816 - 90% Complete (Video inside)

[Ryan Dognaux]

Thanks for posting this video. It took ~30 seconds to travel across the field, grab the tube, travel back across the field and place the tube; I see this being very realistic for a lot of teams, especially during week 1. Human players throwing tubes to midfield will significantly reduce that time though.

[Brandon Holley]

Thanks for posting a video of a most completed robot in an unawkward angle/crappy resolution!

Looks great. With some practice I'm sure you will find some success this year!

-Brando

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by Ryan Dognaux

Thanks for posting this video. It took ~30 seconds to travel across the field, grab the tube, travel back across the field and place the tube; I see this being very realistic for a lot of teams, especially during week 1. Human players throwing tubes to midfield will significantly reduce that time though.

An approximately ~30 second cycle time will probably be a good benchmark for an "average" robots. Robots that are above average will probably get to around a ~20 second cycle time, which actually doesn't seem to be all that unfeasible. We'll have a few more teams coming to our practice field throughout the week, so we'll be able to get some good measure of how long it takes us to score with obstructions. (Though I won't be able to speak for other teams)

Also, we've found that floor pickup is the way to go, since it allows you to shorten the distance that you HAVE to travel to get the tubes.

[Tetraman]

Oh boy. The one thing I forgot about when working on a team, is that feeling you get when you see a robot that does pretty much exactly what your team's robot does, but does it about 150% better - expecially when it comes to the construction and build. We need to start learning how to slim down our designs and make them less bulky.

Very nicely done. And wowzah on the full field. Good luck this year!

[robodude03]

Originally Posted by thefro526

Also, we've found that floor pickup is the way to go, since it allows you to shorten the distance that you HAVE to travel to get the tubes.

Our team is definitely leaning towards the same thought. The cycle time will be very important in terms of maximizing the number of tubes that are scored. Anyhow your bot is looking really good Dustin, I'm really liking the simplicity in design!

[rcmolloy]

When you showed me the video yesterday, I was heavily intimidated. Although, we should be up to your status by weeks end.

Nice job man. Really, I am very excited to play with you guys in Philly and Jersey!

[Dancin103]

816, it looks awesome as usual! I can not wait! Good luck in the 2011 season.

Cass

[steelerborn]

Yeah a great robot will be able to place one complete logo alone on the top row, and still have time to be positioned for mini-bot deployment.

Also have you guys put your arm through some serious testing?
I noticed that you raise your arm outside of your safe zone, could you arm and bot take a really hard side hit in that zone?
I also see a lot of swaying back and forth when you are moving in that zone. A robot that only plays defense may torque that arm way out of line, perhaps making the arm a little stronger, or bringing a good supply of spares may be an option (so long as they are light).

And one more point, when you were driving and making some sharp turns your claw seemed to also sway side to side, making a nice "cradle" where your arm could rest in could easilly solve this problem.

We have played with the arm lengths and wrist lengths so that we can raise and lower the arm with ease while completly in the safe zone, to make sure we stay functional.

Just a thought, but looks pretty good so far.

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by steelerborn

Yeah a great robot will be able to place one complete logo alone on the top row, and still have time to be positioned for mini-bot deployment.

Also have you guys put your arm through some serious testing?
I noticed that you raise your arm outside of your safe zone, could you arm and bot take a really hard side hit in that zone?
I also see a lot of swaying back and forth when you are moving in that zone. A robot that only plays defense may torque that arm way out of line, perhaps making the arm a little stronger, or bringing a good supply of spares may be an option (so long as they are light).

And one more point, when you were driving and making some sharp turns your claw seemed to also sway side to side, making a nice "cradle" where your arm could rest in could easilly solve this problem.

We have played with the arm lengths and wrist lengths so that we can raise and lower the arm with ease while completly in the safe zone, to make sure we stay functional.

Just a thought, but looks pretty good so far.

Thanks for the input.

The lower link has been replaced with an aluminum unit, which has made the arm substantially more rigid as it travels up and down. The swaying left to right has been taken care of by adding more support to tie the top of the arm super structure in with the base. We've also added a guide of sorts that the arm falls into while in the down position which limits the sway of the claw to approximately a half inch.

As far as the arm being raised outside of the safe zone, it's not really something we're worried about - yet. When at it's lowest point and at the top scoring point the arm is contained completely within the frame and bumper perimeter - and the arm can be raised from it's lowest point to it's highest point while remaining completely in the safe zone. More often than not, if we're approaching the scoring grid unobstructed then we will raise our arm a bit early, but if someone is waiting to play defense on us then we will wait until we're in the safe zone to raise it.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by thefro526

Thanks for the input.

The lower link has been replaced with an aluminum unit, which has made the arm substantially more rigid as it travels up and down. The swaying left to right has been taken care of by adding more support to tie the top of the arm super structure in with the base. We've also added a guide of sorts that the arm falls into while in the down position which limits the sway of the claw to approximately a half inch.

As far as the arm being raised outside of the safe zone, it's not really something we're worried about - yet. When at it's lowest point and at the top scoring point the arm is contained completely within the frame and bumper perimeter - and the arm can be raised from it's lowest point to it's highest point while remaining completely in the safe zone. More often than not, if we're approaching the scoring grid unobstructed then we will raise our arm a bit early, but if someone is waiting to play defense on us then we will wait until we're in the safe zone to raise it.

What was the lower link previously? PVC?

Our machine shows a lot of the same characteristics that yours does and it seems like we've taken a lot of the same steps to mitigate the problems. I've been considering replacing the lower link with aluminum or fiberglass, but we see a lot of elastic deformation in that member and I'm worried that the replacement will plasticly deform instead of stiffen things up.

[Akash Rastogi]

Dustin, this robot is god awful...It has nowhere near the respectable amounts of orange and blue yet. Get on that.

[camtunkpa]

looks good 816. I could have sworn I saw a similar gripper somewhere around our shop. I can only hope ours works as well as yours does. Practice it up and add some more orange and blue and you should be good to go this season!

[Madison]

Out of curiosity -- did the P60 failure you experienced happen before or after you replaced your link with aluminum?

Our gearbox is, so far, doing okay, but we're also investigating an aluminum replacement and I am wary that the added rigidity might cause or accelerate a failure.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by Ryan Dognaux

Thanks for posting this video. It took ~30 seconds to travel across the field, grab the tube, travel back across the field and place the tube; I see this being very realistic for a lot of teams, especially during week 1. Human players throwing tubes to midfield will significantly reduce that time though.

I see 30 seconds as unrealistic as there will be 5 more robots on the field and some of those will be playing defense. I believe 1 minute cycletimes will be closer to the norm.

I also believe that throwing in the tubes will only entice your opponents to take the tubes your human player has 'provided'

[J_Miles]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

I see 30 seconds as unrealistic as there will be 5 more robots on the field and some of those will be playing defense. I believe 1 minute cycletimes will be closer to the norm.

Here I disagree with you. I think there will be a good number of teams who will be able to hit that 20-40 second range easily.

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

I also believe that throwing in the tubes will only entice your opponents to take the tubes your human player has 'provided'

Here, though, I entirely agree. I think that throwing tubes onto the playing field will be a brilliant strategy...sometimes. At other times, I think that it would benefit teams more to deliver directly to the robots.