pic: Presenting Teams 384, 540 and 1086

[Crebb]

loading photo ...

[Conor Ryan]

Wow! Great job guys, 3 robots is a feat. So any specs you can give us? Looks like you pick up tubes with suction cups, what kind of drive system are you sitting on? Also are there any variations in the robots? (besides color and team number of course)

[Crebb]

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

Wow! Great job guys, 3 robots is a feat. So any specs you can give us? Looks like you pick up tubes with suction cups, what kind of drive system are you sitting on? Also are there any variations in the robots? (besides color and team number of course)

They are running on modified AM 1 speed transmissions direct mounted to AM mecanum wheels. We do use suction cups to pick up the tubes and we do so quite efficiently. We can score on all three rows and in autonomous. All robots are as close to identacle as we could get them, but of coure there are wires here and there that went a stray.

The arm is a 3 stage lift run by another AM 1spd transmission powering a a single loop of chain. I will try to post some video to youtube later this week; all I have right now is one video of auto mode gone bad.

[Kyle]

WOW, they look great please tell us more about these machines.

[RKElectricalman]

auto-mode in 9 secs?..*drools*.. yes we're finaly done, and 384 back in action with the same familiar colors... Just more blue this year :-) Sparky 8 (and the other bots) is 112lbs.. What a great season... I truly learned A LOT... My brain is still hurting

*edit*..

We pick up via suction cups, can reach top goal and score reliably. The lift mechanism is an elevator drive system which Crebb can elaborate on.. it's a mecanum drive, and our auto-mode is looking good so far with it's functional camera :-)

[Rabbit222]

Wow can we get some video on these little beasts?

[RKElectricalman]

Originally Posted by Rabbit222

Wow can we get some video on these little beasts?

video? Soon enough! We're going to try to upload the autonomous trials, i'm not sure if we got some footage during regular trials, but definately pics... we might take some video with our 4th... oops did I say 4th?..rrrRobot?! .. yea's it's a practice bot , and we'll attempt to get video up sometime before VCU for it

[Joe Matt]

How about you guys get some pics on sparky384.com?

Very nice. Good to see Sparky 6 lives in the other photo. Along with Will.

[Crebb]

Originally Posted by Joe Matt

How about you guys get some pics on sparky384.com?

Lots more pics can be found under the Sparky 8 gallery at www.sparky384.com Enjoy!

[SizzelChest330]

"Sparky 8.0 Picture Coming Soon

Sparky 8.0
2006 - 2007"

Am I missing something?


[Edit'd nvm http://www.sparky384.com/media/gallery/sparky8?page=1

[Billfred]

Alright, standard question whenever one sees twins or triplets: Why did y'all choose to collaborate? Fun? Economies of very slight scale? Keep mentors from getting spread thin?

[RKElectricalman]

Well our decision to collaborate was made by our Mentors, and accepted by me and my peers (of all three schools). It wasn't so much financial reason (as far as I know), as a learning situation. We chose this option to better ourselves as teams and learn from one another, and the larger influx of engineers participating really caused the learning curve to reach further lengths. We shared resources, engineers, students, problems, solutions, and closed school rivalry gaps, made by the sports community at our school.
Most all of us enjoyed this oppurtunity, and personaly speaking it was a fun and great experience. I learned A LOT, and I feel i'm better at what I do now, and have more indepth knowledge.

Short answer: Fun, learning, and resources (sort of)

[akash155]

nice, the red one looks the best

[Rachel M]

You guys look awsome! I'll be at the Richmond regional so I'll see you there.

[Lil' Lavery]

While waiting for the FexEx truck to come, a few of us 116ers were browsing CD and came across this picture. While the immediate response was first investigating the design, a later reaction began to emerge. All three of these teams were first round selections at VCU last year (384 declined and became an AC), 384 was a finalist, 540 was a SF (and eliminated 1086 in the QF), and 1086 and 384 won technical awards. While we are supporters of collaborations (and I have voiced my support of the NiagaraFIRST Triplets last year), we didn't really feel this was in the spirit of the "Triplet Challenge" like you claim it was.

Originally Posted by Rourke

The Triplet Challenge:
Let’s forever end the debate on collaboration – and commit to use it for the purpose of growing and sustaining FIRST. We should all be able to rally around that. Go out and find a high school whose students are yearning for the opportunity, but whose faculty or administration is intimidated by starting a team. Or, find a school that is willing and able but doesn’t have the engineering or mentor support to provide the guidance. Or, resurrect a school that used to have a FIRST team, but dropped out because of lack of support. Offer to have the new team copy everything you are doing next year. Everything. Get that team off the ground and performing at a high level. Have them copy your design. Help them make some of the parts. Stretch your budget to help them with registration, travel, spare parts, batteries, and tools. Help them with their organizational structure. Assist them with marketing and financial planning, coach them on scouting and game play, and share mentor expertise.

540 and 1086 had already had great success, and didn't appear to be on the verge of collapse. While we have no problem with a collaboration (and definitely look forward to facing off against these bots in a little under two weeks), this is more like the West Coast collaborations of 22, 60, 254, and 968, or 4 and 980. It is not a "Triplet Challenge" type collaboration, and shouldn't be suggested as one.

That being said, the Black Pearl definitely has the best color scheme.