Innovative designs

[TubaMorg]

So here we are heading into the third week of competitions. There are a number of "how to make the regionals better" threads running right now that are quite serious in tone. I'm starting this thread to hear about the incredible robot designs out there. But here is the qualifier: I'm looking for ugly but functional, the non-machine shop robots, the "we only have a sabre saw" robots, the creative use of Home Depot and Lowe's hardware, the "I can't even spell CAD" designs.

While I am super-impressed with the laser cutting capabilities of some teams and the awesome robots that they come up with, I am even more impressed with the under-manned, under-tooled, under-computer-savvy teams out their that troll the aisles of hardware stores looking for ways to use what they see on their robots. You've all seen them at the competitions. The wobbly looking, baling wire robots that seem to kick butt.

I'll start with an example: One team found some flourescent orange snow fence netting to use for their ball hopper (sorry I forget the team number). Functional, lightweight....and ugly! I love it!

[MrForbes]

we were thinking about using that orange stuff for our hopper to meet weight, but found some fiberglass sheeting instead, and punched holes in it.

The 1897 Dragons made good use of galvanized a/c ducting and plastic lawnmower wheels, they were in the winning alliance in the Az regionals. Great job!

[KenWittlief]

Team 188 from Woburn - used paint rollers to pickup and transport balls to their shooter. They can capture and shoot 3 balls at a time (ball path is 3 balls wide!).

They will be a force to be reckoned with at the Toronto Regional (I saw them at FLR).

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...light=blizzard

[Not2B]

We like omniwheels. But we don't have the ablity to machine them, and don't feel like paying for them. So... we wrap skyway wheels in rip-stop nylon. Slippery, cheap, and no machining.

[abeD]

Team 710's robot was made almost entirely in a family room using a drill press and band saw, innovative would be the blockers they had made out of pvc and mesh netting. Also they're rollers for ball pick up were originally my mom's cookie rollers.

[TubaMorg]

Team 710's robot was made almost entirely in a family room using a drill press and band saw, innovative would be the blockers they had made out of pvc and mesh netting. Also they're rollers for ball pick up were originally my mom's cookie rollers.

Very cool! That's the first time I've heard of kitchen implements being used

We like omniwheels. But we don't have the ablity to machine them, and don't feel like paying for them. So... we wrap skyway wheels in rip-stop nylon. Slippery, cheap, and no machining.

I'm diggin it. Did you have any "bunching" issues?

Team 188 from Woburn - used paint rollers to pickup and transport balls to their shooter. They can capture and shoot 3 balls at a time (ball path is 3 balls wide!).

This is one of those "why didn't I think of that?" designs!

[akshar]

1568, used netting, could be the netting from a soccer goal, same material a little lighter for their ball hopper, it was light weight and did the job,

[Lithium]

Thanks for the compliment. We definitely fit in this category, where most of our bot was made with a drill press and hack saw!

Originally Posted by squirrel

we were thinking about using that orange stuff for our hopper to meet weight, but found some fiberglass sheeting instead, and punched holes in it.

The 1897 Dragons made good use of galvanized a/c ducting and plastic lawnmower wheels, they were in the winning alliance in the Az regionals. Great job!

[Greg Marra]

Originally Posted by TubaMorg

I'll start with an example: One team found some flourescent orange snow fence netting to use for their ball hopper (sorry I forget the team number). Functional, lightweight....and ugly! I love it!

That team was 228, GUS. They gave us a section of it at the UTC regional when we were trying to make weight and shedding polycarb left and right. It worked really well for us, and it even matched our polycord! I'm pretty sure we weren't the only team that got our hands on some of their spare fencing. Thanks, 228!

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by TubaMorg

I'll start with an example: One team found some flourescent orange snow fence netting to use for their ball hopper (sorry I forget the team number). Functional, lightweight....and ugly! I love it!

Originally Posted by Greg Marra

That team was 228, GUS. They gave us a section of it at the UTC regional when we were trying to make weight and shedding polycarb left and right. It worked really well for us, and it even matched our polycord! I'm pretty sure we weren't the only team that got our hands on some of their spare fencing. Thanks, 228!

It's not all that ugly, especially when practically your entire robot is fluorescent orange! I lost count on how many cans or Chevrolet Orange spray paint we went through... I think its somewhere around six or seven full cans. The snow/construction fencing is really strong and durable and is amazingly lightweight. Here was team 228's robot during the elimination rounds at UTC:



EDIT: I just reread the original post in this thread, and our robot doesn't really qualify for this thread besides the fact that we used the orange fencing. Much of our robot (except various pieces here and there) was machined on our team's Bridgeport and a lathe.

[Bongle]

In 1141's rookie year, we used treads from a junked snowblower. In our second year, we used large tires from a junked snowblower. Both years, I believe our total expenditures on the robot was less than $100. We always scoffed when we heard other teams saying "we only spent like $500 on this". Initially, we were going to use a gearbox from an old snowblower, but it turned out it was damaged, and we ended up using pre-owned chain and sprocket. We never even opened our CAD software (this may have changed since I left, but not likely), preferring to simply write down what parts we needed.

When I was working with 1281, I was always making suggestions like "well I bet we could get that part at the junkyard" whenever we needed a part, just out of habit. Spending money on parts that you can quickly and cheaply find at a junkyard seems so crazy to me.

[Ianworld]

My team used a lot of brushes this year. While our spiral used McMaster strip brushing to push balls to the top, our collector used Duane Reade's full supply of conair hairbrushes. Cut off the handles and they fit right onto a tube of pvc. Just screwed them on and they worked great.

[Matt Gent]

Our bot (MARS 1523) uses a surgical-tubing powered catapult/jai-alai cesta launcher. The only truly machined piece on the robot is the catapult hub, everything else is bandsaw/hacksaw/drill press/etc.

Our ball hopper is a basketball net stretched between aluminum tubes.

[Po-ser]

I'm not sure whether this counts as innovative or not, but our Brecoflex treads snapped in two during a match, so we cannibalized them and wrapped them around two of our pulleys to make some last-minute wheels. Then something very interesting happened: all of the bumps and ridges on the treads literally, over the course of a few qualifying matches, rubbed away, and we had a smooth, gum-rubbery surface. With our jaws hanging on the floor, we took out all the screws that held the treads to the pulleys and reattached new ones.

There was also a rookie team, 1866, that had come with basically a moving chassis. We had two matches coming up with them, and since all they were equipped to do was basically push balls around and climb the ramp, we decided to try and help them play defense during the match. To do this, we made two "posts" out of 80/20 and wooden dowels and attached them to each end of their robot, width-wise. Then we zip-tied on some of the spare fabric we'd had left over from our bumper supply. Their robot just about quadrupled in height.

[Andrew Blair]

There was a team in Pittsburgh- I wish I could remember the #- That had a complete surgical catapult retracted and fired with pnuematics. As I remember, it was quite accurate and consistant. Really, really amazing to see, and it looked to be hacksaw and drill.