pic: 816 as of 1/25/11

[thefro526]

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[ajlapp]

That's a clean looking bot.

What does the underside look like? How do you put the wheels in?

Also, I don't see any chain tensioning features....care to expand.

[thefro526]

Thanks Anthony!

The underside of the tubes looks like the top, except the slots are two inches longer (6.5" long) to allow the wheels to be put in. The extra two inches of slot on the outer wheels is biased towards the center to maintain enough material at either end of the tube to keep some structure.

Right now there aren't any tensioners in place, the axles were placed apart so that we'd use a whole number of chain links (no half-links) so the chains are pretty tight. There are holes to allow delrin idlers to be bolted into the tubes to help tension the chain a bit, but we won't know if we need them until the chain stretches.

[dodar]

Probably a question with an obvious answer, but is the tower side the front or back?

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by dodar

Probably a question with an obvious answer, but is the tower side the front or back?

Not all that obvious of an answer, but the tower is in the rear of the robot.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by thefro526

Not all that obvious of an answer, but the tower is in the rear of the robot.

So to me that would mean that you guys are going to have a double-jointed arm? So that you can pick up from the front, unless you are gonna scoop from the back and score from both sides.

[ajlapp]

We use a cam bolt for tensioning in our boxed frame system.....works pretty good. It is especially well suited for these applications because you have axle support on both sides.



A fixed center distance will do the trick too.

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by dodar

So to me that would mean that you guys are going to have a double-jointed arm? So that you can pick up from the front, unless you are gonna scoop from the back and score from both sides.

We're planning on using a 4-Bar arm with a wrist. I guess that's technically 2-joints, but the wrist will only pivot between 0* and 90* with the floor- which is to allow for tube pickup.

Originally Posted by ajlapp

We use a cam bolt for tensioning in our boxed frame system.....works pretty good. It is especially well suited for these applications because you have axle support on both sides.

A fixed center distance will do the trick too.

Anthony, I referenced your cam bolts during the design phase for this drive, but I didn't think they'd be necessary if we could hold a respectable center to center tolerance. If we find that tensioning the chains becomes and issue down the road, it's not hard to implement your tensioner on our drive.

[sdcantrell56]

Wow Dustin! I am loving the direction you guys are taking this year. This robot looks so clean and robust. What are you planning for the gripper? Pincher or roller?

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by sdcantrell56

Wow Dustin! I am loving the direction you guys are taking this year. This robot looks so clean and robust. What are you planning for the gripper? Pincher or roller?

Thanks Sean, we're trying to make up for that thing we put on the field last year...

I'm currently working on finishing up the CAD of our Claw. It's pretty much a standard Polycord Roller Claw, nothing ground breaking, but it should serve our purposes well. If all goes well, it should be done Monday or Tuesday of next week, but with all this snow that may slip a bit.

[rcmolloy]

Saw this on facebook a few days ago and gotta say that this is gonna look real nice at NJ and Philly. Hopefully over the next two weeks, I'll be over to see it in action man.

By the way Dustin, that "thing" got you to the Finals in NJ last year. Just an fyi haha.

[ajlapp]

Anthony, I referenced your cam bolts during the design phase for this drive, but I didn't think they'd be necessary if we could hold a respectable center to center tolerance. If we find that tensioning the chains becomes and issue down the road, it's not hard to implement your tensioner on our drive.

Cool.

Our sponsored team, FRC3098 The Kettering Captains, will be using our setup this season....so I'm really looking forward to see how the cam bolts hold up during competition.

Agreed that you could always go to a tensioned system if you start to see excessive sprocket wear.

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by rcmolloy

Saw this on facebook a few days ago and gotta say that this is gonna look real nice at NJ and Philly. Hopefully over the next two weeks, I'll be over to see it in action man.

By the way Dustin, that "thing" got you to the Finals in NJ last year. Just an fyi haha.

Thanks bro. By the way, even if your team doesn't come to our field, you're more than welcome to stop by to chat robots and stuff.

Originally Posted by ajlapp

Cool.

Our sponsored team, FRC3098 The Kettering Captains, will be using our setup this season....so I'm really looking forward to see how the cam bolts hold up during competition.

I'm curious as to how well they'll hold up to. By the way, where did you get your 3x4 Tubing? I've found that it's not a common size at any of our local suppliers.

[J.Warsoff]

Looks very good guys! Just wondering, are you guys using a minibot? If you are, how will you deploy it?

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by Aerosound

Looks very good guys! Just wondering, are you guys using a minibot? If you are, how will you deploy it?

Our mini-bot is currently in development, so we're not entirely sure of a deployment system yet. Odds are that it'll either sit in between the uprights and be deployed from there, either using a piston or some linear slide, or be deployed from one of the sides.