Electromagnets to pick up tetra?

[xxerin]

I was wondering if we could use an electromagnet to pick up the tetra?

[tkwetzel]

Considering that they will be made out of PVC, you would not be able to pick them up with an electromagnet. And I think that it would be somewhat pointless to use an electromagnet just for the four corner pieces.

[xxerin]

They all have bolts at the corners to attach them together.

[Billfred]

Having read the now-decrypted chunks of the manual roughly twice each, I don't see anything in there about an electromagnet.

But I would definitely post on the FIRST Q&A before I invested much time or effort into it.

[jgannon]

Originally Posted by xxerin

They all have bolts at the corners to attach them together.

This is true. Whether you would be able to actually grasp them by the bolts is an issue that your team would have to work out. As far as legality, I would suggest using the flow chart in section 5 of the manual to see if this (or any other part) is legal on your robot.

[Mouse]

Originally Posted by tkwetzel

Considering that they will be made out of PVC, you would not be able to pick them up with an electromagnet. And I think that it would be somewhat pointless to use an electromagnet just for the four corner pieces.

Didn't the construction manual show them being made out of a sort of plastic material?

The models at our area were made out of metal though...

Maybe I'm mistaken?

[Ryan M.]

Originally Posted by Mouse

Didn't the construction manual show them being made out of a sort of plastic material?

The models at our area were made out of metal though...

Maybe I'm mistaken?

The small, scoring tetras are made of plastic (PVC). The larger goals (which you place the tetras on top of) are constructed of metal. There was a few changes relatively close to kickoff (apparently), so maybe your kickoff site or whatever used slightly outdated instructions.

[vtrehan]

The first thought in my after watching the videos was electromagnets, but now i am pretty certain its not the best way to go. Mainly because it will draw too much current and drain lots of power (snatching it from the motors), the electronic noise it will create has to be monitored using some H-bridges or something similar to save the motors, because it will hurt that for sure, thus increasing needless complexity. Also the magnetic grip wont be as powerful as you want it to be.

It would be pretty cool if some teams could actually use it effectively, so good luck to them.


Vivek.

[JulieB]

+ the magnet mite mess up
the controls of all the bots

[xxerin]

i have heard they fixed that problem but maybe not. I couldn't find a rule against it anywhere in the robot section of the manual.

[Greg Marra]

Interesting, a giant crane-like configuration could be quite good.

Just please don't turn on your magnet anywhere near my controller.

[Enterprize]

As far as practicality, keep in mind that electromagnets tend to draw a lot of juice...but on the flipside, it would be easy to turn and rotate a tetra by a corner...

Sam, I think you're probably thinking of the stationary goal stations. I believe the scoring tetras are made of PVC.

[n0cturnalxb]

Would PVC make it weigh 8.5 lbs?

I'm sitting here thinking .. maybe we should build a scoring tetra before anything else, heh. It wouldn't take too long ..

[Mouse]

Originally Posted by n0cturnalxb

Would PVC make it weigh 8.5 lbs?

I'm sitting here thinking .. maybe we should build a scoring tetra before anything else, heh. It wouldn't take too long ..

The manual said the vision tetras weighted in at aprox. 12.5...
So that's another challenge to overcome if you're working for a good autonomous mode.

[Alex Pelan]

Wouldn't a strong electromagnet crash robot controllers / field controlling computers?