[archiver]

Posted by Ken Leung at 2/14/2001 1:37 AM EST


Student on team #192, Gunn Robotics Team, from Henry M. Gunn Senior High School.


In Reply to: Team 111 Picture
Posted by Raul on 2/13/2001 11:54 PM EST:



Anton sent me an instant message about the Wildstang’s robot picture, and I immediately downloaded the two pictures to look at it closely. I am using ACD see to view the pictures, but since ACD see can be opened one at a time, I decided to print out the two picture and take a good close look at them using a magnifying glass.

So… this is it! Another great robot from Wildstang.

Let’s see here…

A all-purpose arm sticking out in front of the robot, the body have a top shape just like the bridge, and an unknown object sitting in an empty space at the other end of the robot, wheels hiding at the edge of the robot, an extremely complex electronics system hiding inside the body, a really nice welding job…

So how’s the arm look like? Well, it can pivot around the end of the body, it’s sharp enough to reach under the handles of the side of the bridge, and it can certainly fit under the bridge. I see it’s powered by Van door motors, so we can assume it have some major torque in it. The cross piece of the arm seems to fit the shape of the caster pretty well…

Looking at the picture I can image the arm doing a few things…
It can go right under the goals while the spikes go in between the casters and lift the goals up.
It can go under the handles of the bridge and wedge the bridge to a up position, while it can also slam on top of the bridge to get it into a down position.
It can also tip the goal on its side.
It can clear balls under the bridge.
It can lift goals onto the bridge, either vertical or horizontal position.
It can help other robot balance the goals by letting the bridge land on top.
It can probably fit in between the horizontal bars on the goal and the plywood to pick up the goal.

How about the body? It looks really similar to the surface of the bridge… why, there is the edge of the bridge on the side, there are flat surface on top side, it seems it’s as wide as the bridge, it seems it’s as tall as the bridge, and it seems it’s as level as the bridge when balanced. I don’t know why, but I have an impression that It seems the “box” shape of the body is maximizing the size limit of the base, so that the “sides” flip out so the robot will be as wide as the bridge. But I could be wrong and that the max. width of the robot is still 36”.

The body seems to be doing a few things as well…
If the top is completely covered by those plates of aluminum web or something, then a goal can sit on it pretty easily.
The edge of the bridge can land on the edge of the robot to maintain a balanced position.
If the surface of the arm is also covered with some sort of plates of material, then this shape can potentially be an extension of the bridge, so that robots can drive over it, and onto the bridge and to the other side. And because the arm looks like it’s longer than the base, it can flip to the other side to smack on top of the bridge to get it leveled again.
If the top of the base is covered with some sort of conveyer system, it can allow goals to slide on and off the base.

Then there is the cut out on the other side of the base waiting something magical to be attached to. It’s probably something that can grab a goal and lift it on top of the base, or another arm similar to the other arm, something that can push goals onto the bridge, or something that will grab the end of the bridge, or even something that can grab stretcher.

But without other pictures, it’s really hard to tell what the robot can do. We will just have to wait and see what it actually does.

Hey Wildstang, GREAT ROBOT!!! I can’t wait to see it in action. Thanks for posting your pictures.