[Scott Bahl]

I was impressed with 148's pinch rollers in their video but did not really think much of it until 971 got the robot up and running. I was disappointed to say the least at the ineffectivness of our initial single roller design compared to the 148 pinch rollers, but went home that night, took a look at the CAD and was excited to see that our kicker would clear a bottom bar for a pinch roller application. I did a few quick prototypes on the robot the night before ship and began work on the pinch rollers as soon as the practice robot frame was togeather. It took me quite a bit of work tuning the position of the rollers before I could get them working optimally, but as the driver the gain in ball control resulting in the freedom of menuvers was phenominal.

254 also helped us a lot in getting the rollers functional. We had been having alot trouble with getting enough grip on the ball until 254 showed us their magic material, which made all the difference. They also helped us tune the position correctly. Having 254's 'bot as an example was an enormous help.

-Scott