Question of the Week!!! (10/25/04)

[Andy Grady]

Hi everyone, sorry for the skipping of weeks and stuff...been pretty busy.

Question of the Week (10/25/04):

What do you think is the coolest designed component you have ever seen on a robot?

Have fun!
-Andy Grady

[Joe Matt]

Easy.

111's 2004 drive system. Being able to glide over the platform without even chaining height, and doing it fast and effortlessly, it's amazing. Hands down, the coolest thing ever.

[Corey Balint]

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but i really loved our voodoo arm this year. Even with the programming problems we have had, it was a brilliant design. Whenever it was functional, it was a perfect match in the movement of control to actual. I must say it was a great design.

Past that, i think MOE in 2002 was a brilliant design. It played the game perfectly, got all goals and controlled the match within 10 seconds of the start, it was rarely beaten.

[Arefin Bari]

The Killer Arm by 45. Had a lots of Complexity in that machine, but technokats made it look like it was so easy... coolest arm i have seen in the past season. 1083's holomonic drive system. it was awesome. i would like to see a ball drive...

[Matt_Kaplan1902]

Team 25's arm in 2000. The "Craddle Robber" was amazing and it carried them to the championship. In a close second would have to be 111's ramp bot in 2001.

For this last season I would have to pick the arm from 45 for the same reason stated above.

[Mike Schroeder]

Originally Posted by MATT_kaplan108

Team 25's arm in 2001. The "Craddle Robber" was amazing and it carried them to the championship.

that was acctually in 2000
and for my vote its gotta be either

111's swerve drive
or
45's gearbox/transmission

both amazing marvels

[Holtzman]

There are lots of "cool" design components out there. Some are extremely complex, some are extremely simple.

The coolest simple design component I've ever seen was 45's lexan "forks" for pulling the ball off of the ball tee this year. I think it only worked in one match, but it was cool none the less. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it was the only 10pt bonus ball scored all year.

For complex components, there are tons that deserve mention:
The first Swerve drive i remember was Chief Delphi in 1998. It was, for the time, revolutionary. Wildstang and several other teams has since perfected the swerve drive and has also created several variations of the original design. 45's ball drive is also noteworthy.

To my knowledge, no team, to date, has created a shifting swerve drive. If it were to be created, it would definitely be the "coolest design component ever"

[Billfred]

Yes, that was the only 10-point ball. (There was one on the floor at Robot Rodeo, but folks seemed more interested in trying to get four on the bar. Ah well.)

I have to say, I'm still blown away by StangPS from 2003. Just...holy cow.

However, I'm also quite partial to 180's arm this year. Once that hook gets on the bar, DO NOT BLINK. They get in the air that fast...faster than I've seen anyone else do it.

On the subject of bars, how about 237's monkeybot design? Equally pimp, indeed.

[JVN]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Yes, that was the only 10-point ball. (There was one on the floor at Robot Rodeo, but folks seemed more interested in trying to get four on the bar. Ah well.)

Nope. Wrong again man.
Though I'm almost POSITIVE there were others before this:
We scored one in a qualification match in Atlanta.

It got knocked onto the field, our robot corralled it to our HP Mikey, and Mikey shot it in. Bam, 10 points.

I know there were others, the one we scored was the first I'd seen, and 45's was the second. (Those t-kats did it in a much prettier way.)

John

[JVN]

Grady -- Excellent Question!

I think after much thought, I'm going to have to say Team 71's goal balancing arms and gripper from 2001. Those 2 components made every single "on ramp" goal balancer in the country obsolete.

John

[RogerR]

i think my all time favorites has to be the goal lifting arm on the 2001 demo-squad (267) bot. 2001 was the first competition i saw, and the fact that they completly lifted the goal off of the ground absolutly blew me away. i think that robot has to be my all time favorite.

i also liked 824's arm in 2004. i'm not sure if it ever worked, but it was a prety awesome concept.

at the robot rodeo this weekend i spotted a couple pretty cool components, PINK's battery holder, and Krunch's custom made bearings, to name a few.

[Rich Kressly]

Originally Posted by JVN

Grady -- Excellent Question!

I think after much thought, I'm going to have to say Team 71's goal balancing arms and gripper from 2001. Those 2 components made every single "on ramp" goal balancer in the country obsolete.

John

I agree John. That was my first year in FIRST. When I saw 71 I remember everyone around me (people from several teams) saying, "Ahhh. That's what we should have done."

[Ken Patton]

The drive system from Team 16 (Baxter Bomb Squad) in 2003. With all due respect to the awesome Wildstang drive and positioning system from 2003, I think the BBS system was the most maneuverable and agile drive system I have ever seen. Two driven wheels in the front, one steerable drive wheel in the rear, very high acceleration and top speed, ability spin in place, go into the corners and dig out bins, the most precise high speed machine I have seen.

Ken

[Wetzel]

Metal-in-Motions arm from 2001. I saw that at VCU and went ooh. Well isn't that a nice and simple way to solve that problem. They balanced both goals without putting the robot on the bridge.

After that, Beattys feet from 2002. It was so cool, they even made a rule for it.


Wetzel

[Karthik]

I'm judging this one based on the "wow factor" as I call it, thinks just made me stop and say wow. A lot of the robots that would be on my list have already been mentioned in this thread, so I'll leave them off.

1998 - Team 95
They took the big 24" balls out of the 8' high center cylinder. The only to team to even try this. It was scary.

1998 - Team 16
24" balls should not be squeezed through pipes that are only 16" wide that easily. Those Baxter people sure know what they're doing.

1999 - Team 95
Teams drove on the puck, they pulled the puck, but this team had their own approach to controlling the puck. They tilted it. Again, one of those things you see and ask yourself, "did that just happen?"

2000 - Team 308
The Mini-Me arm. The controls geniuses from Team 308, created a miniature version of their robot's arm, that was used to control the arm. It was so intuitive, and so precise. This Mini-Me arm was a definite pioneer in the realm of driver friendly controls.

2001 - Team 45
I know there were other teams who did it as well, but the Technokats autobalance routine was amazing.

2002 - Team 71
This robot deserves being mentioned over and over again. It was a sight to see. Many times no more than 10 seconds into a match, and they had it won. I'd never seen a chokehold strategy employed so well in FIRST before. Many people thought of grabbing all three goals, but most figured "it'd be too hard to do it well, and have any sort of robustness". We all obviously forgot that nothing is too hard for Beatty.