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Originally Posted by Travis Covington
We really appreciate the help we received from 254 (among others) this year. We were graciously given drawings of some chassis components, wheel hubs, bearing blocks, and some other drivetrain components. Our drivetrain gearboxes, however, were only similar in the way they mounted to the chassis/themselves. Our overall robot design, although similar in look & feel, is completely re-engineered from the ground up (excluding the few drivetrain components I mentioned) and upon close inspection you can spot the significant differences. There is not one part of the arm, chassis, or a-frame that is identical to their robot. This robot was inspired by team 60 in 2001, and by 254/60's robot last year (I must also mention 22 in there with the 22/252/254/60 bionicpoof drivetrain they had going over the summer). Arm and a-frame concepts were really only taken from pictures, interpreted and modified from there. Many elements from past robots and teams were brought forward to this design, as so many teams end up doing in the design process.
I hope you all understand just how grateful our team is of the help that other teams have given us in the past. Without the gracious support of teams and individuals across the country we wouldn't be able to create anything even close to the things we have.
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It was our team's and my personal pleasure to be able to help you out this season, Travis. It was also a lot of fun for me to see the progression of your ideas, and design iterations. Thanks for letting me in on that.
I've got to agree with Karthik, Andy, and Cory that this is quite possibly the prettiest robot I've seen this year. Knowing Travis and to a lesser extent Kirk, I can tell you with absolute certainty that not only will it sit pretty, but it'll function well, too.
I've said it in a previous post, but I'll say it again... I've got a lot of respect for robot builders/designers like 45/47/65/68/111/etc. but to see this kind of quality of robot out of a team with such few resources blows my mind. That's a statement not to be taken lightly, either. That's coming from the guy who, on just $7,5000 (including registration fees, and ~$2,000 of his own money) helped design and build the first swerve drive of any kind in California, and the first 6 motor 111-esque swerve on the west coast. I hope some well-off team down there in SoCal takes notice of this and tries to help West Covina out with recruiting sponsors. This is a powerhouse quality team in mentors and students, and it's always on the cusp of folding (like the now defunct 258 in NorCal). 968 (Travis and Kirk especially), you guys are amazing, and my hat is off to you guys. Keep up the great work!
-Bill