Creating the perfect robot

[Jay O'Donnell]

Hey CD,
So a project that I've been working on for the past few weeks is coming up with the "Perfect Robot" now that we are in the offseason. My idea of the perfect robot is: A 7-disc Autonomous, a 50-Point Climb, and having the ability to FCS. So now that we have finished the 2013 season, what combination of certain robot's parts/robots with certain additions could create this "Perfect robot"?

[Matthew Lang]

Being under 30" tall and being able to use their pick-up during the match as well as autonomous are two great attributes. An extendable blocker would also be cool but this is already getting pretty crazy .

[Kevin Leonard]

469 with their fabled 30-point climber. Done.

EDIT: Or, if you want to improve even further (not by much), you could have a wildly modified 1538.

[pmangels17]

What about just 67 with a floor pickup? They have a 30 pt climb, FCS ability, and extra 20 pt pyramid goal dump ability. Add a floor pickup with 7 disc auton, and they would probably win everything.

[SoftwareBug2.0]

I'm surprised that I've never seen anybody mention this, but how about a robot that does full court shots from a high starting point, but can also lower to go under the pyramid?

[Kevin Leonard]

Originally Posted by SoftwareBug2.0

I'm surprised that I've never seen anybody mention this, but how about a robot that does full court shots from a high starting point, but can also lower to go under the pyramid?

Originally Posted by inkling16

The perfect robot would also be able to adjust the height of their shooter, much like 1718 did. When the robot is shooting full couurt, the shooter would be as close as possible to 60", thus making defense difficult. When the shooter is down, the entire robot height, including the shooter, should be <30" for driving under the pyramid.

Adjustable height was a pretty rare feature this year, but the perfect robot would definitely have it.

233.
But with a 50-pt climb somehow. I'm not exactly sure.
But if you took 233, removed their consistency issues, you'd have a 7-disc auto robot with a tall full-court shot. I'm not sure how to put a climb on it, though.

[evanperryg]

• 118's ground collector because it is robust and doesn't extend out of the robot.
• 67's shooter.
• 1114's climber will take up whatever space there is between the top of the collector and the bottom of the shooter.
• If we want the raising shooter(which I really see no reason for, as we all know that cycling is generally better than full court) Then use 1477's design.

[Michael Hill]

I wonder if it would have been possible to make an accurate full court shooter that shot frisbees upside down so you could fire them at a higher, unblockable angle.

From videos I've seen upside down frisbees don't get the lift that right side up frisbees get.

Or even throw them "hammer" style at a higher angle.

[Kevin Leonard]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

Or even throw them "hammer" style at a higher angle.

I really wanted someone to do that and succeed, but alas, no team I know of did it.

[AdamHeard]

I think it's interesting that everyone seems to be assuming the ideal robot must have every single capability in this game.

Curious to hear what people's definitions of ideal are.

[Kevin Leonard]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

I think it's interesting that everyone seems to be assuming the ideal robot must have every single capability in this game.

Curious to hear what people's definitions of ideal are.

Then what would your definition of the "Perfect Robot" be?
My definition would be a robot that excels at every aspect of the game.
Do I think that a robot without all these functionalities can excel at UA?
Obviously.


In order for this theoretical robot to excel at every aspect of Ultimate Ascent, it should have:

7-Disc Auto

Ability to cycle very effectively- meaning fast drivetrain/strong drivetrain and ability to drive under the pyramid and avoid defense, fast shooting

Ability to play a floor game very effectively- Roller-floor pickup, front/back of the pyramid shooting positions, ability to pick up discs and shoot discs in both orientations

Ability to full-court shoot very accurately and limit the level of defense to be played on them- High release point, accuracy, fast lineup (either by code or a hard stop)

Have a consistent and fast 50-point climb (including line-up time)- meaning all 4 colored discs need to consistently go into the pyramid goal

[MichaelBick]

Originally Posted by Thunder910

Ability to full-court shoot very accurately and limit the level of defense to be played on them- High release point, accuracy, fast lineup (either by code or a hard stop)

Honestly I don't see why a perfect robot needs to have an FCS. At the top levels of play the field is going to be deep enough to run a 3 cycler alliance(which as we well know, can pretty reliably clear out the feeder station). In a shallow field you can beat strong alliances regardless of FCS. If you still decide to run an FCS, there should be no reason why it has to be tall. If you are only FCSing you will promote defense. A much better style is a run and gun style similar to that of 469.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

Or even throw them "hammer" style at a higher angle.

We prototyped a hammer throwing FCS, but couldn't get the right combination of forward speed and spin with our prototype. It's probably possible, but would have taken more resources then we had during the build season.

[Mitchell1714]

Everyone's talking about the highest scoring robot being the "perfect" robot, except the only score that matters for winning is the alliance score. So by that the perfect robot is one that increases their alliance score the most, both for normal qualification and high scoring elimination matches. Then we get back to the robot that can carry 2 other robots to the top of the pyramid. It would have a flat top with a pull up ramp. It would have a fold out 2 stage corner climber (like 1334) with a shooter that folds up and down (like 3940). It could shoot 3 disks in autonomous, make 3 cycles and finally triple climb and dump.

At a regional it could score 164 points with 2 plowies(box bots). It shoots 3 off in auto (18), 3 cycles in teleop (36) and finally triple climb and dumps (30 x 3 + 20 = 110).

At iri we get paired with a robot that has a center line auto and one that has a seven disk auto. Now we have a 90 point auto mode. In teleop all 3 cycle and because two robots have ground intake they pick up the misses for 135 points. At last the carrier robot climbs with the colored disks and 2 other robots for 110 points. In total the alliance makes 335 points.

Now your saying 335 points is great but it is close to impossible. Lets say the alliance misses 3 disks in auto and makes 40 instead of 45 disks in teleop. That's more reasonable. The alliance still scores 168 and the world high score without penalties was 167.

Also you have one of the most memorable robots in the history of first and can claim the title of the Ultimate Ascent.

[Kevin Leonard]

Originally Posted by Mitchell1714

Everyone's talking about the highest scoring robot being the "perfect" robot, except the only score that matters for winning is the alliance score. So by that the perfect robot is one that increases their alliance score the most, both for normal qualification and high scoring elimination matches. Then we get back to the robot that can carry 2 other robots to the top of the pyramid. It would have a flat top with a pull up ramp. It would have a fold out 2 stage corner climber (like 1334) with a shooter that folds up and down (like 3940). It could shoot 3 disks in autonomous, make 3 cycles and finally triple climb and dump.

At a regional it could score 164 points with 2 plowies(box bots). It shoots 3 off in auto (18), 3 cycles in teleop (36) and finally triple climb and dumps (30 x 3 + 20 = 110).

At iri we get paired with a robot that has a center line auto and one that has a seven disk auto. Now we have a 90 point auto mode. In teleop all 3 cycle and because two robots have ground intake they pick up the misses for 135 points. At last the carrier robot climbs with the colored disks and 2 other robots for 110 points. In total the alliance makes 335 points.

Now your saying 335 points is great but it is close to impossible. Lets say the alliance misses 3 disks in auto and makes 40 instead of 45 disks in teleop. That's more reasonable. The alliance still scores 168 and the world high score without penalties was 167.

Also you have one of the most memorable robots in the history of first and can claim the title of the Ultimate Ascent.

I have significant doubts any robot built to the specifications of Ultimate Ascent could achieve this task.

And especially not one built(mostly) in a 6-week build season.