Designs over the years.

[Twest3259]

As we all know, Each robotics team comes up with a unique solution to every years task. A lot of teams have almost identical designs, others have something entirely their own. I was wondering what you all thought the most Creative solutions were for this years and past years designs.

[GCentola]

There is some cool discussion in this thread relating to designs for the past year and who did them very well: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=106435

Hope this helps!
Garrick

[JVN]

In the effort to make this thread interesting, I made a list which called out the robots which did similar functions to everyone else, but in unique ways. I'm not looking for teams who were innovative for the sake of innovation, but those who followed the "conventional" strategy but did it with a unique execution.

Here it goes:
2012 - Team 67 was way outside the box, while still accomplishing the same tasks as other elite teams.

2011 - Most robots were very similar this year (imho) there were variances in execution, but most robots consisted of some twist on "tube grabber + elevation mechanism + minibot deployment." I think the most out of the box design was team 118 -- their system was unique compared to everyone else.

2010 - While the immediate answer is 469... they were outside the box in terms of strategy. In the spirit of this list, I'm going to look for a more traditional "grab, kick, cross, hang" robot who did it in a unique way. I think 67's hanger mechanism deserves to be a part of this list. I was also extremely impressed with 25's ball grabbing "wind tunnel." Those two subsystems were fairly unique, and incredibly effective.

2009 - There was a lot of design convergence this season, and as a result I think a lot of the unique ideas at the start of the season were very prominent by the end of the season. I know 45's fan made a big impact at the week 1 DC regional -- and they were the first "fanbot" that I remember from that season. (Note: this is not a cue for everyone to post in this thread saying "We had a fanbot too!" Please just recognize that in my mind 45's was the most well known.) I was also a big fan of 330's really unique "we're dragging a trailer so we're able to do something weird" drivetrain.

2008 - This one is tough. MY "obvious" answer is 1771, since their suction-cup ball grabber was an absolutely perfect example of: "well... the picture looks cool, but there's no way that thing actually works well, let me just check some video... wait a second, this thing is pretty darn awesome!" There were lots of robots with arm ball grabbers, but none that looked anything like 217. There were lots of examples of roller+throwers, but NONE that worked anything like 1114. 1625's "ratchet linkage" also deserves a special mention. Why deal with release mechanisms?

2007 - Lots of very similar robots. The 1114 "transformer" robot was pretty darn cool in my mind. I loved how their ramp unfolded, and how easily they were able to lift 2 because of it. 217's arm that year was just ridiculous. I have no idea what they were thinking. Definitely a unique implementation of the "grab tube, lift tube" design.

2006 - Another tough one. Lots of very similar robots. 25's design was a fairly unique execution that a lot of people (myself intended) turned their nose up at. "Can you believe they made XXXX tradeoff?" Their system didn't look like what I would have defined as a "good system layout." Turned out, they made some really smart tradeoffs, and had a fantastic machine... I also liked 233, since in my mind this was the first "really successful" upwards spiral ball feed mechanism in FRC.

2005 - How about 71 holding 400 tetras at a time, and dumping them 2 at a time? How about 33 storing a 2nd tetra in their base and breaking it out at key moments (such as when they needed to knock off MY alliance). Hrmmm... how about 980's crazy arm which was incredible useful for autonomous mode? 233's ambidextrous robot? 118's... well... their weird two armed, no front, turreted... swerve-driving... THING.

2004 - 71's PVC swiss army knife. 469's refrigerator + giant claw of death. 45's "we're going to build the best arm that has ever been built" robot Katsklaw. 254 & 60's genre-defining 2-jointed arm.

2003 - No.

2002 - Beatty's walker. Unlike anything else. There were a few 3 goal robots, but none looked like this.

2001 - Beatty again. Just watch the video.

2000 - 25's "clawgame" robot looked like NOTHING else, and performed in a way that I still don't believe. While I think 47-2000 was one of the best robots of all time, I think 25 was one of the most unique.

Okay... so that sums up my time in FRC; that was a fun trip down memory lane.
Time for turkey. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

-John

[Richard Wallace]

Tanquam ex ungue leonem.

John is a life student of engineering design.

[slijin]

Originally Posted by JVN

2011 - Most robots were very similar this year (imho) there were variances in execution, but most robots consisted of some twist on "tube grabber + elevation mechanism + minibot deployment." I think the most out of the box design was team 118 -- their system was unique compared to everyone else.

To add to this, 190 was one of the first teams to use a ramp that lined up with the pole to deploy their minibot, which allowed the minibot to start going up the pole with an initial velocity, as opposed to most other teams which plopped theirs onto the pole.

A number of teams, among them 148 and 772, also independently pioneered the "magnet" minibot that would become dominant by CMP; whereas most minibots would physically clamp onto the pole and then climb, theirs used magnets to stick to it, and thin rubber-lined axles to drive them up.

The idea to strip the TETRIX motors of their gearbox just grew on CD as people discussed it; I don't recall any single person/team that was singlehandedly responsible for popularizing the idea.

[akoscielski3]

Originally Posted by slijin

To add to this, 1114 used a ramp that lined up with the pole to deploy their minibot, which allowed the minibot to start going up the pole with an initial velocity, as opposed to most other teams which plopped theirs onto the pole.

148 also pioneered the "magnet" minibot that would become dominant by CMP; whereas most minibots would physically clamp onto the pole and then climb, theirs used magnets to stick to it, and thin rubber-lined axles to drive them up.

The idea to strip the TETRIX motors of their gearbox just grew on CD as people discussed it; I don't recall any single person/team that was singlehandedly responsible for popularizing the idea.

