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Unread 21-01-2011, 16:26
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Re: Are extensions with bumpers after the start of the game legal

Before I get into along lost post a quick question for OP
Are you going to design the extensions to be retractable or are they going to stay down once deployed?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brandon Holley View Post
MOE, Team 365 from 2002 comes to mind when thinking about something like this. Given, back then you could have metal dig into the carpet, but MOE had a system that would expand the entire width of the field more or less and was able to stay in place/move forward much of the time.
Quick review of Zone Zeal (2002) there were 3 large movable goals initially lined up in the middle of the field (Neutral zone) and Alliances of 2 robots would try to push the goals into their scoring zone (reverse Tug o' War). There also were soccer balls you could put into the goal to increase score, they only score if they are in your zone. The strategy with MOEhawk (robot's name in 2002) was to expand our wingspan to ~14ft while speeding toward the goals. Grab all 3 goals push them (barely) into our zone in the first few seconds of the match then deploy traction devices on the arms and under the bot to hold our ground for the rest of the match.

The most important part of the traction devices on the outer goal grippers was not the metal file cards against the carpet but the pneumatic cylinders we used to lift the goal and put additional normal force on the file card. We had a version of this traction device that used rougthtop in place of file cards and it worked almost as well. The movable goals weighed more than a robot so there was plenty of additional normal force to be had at the end of that arm. The whole system of MOEhawk and 3 goals weighted more than 500lbs, giving us a distinct advantage against a 130lb robot ramming us.

At Nationals (as the Championship Event was called back them) we went against a robot that also lifted the goals, and they were the far more effective at moving MOEhawk than any other robot. Also in the epic final match of Brunswick Eruption, the Silver Scorpion (Team 25's bot) actually pushed a soccer ball under the goal reducing the normal force. Silver Scorpion's next ram moved the goal & arm winning the event.

I don't see anyway to get additional traction like lifting a goal in this years game. There are rules against using wedges and grasping field elements. Of course 3553's robot will be only be 7' max width about half the width of MOEhawk so the moment arm is significantly less.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery View Post
Fun times. You'll fit right in.
Agreed, they definitely will fit into the defensive mindset of Philly. Many years a top defensive bot gets picked near the end of the first round as an alliance goes for defense against a high-scoring, high-seeded alliance. When a few members of my team were saying that we wouldn't see much defense this year, I reply with something like "We are going to Philly, right?" It is great to see a rookie team (and a fellow Boeing team) trying an interesting idea like this, I hope to see it at Philly.
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