Team 95 progress so far
 

8" Mecanum drive, simple pneumatic kicker (with only half of the kicking pistons mounted so far) with welded sheet metal wheel brackets on a welded kit chassis. Using a cargo strap for ball control right now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quV24Sx0zpk

Let me know what you think!

Re: Team 95 progress so far
 

Nice idea of hitting from the side Great job :D,

--did u guys make the code for the kicker, or is there a sample code?

Re: Team 95 progress so far
 

We just have a button that opens the kicker solenoids, very simple. We hope to have an IR sensor that indicates when the ball is in the right position though.

I like the idea of side kicking because you get the widest possible kicker, and I can imagine our bot driving forwards and backwards through a zone and not having to turn to aim and shoot.

Re: Team 95 progress so far
 

Kewl.

I hope you have a way to only allow the balls to go into your bot 3". The video shows the ball disappearing into your bot.

Re: Team 95 progress so far
 

We plan on mounting some hard-rails that prevent that from happening.

Re: Team 95 progress so far
 

So you guys have not programmed it, but using a button - hardwared-- to open the solenoids? when u guys program it plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz send me the code or help me out cause i have NO CLUE on how to program the kicker and i mean NO CLUE

Re: Team 95 progress so far
 

No, we've got a button on the driver station that is programmed to fire the solenoids. We've got spikes controlled by the relay outputs on the digital sidecar controlling the solenoids. I *think* you can actuate the solenoids directly from the sidecar, but I'm not sure, we used the spikes because I was the last one to do pneumatics on the team (back in 2002 when I was still a student) and that's what I know works.

In any event, email me at jamesch13(at)gmail.com, give me some details, and I'll get you in touch with our programmer. It only takes about 5 lines of code, depending on what language you're using.

Re: Team 95 progress so far
 

Pneumatic Solenoids can be connected either to a Spike Relay module or to a Solenoid Breakout attached to a 9472 module in the cRIO slot 7 or 8.

Re: Team 95 progress so far
 

What does everyone think about a piston driven kicker. I guess the question I am trying to ask is, is there a better way?

Re: Team 95 progress so far
 

Grats on your working robot, that's definitely a unique design!

We could use some help, too. Our pneumatics work when handled manually, but I can't figure out how we're supposed to program the relays, or how to hook them up. There's really no good documentation on how to setup pneumatics in programming, specifically Java. I tried setting a joystick button to open the solenoid, but I don't think I'm doing it right.

Re: Team 95 progress so far
 

I think the two best ways to go are piston driven or a cam driven spring release. I think pistons on a stick is the best way to go if you have limited resources (like no on-site machining, like our team :mad: ) and if you want the highest possible reliability. But if you have the ability to do a cam-tensioned spring system well, it will probably wind up being lighter and will definitely have more energy available to it through the whole match.