[marccenter]

Simplicity & Golden Rules from Simbotics 1114 Presentation
Golden Rule #1: Always build within your team’s limits. Evaluate your abilities and resources honestly and realistically .Limits are defined by manpower, budget, experience . Avoid building unnecessarily complex functions
Golden Rule #2: If a team has 30 units of robot and functions have maximum of 10 units, better to have 3 functions at 10/10 instead of 5 at 6/10
Please list your assumptions, strategy to seed high, estimate of a winning score, and what robot design elements would achieve this score
Background Information for Sophomore FRC Team 3548 - Team consists of 1 sophomore coach, one electrical engineer with Labview programming and robotics experience on teams 47 (2 years) and team 1 (2 years) and 8 students, only 4 of which will be involved in the robot build . High School coach has access to woodshop but no metal cutting tools (lathe or mill) on site. Engineer has new access to water jet at work location 30 miles from office location due to GM sponsorship.
Assumptions: 1) Minimal parental involvement, 2) no time to prototype shooter concepts, 3) Shooter designs will have to access water jet limitations (2 dimensional) and be designed and mostly built by engineer and Andy Mark parts , 4) Robot build will consume all time available, 5) drive team practice before first event less than one hour, 6) Budget limits encourage strong use of KOP components, 7) Additional funds estimated to be $1000 from school, 8) Team resources prevent building of single wheel, hooded ball shooter design.

Midpack robot design goals: 1) Robot drivetrain must never fail – no one wants to pick a sophomore team whose robot fails on the field!, 2) Shoot 2 balls during autonomous and 6 during hybrid period, 3) Must be able to lower bridge in order to score cooperation points, 4) Be able to shoot balls from opponents side into team side to assist in team point scoring, 5) Will not typically go over middle barrier, 6) Part of elimination field of 24 robots in both Michigan District events, 7) Will not attend Michigan State Competition due to budgetary constraints but choose instead to go to third Michigan District event ($500), 8) Take maximum advantage of other FRC team's learnings in first two weeks to help with design direction and order and read FRC book on robot design that featured shooting mechanism's from previous FRC competition (2006?).

Robot Design Elements: 1) 6WD chassis. Read Simbotics presentation on “gold standard”. Will use 6 inch KOP wheels. First time team using 6WD configuration. Will use robot long design configuration for ease of building for students and because of limited number of balls being picked up.
2) Ball collector – used Chief Delphi and Youtube to help design. Team 245, Roch Adams, recommended using ¼ id tubing with barb inserts from McMaster-Carr for belt design. Will use 550 motors with Bane Bot transmissions (new for us). Team 1 recommendation of 64:1 transmission ration accepted. Read instructions for breaking in transmission on Chief Delphi. Stretch factor of 5% on Chief Delphi initially used and found to be too tight. Motors smoked. Reduced friction in rollers. Reduced friction in system. Belt tension reduced to make system operational (thanks Paul C. - Thunderchickens).
3) Bridge Arm – Chief Delphi thread indicated that 20 lbs at given distance required. KOP PG-71 gearmotor sufficient with 3:1 ratio. Chain driven system used with purchased Andy Mark Hubs and sprockets. Only Bridge Arm testing was to lift robot in shop – no measurements made. Bridge arm very successful in Waterford District event.
4) Ball Shooter Design – using information gathered from Chief Delphi, design 4 wheel, dual axle, 6 inch past KOP wheel, direct driven by incorporating Andy Mark SimCIM product on both drive axles. Control backspin by varying motor speed ratio (Chief Delphi). Gravity feed ball between wheels via ramp. Use water jet capability to fashion two end plates that will marry the shooter system.

Michigan District Results. Waterford -There is no measurement scale at school so we arrived and weighed in at 125 lbs (first time over weight due to all robot features) . FRC Waterford Captains Team instrumental in helping us lose 5 lbs in about 2 hours . Missed first match due software issues. Ball collector mechanism design still under development. Very successful in lowering bridge and gaining co-opertition points. Ended event at 8th alliance position. Never dreamed we would be in a position to select other teams . Consulted with Team 1 to arrive at pick list. Team alliance not strong – eliminated quickly from afternoon fun.
Michigan District Results. Troy – This is the toughest Michigan District Event. For some team’s it is their third or fourth event having gone outside of Michigan to compete in the Midwest events. Now our robot could shoot and score consistently (50%) in both hybrid and operator controlled. Robot is fully operational. It’s fun not to have to be building your robot but enjoying the venue. End up being ranked around 24 but not selected for the afternoon. Next year let’s skip Troy and go to Livonia where the competition is reported to be easier!

So, Ike, how did you have us ranked? Were we a Midpack robot or a MCC? BTW, thanks for starting the thread. It gave me a chance to rethink about what happened this season.

Some lessons learned:
1) Need to recruit some varsity athletes for the team (see Simbotics presentation)
2) Need more adult support.
3) Chief Delphi support from FRC teams is invaluable for Mid-pack competitive robotics team.
4) FRC teams are willing to share and help your team build a competitive robot!.
5) Familiarize yourself with the Andy Mark website! Order parts early if possible to beat the rush (FP-0673 motors).