Where did you get this from? MANY teams had magnets on their Original Minibot's. We had magnets on ours and we never saw 148's robot until after ours was made.

[Richard Wallace]

The first magnetically attached pencil-wheel pole zipper I saw was in a video posted by 1625.

[slijin]

Originally Posted by akoscielski3

Where did you get this from? MANY teams had magnets on their Original Minibot's. We had magnets on ours and we never saw 148's robot until after ours was made.

Sorry about that - most of the teams with this kind of minibot (us included) had only developed it after seeing 148's. Edited my post

[Chris is me]

Calling it a "magnet minibot" is probably not not the best way to describe that general "class" of minibots as several teams used PVC clamps, lexan, etc to hold their minibots on instead. The best term is probably "direct drive minibot".

From what I could observe that season, by ship day the general consensus of competitive designs was either the double supported, C-channel minibot many of us know and love, or a slightly angled cantilevered design known to many as "BackpackMan". BackpackMan worked great, but it was a bit slower and most importantly couldn't be ramp deployed, so it wasn't quite at the top level of designs. (Despite this, one of the instances of BPMan did appear in the final match on Einstein, if I'm not mistaken...)

As for unique and effective designs, 1519's Speed Racer remains one of my favorite robots of all time. Its offensive performance in the offseason is easily comparable to 90% of hurdlers. It'll forever remain an amazing example of the power of simplicity matched with effective execution.

[waialua359]

The 254/968 2008 robot was a very unique hybrid lift/throw robot that was well engineered. I still marvel at the engineering behind that robot from up close.
Very impressed also with Hot's 2012 robot as JVN has mentioned.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by waialua359

Very impressed also with Hot's 2012 robot as JVN has mentioned.

It's amazing how far out of the box a team can be while doing the same thing as everyone else.

For those that haven't read the tech notes they posted please do it's fascinating to see a glimpse of their design process.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2649

[Lil' Lavery]

1523's catapult in 2006 instantly came to mind for me.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/22906
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlwqXk1vG9s
http://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2006gal_qm41

272's electromagnetic clasping mechanism for their launcher in 2008.
http://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2008pa_f1m2 (yellow robot)
Also note, that 341 dropping the ball and having it roll across the line at the end of the match was the margin for victory. Absolutely nuts match, one of the best of 2008.

1731 had a slew of interesting features in 2008. They were one of only a few teams who acquired the ball without any active mechanism (25 being the other that comes to mind). Their launcher provided mostly vertical momentum, and they relied upon their drivebase's forward momentum to hurdle the ball over the overpass. Their hybrid mode signalling device wasn't an IR transmitter, but rather a series of different colored lights that their robot would detect. One of my favorite bots of all time, and one of the best to not win a regional (2x finalist).
http://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2008oh_f1m1 (red alliance with yellow bumpers)

The Enginerds have had a few really creative bots, but their 2010 one was really neat. They had their rear mimic the actual hanging bar in order to suspend their teammates, as well as their mid-season adjustment to their ball deflector that allowed it to function while hanging.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/35831
http://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2010gl_qm88


First brain dump of unique robots complete. Will try and remember more of my favorites later.

[Hallry]

Even though I wasn't around back then, I want to throw in my $0.02 for 2008:

1st penny: Team 148's Tumbleweed - A very unique design, which ended up winning the World Championships with 1114 and 217. Instead of trying to play all parts of the game (Overdrive), they focused on a single aspect of it, and excelled greatly. With a distinct nonagonal base, they mainly circled the field, racking up a large number of points.
More info: http://www.robowranglers148.com/2008.html

2nd penny: Team 1519's Fezzik/Speedracer - An even more distinguished design. Like 118, they chose on a singular part of the challenge to focus on, but did it twice. Splinting their team in two, the younger team members built a small, fast 'lapping' robot like Tumbleweed, while the seniors created a 'hurdler' robot to manipulate the balls with. The 'lapper' was named SpeedRacer, while the 'hurdler' was called Fezzik. They designed their robot to easily change configurations, but unfortunately, FIRST ruled that they were in fact two separate robots, and that the team could only compete with one. After using SpeedRacer in the practice matches at GSR, they ultimately decided to use Fezzik in the competition, and ended up as Semi-Finalists. Luckily, in offseason events, they were able to use both configurations, and even got to enter their robot in both designs as two different bots.
More information: http://www.mechanicalmayhem.org/teamhistory08.asp

[lemiant]

I'm pretty sure the ramp deployment was independently produced by a couple of teams (none of them 1114), including 233. And then widely copied.

[AllenGregoryIV]

John that was a great list but completely snubbing 03?

Anytime I get a chance to mention Wildstang's 2003 robot, I'm going to do it. I'm so glad they have left up this webpage, http://www.wildstang.org/2003/inventor/. I'm pretty sure I go back and look at it at least once a year. What they were able to do with a Basic stamp as the main robot controller (plus some amazing co-processor stuff) is just insane. I don't think anyone at FIRST thought a robot would be this good the first year we had an autonomous mode. The waypoint system was just perfect for that game. That's not to mention that they had the perfect ramp bot as well. That was my first year in FIRST and watching that machine dominate on Einstein is one of my clearest memories.

I can't find a better video then this one but you get the idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnwl31zoAPI

Also, 148's in 2003 was pretty awesome I think there were a couple other big arm bots that year though.

I also liked that Truck Town Thunder (68) was able to also block the side passages once they were fully locked in.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/15167

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.