John's not the only one that can spill some beans...
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Originally Posted by zinthorne
Nice, sorry I didn't catch that the first time. Looks like a quality design. Do you guys have any worries of your arm bending at the back pivot point if the arm was all the way up and you hit another robot or defense at high speed?
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No worse than any other appendage any other year. We knew from the Team Cockamamie Ri3D build that being a little butt-heavy was a good thing anyway, and we wanted to give ourselves the best chance at the 15" rule for the climb if we got that far.
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Originally Posted by RobotsThatWork
I'll take that as a challenge to name all the inspirations 
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179: the octagonal Drivetrain with the non-inline wheels. Not sure what year it was from. 973 is also probably another inspiration for this drive, considering the name.
180/1986: Mecanum wheels used for intaking, as done on their 2012 and 2014 robots, respectively.
254/118: Not really sure about this one, besides the use of boxtubing.
1114: Lots here. The SS concept of putting a ball in a claw with rollers on the top. Also, it looks like your claw has some strong 1114 2011 influence in its shape.
1102: never heard of them, sadly, so I can't say anything about it.
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How close was I?
Anyways, great design. Best of Luck! |
Truth be told, the team that came up first in our discussions was 1503, and how their human-load-only strategy in a field of floor pickups was refined enough to get them to Einstein. Swamp Thing came pretty early in the mix, because we knew any cycling strategy was dependent on getting past defenders and we knew we needed to be skinny anyway to keep the triple climb option open. (And I remember being a college freshman on 1293 having to play opposite those guys at Palmetto. Twice. With Tytus driving. Still gives me heartburn.) We knew we had the resources to make it feasible, so this was the year to make a run for it.
We actually prototyped with the Team Cockamamie robot and a wood projection on the front to act like the octagonal frame, just to see if an octagonal frame done that way would clear defenses. (We didn't want to be wider, for reasons already stated, so it had to be the front for us.) It wasn't, so we went to chain-in-tube. It's the first time anyone affiliated with us has ever attempted it, but we studied a lot of things on ChiefDelphi and COTS parts makers and felt confident making the jump. The sprockets are Team 221 hex-bore shafts, and we're using 1x3 tubing because we needed to run a drop that 221's 1x2-based SimpleTube chassis doesn't allow for. Cheesy Poofs would probably laugh (in the most gracious way possible) at some of our first-timer mistakes, but we're very happy with the result and there's plenty of room for optimization this off-season. We're already discussing bringing a Sandstorm Pi (because it's between 3 and 4) to SCRIW.
We beat our heads against the shop wall for almost a couple weeks on the shooter--a leftover Rocket Box from the Ri3D build was almost called in for a winch-back linear punch, which would've been even more Simbot SS than the current plan...but then on a lark someone dug out a long-stroke pneumatic cylinder that I'd picked up on my trip to MidKnight Mayhem 2014. (Was that 222 that gave out all the cylinders their sponsor dumped on them? Whoever you were, thank you!) Sure enough, it's got a nice pop to it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Conor Ryan
How multi-functional is that arm? Does it manipulate any of the gates?
I love the 179 throwback to fit on the Batter
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We haven't tested it against the actuated defenses yet, but Cheval de Frise and Portcullis shouldn't be problematic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PayneTrain
No canburglar this year eh?
*sits in corner*
*weeps*
Thanks for being such a strong American patriot with participating in the Week .5 event this year. Already have the kettle corn in the build room.
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We still have the milled PVC pipe for that--it was the first linear bearing we tried to simulate the punch with. That whole setup was full Clarkson: Ambitious, but rubbish. I think our ambitions are much better-aimed this time around, and we're pretty optimistic about this one breaking the Columbia teams' collective drought in Myrtle Beach.
(True story: Through a series of circumstances, I was asked to be the defense coordinator at Palmetto this year. I told our RD, "So you want me to do a job that's never been done before, at the largest regional in FIRST, with all of headquarters watching?" He replied "Yeah, that's about what I'm asking.")