Quote:
Originally Posted by mikegrundvig
We're in the same boat. We've had to redo the CAD 5 or 6 times now with the final design being figured out on a giant sheet of paper Wednesday night and then mostly finished in CAD last night. Each time the design has run into a new issue. Most of the issues have been around either the top box at the top of the pyramid or the dimensions of the robot. The 54" diameter circle is fine, but the maximum size of the robot (112" perimeter) has caused us considerable problems. Additionally, the minimum edge of a bumper being 8" has ruined many of the workarounds. Very tricky problem given the rules.
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Ditto here. The concept for the climbing mechanism isn't the problem to get to the 3rd level - it is the width of the 3rd level bar at that point, interference with the vertical poles sticking out, how close the top horizontal bar is beneath the pyramid goal, etc... It is a very, very tight fit at that level. I think many teams, if they haven't built a mechanism, and tested it, will find that there are a lot of interferences to achieving the top level. I don't think this is something you can "bolt on" after you have built your robot. This has to be carefully integrated into the entire design.
Every time we thought we had it, we found another place where we would run into a bar, get caught on our bumpers, hit the "ceiling" under the pyramid goal, interfer with our shooter, violate the frame parameter, and so on. As of last night, we think we finally have a working solution. Dispite this, we still may not have the ability to hit the 3rd level at our week one regional. The complexity of the mechanism is going to require a lot of programming support to make it work. 10 pts, no problem. 20 pts, probably. 30 pts, possibly not until our week 5 event, if at all.
Despite what this poll says, I'm going to have to agree with what I believe PC said a couple of weeks ago - there will be regionals where no one can make this climb. My prediction: 2% - 3% of the teams will be able to do this.
This has to be the hardest, most complicated game I've ever seen the GDC develop - that's what makes it so much fun!