842 Kicker On Bot
 

Using the same pre-loaded piston method as early videos. We are only using 6in of travel and because of that we can only launch roughly 20ft. But we have kicker on all sides.

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

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Will there be any semblance of an intake / possession mechanism on any sides of the robot?

Love the kicker, you might see something familiar looking elsewhere this year...

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

i love how the kicker can take the soccer balls in any direction. I especially like the mecanum wheels:)

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Wow, it looks great guys! Something That our team was thinking about was something during autonomous period, since I in the video that you guys were trying to be good with timing. And timing with these sorts of kicks is essential. so on your mounts for your roller bars you could incorporate something on the lines of IR sensors so the robot knows when to kick during autonomous period. It shouldn't be too difficult.

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

The aluminum bar above the kicker bar is a roller. It just hasn't been connected yet.

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

very nice 2 get a kicker on all sides!

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

video looks great John, cant wait till we get all 4 on!

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Sweet kicker! Falconmaster, my husband is looking over my shoulder and wants to know what material your frame is made of (it looks very student friendly for fabrication)?:yikes:

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

We use fiberglass for fabrication of the robot.

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

pultruded fiberglass

www.creativepultrusions.com

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Looks cool... Hope to see it in Atlanta!

BTW...design is not spelled desgin (@40 sec) ;)

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Falconmaster,
Very impressive as always! If you guys keep up this progress you'll have a full 3 weeks of practice with that guy!

Congrats and keep up the good work.

Brando

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Thanks Brandon! We hope to have the first one done by next Friday, and the twin by a week after that.

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Great job Falcons! sure hope we get to play WITH you!

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

If the FIRST gods will allow!

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

pray to the match algorithm gods!

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Nicely done. I like the wide kick area... I have a feeling your driver(s) will be verrry good at mechanum-spinning 90degrees to kick by the end of the season. :]

-q

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Wow guys thats a great kicker. Truth be told I've studied all of the videos you have posted regarding your kicker designs and they have helped my team a lot. I'd like to say, first, congrats on the amazing design, and second, thank you for all the video resources that have helped us out. GOOD LUCK AT COMPETITION!

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

As if you weren't already awesome enough. XD how far does it kick exactly?

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

good stuff 842, I can't wait to see your robot at comp. Are you guys coming to Duel in the Desert?

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

18 - 20 ft

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

That is a good solid distance. :)

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

looks really good
keep up the work
mike d

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Are those Parker rams that i see? I don't think those are allowed.

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Parker cylinders were not allowed for a couple years, but last year and this year the rules for cylinders are pretty much wide open...there is a limit on max bore and stroke, but any configuration or manufacturer is allowed, must be unmodified COTS.

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

First, let me say I'm very impressed. You guys are moving forward pretty quickly, and look like you will have a solid robot by ship date.

However, looking at yours and someone else's (don't remember now...) shooters, I have to wonder...how successful will you be when right against the goal? ...when a few feet away?

I haven't seen everyone's design yet, but so far I haven't seen one that will do close range. Have you got something cooking for this?

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Looks really good!

Just out of curiosity, how much does that assembly weigh as of now?

Good luck guys, looks awesome!

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

We spin the wheels that posses the ball in reverse ;) works well

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Couldn't agree more. Not trying to single 842 out as all of videos I've seen have teams kicking over atleast one hump, but who will be scoring all those balls? I think the accuracy rate for kickers in the middle and far zone will be surprisingly very low. I think the best kickers will be those that can adjust distance on the fly to score from close in but also clear balls up to the scoring zone.

I fear many teams will suffer from the 'Kyle Boller affect'. Kyle Boller can throw 60 yards from his knees and was drafted in the first round and basically never became a good QB. I'm afraid some teams (in designing/building and scouting) will fall in love with the kickers that can kick the ball the length of the field but still may not be sucessful.

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

We can modify how far the ball is kicked. The maximum range covered is what is shown in the videos. The shortest kick is about 2ft, iirc.

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Do you do that by controlling how much air it gets? timing the opening/closing of the solenoid valves?

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Yes, in the game from 2 years ago when we used a similar pneumatic shooter design to launch the large ball over the scaffold we would sometimes get really bad shots and the ball would shoot short. This time we're having the robot do that intentionally in order to vary the distance it kicks.

In short, the amount of time the valve is open varies the amount of strength we use to make contact with the ball.

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Team 842,

That is an awesome kicker design. I now understand how one can use springs (surgical tubes) to assist to get the piston come out faster. I also learned about pre-charging (pressurizing) and how you use the gate latch to hold it.

Can you tell me in your set up, if the maximum distance by doing everything you are doing is 20 feet, what is the distance if you do not pressurized the kicking cylinder and just activate the solenoid valve? Did you also try to pressurize the kicking cylinder but take out the elastic cords. We are very behind right now and will not have time to try out all these things. Any help from any team will be appreciated.

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Right now, we are using only a pneumatic cylinder to power our kicker and it's not working too well (about 1.5 ft max distance in the air). We're going to try pressurizing with a gate latch this weekend and try and add some surgical tubing. Hopefully we'll get a similar result as what's in the video.

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

The shortest kick we achieve is done by having the cylinder vented on both sides and relying on just the tension force from the elastics that are attached.

Using the elastics doubled our range. What we did was use as much elastic force as possible while still being able to retract the cylinder pneumatically.

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

1. with just elastic we get more of small hop and roll effect any where from 2 to 5 feet
2. With just air no pre-pressurizing and locking it at 4" before releasingwe get about 5 feet- to 7 feet
3. with pre-pressurizing we get 18 to 20 feet

Re: 842 Kicker On Bot
 

Yeah, we'll be there with both our bots. A large portion of our team will be missing due to other school stuff...