Quote:
Originally Posted by EricH
Pretty sure they were doing the stairs all through Phoenix, which was after BAE, but not actually hanging in auto. They'd get set, but not hang. 330 did the same sort of thing, but didn't use the steps; they went up the side and reached for the bar from the low step. (330 also couldn't move the ball from side to side, just knock it out.)
190's coolest device that year, though, was a laminated piece of paper known as the "Dean Device". It velcroed to a wheel and reached across the line so that they were technically in the proper starting position--touching the floor on both sides of the line--while the entire drivetrain was lined up with the steps. Said device was colored and shaped to match a denim-clad arm and hand reaching out and putting one finger down on the ground.
There is also a video around of them vaulting over team 237 at a post-season and hanging. It's pretty cool to watch.
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As the season progressed, the robot got better and better at hanging in autonomous. At Championships and the off-seasons, we were hanging with more consistency. While it was rather bang-bust, I would have to say that the bang was pretty well worth the occasional bust.
The device you describe is the "Kamen Straddling Device", or KSD for short. At kickoff that year, Dean asked teams to not be rules lawyers and to take the rules at face value. He pointed at the floor and said "This is straddling, this is not". We took that to heart and blew-up an image of Dean's arm, laminated it and used is for the KSD. I'll try and post a picture of it later. He even autographed one of them.
The video of us vaulting over 237 at RiverRage can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5nnGGRi-94&NR=1
Additionally, teams 190 and 126 still have their machines from that year. I believe team 191's is still at FIRST Place in Manchester.