Under 1 sec mini bot

[nuggetsyl]

Will we see a sub 1 sec mini bot?

[MarcD79]

At Suffield Shakedown, team 175 deployed in about 8-10 seconds. I was told by a referee that a robot has 10 seconds to climb & activate the tower. If it deployes at the 1 second mark, it still has 10 seconds to climb & activate. There is a 10 second delay built into the system to accommodate this.

[Chris is me]

I think the OP was referring to a minibot that climbs in under one second.

I think one second is a hard maximum.

[Joe G.]

1 second minibot? Maybe
1 second deploy+climb? Not a chance.

I'm of the opinion that the minibot race will be won and lost by the deployment system, much more than the minibot itself.

[Cyberphil]

Originally Posted by Joe G.

1 second minibot? Maybe
1 second deploy+climb? Not a chance.

I'm of the opinion that the minibot race will be won and lost by the deployment system, much more than the minibot itself.

I would have to agree with you.

[Chris is me]

I disagree. Time of "deployment" doesn't really matter in the sense most people are thinking. You can extend your robot to the end of your arm or platform before the 10 seconds, as long as you're away from the base of the tower. At 10.00, you just drive into the tower with your already extended minibot and call it a day. Deployment time doesn't really come into play there.

[Cyberphil]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I disagree. Time of "deployment" doesn't really matter in the sense most people are thinking. You can extend your robot to the end of your arm or platform before the 10 seconds, as long as you're away from the base of the tower. At 10.00, you just drive into the tower with your already extended minibot and call it a day. Deployment time doesn't really come into play there.

Wait, run that by me one more time.

If I am hearing you right, you believe deployment time will be almost instant if it is already extended before the 10 seconds. Then Right at the 10 second mark the robot drives the minibot to the pole, then the minibot climbs up the pole.

Is this correct?

[Ted Weisse]

As per section 1 of the Game Manual:

"DEPLOYMENT starts when the MINIBOT breaks the vertical projection of the TOWER BASE circumference."

So even if the minibot was extended prior to the end game as soon as it crosses the vertical projection of the Tower Base circumference it is said to be in deployment.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Cyberphil

If I am hearing you right, you believe deployment time will be almost instant if it is already extended before the 10 seconds. Then Right at the 10 second mark the robot drives the minibot to the pole, then the minibot climbs up the pole.

Is this correct?

Yes.

For all I care, deployment could take a minute and a half. It's net effect on the minibot race time would be zero if the deployment mechanism is designed such that an extended minibot could just be driven over the base and onto the pole at the 10 second mark.

[Radical Pi]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I disagree. Time of "deployment" doesn't really matter in the sense most people are thinking. You can extend your robot to the end of your arm or platform before the 10 seconds, as long as you're away from the base of the tower. At 10.00, you just drive into the tower with your already extended minibot and call it a day. Deployment time doesn't really come into play there.

If that's your plan, be ready for the opponent robots to absolutely crush you at 12 seconds. One little push and you lose your alignment. I have a feeling that any good deployment system will need to have error correction built in to be effective at competition.

[Nuttyman54]

Regardless of what your mechanism is, you cannot put the minibot within the base perimeter projection until 10 seconds hits. Therefore, the "Deployment time" as being discussed here is equivalent to the discrete amount of time for DEPLOYMENT as defined in the manual: the time it takes from when your minibot breaks that projection, to when it starts to climb the pole and leaves contact with the hostbot. This is a non-trivial amount of time if you are talking about the total time it takes from the 10 second mark to when the tower is triggered.

If you have a minibot which can climb the pole in 1 second, but it takes 0.5 seconds for the hostbot to get the minibot from the edge of the tower base to the pole, you still don't hit that tower until 8.5 seconds left in the match at best. You can have all sorts of mechanisms that extend and latch or do whatever to prepare for the endgame before 10 seconds, but no one's minibot is going to get around the time it takes to travel those 15 inches to the pole from the edge of the tower base. If you have a super fast minibot, you best have a super fast way to get it to the pole or you won't beat the slightly slower minibot with the faster deployment.

Will we see minibots that take a second or less to get to the top of the pole? Maybe. Will we see minibots that trigger their tower before 9 seconds left in the match? Very very slim to impossible.

[Grim Tuesday]

Originally Posted by Radical Pi

If that's your plan, be ready for the opponent robots to absolutely crush you at 12 seconds. One little push and you lose your alignment. I have a feeling that any good deployment system will need to have error correction built in to be effective at competition.

Not if you are nested in your lane.

[WizenedEE]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I disagree. Time of "deployment" doesn't really matter in the sense most people are thinking. You can extend your robot to the end of your arm or platform before the 10 seconds, as long as you're away from the base of the tower. At 10.00, you just drive into the tower with your already extended minibot and call it a day. Deployment time doesn't really come into play there.

Driving into the tower can still take time. Lining up is also an issue.

Our team can deploy in a little less than .7 seconds, and also has some things to line the robot up so it will hit every time. Our minibot is currently a little less than 3 seconds (I think) but they're building a custom chassis so it'll speed up at least a little bot (pun intended). We're using magnets to hold on.

And to the thread title, no, I don't think we'll see a sub 1 second minibot, never mind the deployer. Seriously, 10 fps?

[liam.larkin]

A one second Deploy and Climb.......If it happens I shall bow down before that team and grovel and ask how they tolerate us mear mortals.....

But seriously. I think a whole bunch of teams have built minibots that climb in the sub 2.5-2.75 range. We even seen evidence of a few that are at just around a second.

The key as many of you have pointed out is the deployment time and/or method. It is quite difficult in the heat of the game to hit a 1 3/4 OD pipe from about what 40 ft. I have seen some teams with some manual line up devices that seem to work really well. I am also sure some teams ours included will use sensors and some nice programming to take the human factor out and let the robot line itself up manually. We will see I am very intrested to see who can show us on a consistent basis their ability to deploy and climb each round.

I trully believe if you can deploy/climb accuratly each round and even if it takes say 7 seconds you will be quite attractive at least for the first few weeks. But I guess we will all see sooner then later.

[davidthefat]

Now, how does a team manage to get around 1-2 seconds? We all have the same motors... Or do they not use motors at all?