherer Test
 

Cool.

What kind of affect does the ball's spin have on kicking? Since it seems you are doing that.