Re: Going for 3 robots on Ramp?
 

Just an idea...

You could design a 6-wheeled robot where a majority of the weight is towards one end of the robot. So long as the heavier end is on the bridge supported by 4 of the wheels, the lighter end and the other 2 wheels should be able to cantilever over the end without pulling the robot off--same reasoning why 2 wheels of a drop-center 6-wheeled bot are always off the ground.

With 2 robots set up this way and a third turned sideways in the middle, it should work. Another point to help this idea: make sure your bridge-lowering device is mounted on the heavy end.

Re: Going for 3 robots on Ramp?
 

Teams are generally going to have some sort of appendage that will lower the bridges. If they make them heavy duty enough they can use it to help keep a 3rd robot on the bridge while it is hanging over the edge of the bridge.

Re: Going for 3 robots on Ramp?
 

Im in charge of electronics for the sf rookie team and we arent making anything that could shoot balls. were trying to make a compact robot but my electrical layout takes up like 28 inches. would it be possible to make the electric board vertical? (but we also want our bot to pick up and shoot balls just to the other side of the court)

Re: Going for 3 robots on Ramp?
 

Sure, we've done vertical boards in the past if the CG stays reasonable. It's just gravity--no big. ;)

Re: Going for 3 robots on Ramp?
 

And they got picked by 1114 and 217...
Note: I am not picking on 148.. they had a very cool and unique robot ...good autonomous.... without them the other teams would not have won either...

but it takes an alliance to win the championship...

Re: Going for 3 robots on Ramp?
 

Good point, but... the first robot on the bridge, assuming all 3 are on the same side of the court, would need it's "push down" arm mounted on the "light" end, since that's what will be hanging off the other end of the bridge... the last robot on would have to have the arm on the heavy end. This brings up another obvious problem: with two robots already on, and the middle one somehow turned sideways, the third robot on would have to push down the bridge with the combined weight of 2 robots on it.... as I said previously, this is an ALMOST impossible maneuver! Plus, it will take a lot of time to do all this and if the 3rd robot can't get on, no one will score any points since the bridge will not be balanced!! Good luck with this one!!

Re: Going for 3 robots on Ramp?
 

I think winning the Championship requires a bucketful of luck anyways, so it's hard to gauge how much your robot strategy played into it. Perhaps a better vindication of their strategy was their 1st seed and regional championship at the St. Louise regional, as well as their finalist finish in Bayou. I think the easy strategy is often overlooked, 58 built a super simple robot that took them to finalists at BAE in 2008 as well, and last year 3467 built a rock solid minibot deployer and bottom row tube scorer that left them in picking position at BAE.

Back to your regularly scheduled ramp balancing discussion...

Re: Going for 3 robots on Ramp?
 

I've been searching the official Q&A can anyone confirm/deny that a robot that is on top of another robot balanced on the bridge is considered "fully supported" by the bridge. So in Quals 1 robot on a robot on a balanced bridge=20 points?

Re: Going for 3 robots on Ramp?
 

To elaborate on your idea, what if the mechanism had an adjustable hook or piece of C-channel that could go around a bumper. That way the middle robot could "lock" with the other robots preventing either from tipping off. I like using the bumper because with the rules, we know where robots will have them roughly.

Perhaps it just needs to be a plate that is over the bumper.

Re: Going for 3 robots on Ramp?
 

I feel as if the "simple strategy" won't cut it this year. A widebot and a widebot with a shooter walk into a regional... if the widebot with the shooter works and balances as well as the widebot without one that can balance well, what's an alliance captain going to go with? Not to mention the Coopertition bridge has everyone smacking their heads in disbelief. This is a weird variable that has no real historical evidence to help strategists predict what to do. (History would say that in some regional qualifiers, teams will be pushing opposing dead-in-the-water robots because they need the points, and wind up humiliating the pushed bot)

I will say that while the endgame this year is harder than Logomotion's (I feel confident in saying that teams that looked for the answer, found it and gave it to other teams), the points you can earn will make up a high percentage of the overall match points.

The GDC feels confident that accurate scorers will be making it to eliminations, which is why they added the bonus for the difficult balancing act.

Re: Going for 3 robots on Ramp?
 

Definition of support: Bear all or part of the weight of; hold up.

If a robot is on top of the other, the bridge is still bearing all the weight of them both.

Re: Going for 3 robots on Ramp?
 

My team is designing a robot hat can turn sideways on the bridge, that way it would allow for all the robots. We also going to have pneumatic rams that slide out and grab another robot to hold them on if there isn't enough room. That way they don't fall off.

Re: Going for 3 robots on Ramp?
 

Just remember that you can only have one ram that come outside of your frame.

G21-Robots may extend one appendage up to 14 in. beyond a single edge of their frame perimeter at any time.
Violation: Foul for exceeding size allotments; Technical-Foul for continuous or repeated violations. (These appendages are intended for use in manipulating Basketballs and/or Bridges. A Robot may have multiple extension devices onboard, but only one may be deployed at a given time.)

Re: Going for 3 robots on Ramp?
 

I'm assuming you will be turning sideways with a robot on the other end of the ramp WHILE you're turning? will you turn first, have a robot get on one end, then the other from the other end? if so, how do you expect the third robot to overcome the opposing weight of the two robots already on the bridge?? Seems impossible to me! Good luck!

Re: Going for 3 robots on Ramp?
 

At regionals, we'd be particularly arrogant to think 1 robot can outscore a 3rd balancing robot, even in 30 seconds. Even if no single robot specializes in a triple balance on an alliance, it doesn't mean it's not worth the effort to try.