[Brandon Holley]

Akash- Thanks for starting this thread on our behalf. We were quite disappointed to not be selected in Boston. The few matches we had with partners that could consistently score, resulted in fairly dominant victories. We only lost 1 match the whole weekend, and it was a tough pill to swallow not playing in the elims.


As for our robot, all of the responses to questions thus far have been accurate. The main issue we were having in Boston, was for a reason unknown to us at the time, our robot would not elevate itself to its designed point. We were consistently stopping 5-6 inches short of being "fully hung". (Fully hung in a sense that we still got 2 points, but were not at the height we were designed to catch at)

After some investigation, we decided to rip apart our gearbox for the winch we use. It uses a single CIM on approximately a 16:1 ratio. We utilized AndyMarks new 3/8" hex bearings. Unfortunately for us, the two we used in the winch were completely destroyed. We estimated the load on each of these bearings to be approximately 60 pounds near the upper limit, with almost zero shock loading of any kind. Since Boston, we have redesigned our winch gearbox to not utilize these bearings anymore. The result will be a much more efficient hang for us, and a hang at the height our robot was designed to "catch" balls with.

Simultaneously, we've decided to change a couple more features on our robot to make our design more fool proof. The primary one of these is a new "catching" device that makes our redirect MUCH more consistent. The other changes just make our robot more reliable and consistent in several other areas.

We are very excited to be playing on Newton with several other teams who are consistent, reliable scorers. We know we can be an X factor type of robot in Atlanta, and are counting the days til we get to play again!

-Brando


PS- Since the "cat is out of the bag" so to speak, I'll post a few pictures to CD Media of our design, so you can get a better look.