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Unread 25-02-2014, 11:00
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BJC BJC is offline
Simplicity is Complicated!
AKA: Bryan Culver
FRC #0033 (The Killer Bees)
Team Role: Alumni
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Rookie Year: 2009
Location: Kettering/Greenville
Posts: 707
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Re: Killer Bees - 2014

Quote:
Originally Posted by Agentarrow View Post
I have to wait all the way until Troy to see this thing in person? You guys are killing me.
Looks like some familiar faces are still around though, which is always good to see. Spectacular job guys. I don't think it's Buzz's prettiest incarnation, but its so brutally effective that I don't even care about looks.
Good luck out there, can't wait until we play together.

Edit: I don't think my wording is very well chosen here. This is not intended as a backhanded compliment with an attached insult, I just simply meant to state the truth about my thoughts on the robot. It's not as pretty as your 2012 or 2013 robots, but that's not a statement on this robot beingvugly, it's just that those are a tough act to follow aesthetically. As I said before though, I care more about function than about appearance and this machine does everything it needs to beautifully. That is worth much more than how it looks.
No worries. We didn't take it as an insult. I'd rather have a functional robot than a pretty robot any day of the week. Once you get up close to this robot you'll see we iterated pretty hard on it after everything got powdercoated. Was it worth it? - absolutely.

Hopefully, the pit crew is bored this year: bored pit crew = pretty robot.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ThunderousPrime View Post
Should have know 33 would go for 3 (in auto).

Stellar Robot and Design as always. How is your CG? Twice during the video I saw the robot tilt 0:46 and 0:47. I dont think this is a big deal while shooting, your driver just needs to decelerate a little slower. Additional if you tilt and your height is 60in you're incurring G23, with a regular foul. I'm curious to know what you're exact height is but if you don't want to reveal it I understand.

I like this design much more than others because it has blocking potential. Some of the catapults this year have very low release points (and to a lesser extent arm with linear puncher designs and Ri3D Boom Done cradle catapults) can be blocked relatively easily by putting a robot in front of them. By taking advantage of the height limit, and I think 33 is at or around 60in, they can probably block most teams regardless of shooting mechanism. One thing that is yet to be seen is how the CG question comes into play while blocking. I don't know for sure if 33 or most teams can take a hit from a ball and not fall let alone tilt massively.

Also this is the best catcher I've seen so far and its not even close. You don't have to move the drive base that much compared other low to the ground catchers like 20, 1772 and 604 which have stuck out to me as some the other good catchers. Again taking advantage of those full 60in seems very beneficial at least from my perspective if CG isn't a problem.

The robot's center of gravity is deceptive because the panels visually take up a lot of space. However, There is actually very little of this robot over 13". The center of gravity is about 7-8" and roughly centered (actually lower than last year). The robot has to tip about 80deg in any direction before it will fall over. What you are seeing there is a combination of a full forward reverse slam in conjunction with the thrower firing. We really don't care if the drivers do this so long as the ball still goes in (which it does). I would be amazed if this robot ever tips over in competition.

Someone should correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the 60" rule is in reference to a robot sitting in its normal resting position on flat ground. This has always been the case in the past. If this is not the case, we'll just make the wings ~5" shorter and call it good.

We are intentionally 59" tall in order to maximize catching area and block potential shots. I would be very comfortable with most any robot repeatedly blasting a ball into those wings. They are good at absorbing shock loads, and very durable. If someone does manage to break one? - whatever, we'll fix it in the pits.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunder910 View Post
I love your enormous catchers.

I also love the off-the-intake lob shot.
Absolutely brilliant.
Just wondering, did you plan for that or was that one of those things you discover at the practice field?
Thanks, We had wanted to do the deflection truss shot/close shot that way because it allowed the thrower to become much simpler. However, it was basically impossible to test until the robot was mostly finished so we had a backup plan in place. Thankfully, we didn't need it - The resultant crazy front spin was unexpected but welcome.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chadfrom308 View Post
Maybe we could practice with you? Mike Sulkowski wants to, I sure would like to as well I love the hexagonal intake rollers. Is that the 3rd year using that design!?
Sure, this is the first year we've actually had a practice robot that is functionally identical to the competition robot on bag day. Our drivers pretty much practice every day in the space you see in the video and I'm sure would love to get on a regulation field. If you PM Jim Zondag I'm sure we can set something up.

We first saw that roller material used on 2056's robot in 2012 at the world championship. In 2013 we used it in our conveyer and it worked great. This year, we're using it again, because, why not?
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Last edited by BJC : 25-02-2014 at 11:04.