pic: Spartonics 1503 - 2011

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

I think they will wait to see what the best strategy out on the field will be before they add anything. I have a feeling the smart teams will throw tubes as little often as possible.

The floor pickup mechanism is an inside joke between Nick and I.

From what I've heard, they don't need it.

[PayneTrain]

This is what team 422 learned. Build a complex and ultimately failing robot in 2008, then build a ridiculously simple robot and win 2009 Quality Award and become 2010 Regional Finalists. Simplicity is the best design strategy, even in real life engineering.

[basicxman]

Do the lights fade in and out upon teleop initialization? Does it make the oh so awesome TARDIS sound?

[Nick Lawrence]

Originally Posted by basicxman

Do the lights fade in and out upon teleop initialization? Does it make the oh so awesome TARDIS sound?

The lights are used for a variety of things, including but not limited to human player signalling, diagnostics and decoration.

I wish it made that sound.

-Nick

[BrendanB]

Beautiful robot 1503! I see big things for you!

[548swimmer]

Originally Posted by Nick Lawrence

Thank you. One of our mentors actually made punches for this, and we actually flange the edges of the lightening holes out. This makes the individual pieces much much stronger.

-Nick

I understand the benefits of large flanges, but I don't really see how flanging such a small area can add substantially to the cross-sectional area. I've thought about trying this before on some of our robot parts, but it always got shoved aside due to the extra fabrication time.

[basicxman]

Originally Posted by Nick Lawrence

The lights are used for a variety of things, including but not limited to human player signalling, diagnostics and decoration.

I wish it made that sound.

-Nick

asdf

[Nick Lawrence]

Originally Posted by 548swimmer

I understand the benefits of large flanges, but I don't really see how flanging such a small area can add substantially to the cross-sectional area. I've thought about trying this before on some of our robot parts, but it always got shoved aside due to the extra fabrication time.

I was skeptical at first myself, until I tried to twist one of or siderails.

It takes a lot more force to do so with these flanged lightening holes.

These punches made the difference between having to swiss cheese a super heavy over-trussed frame and being 15 lbs underweight.

-Nick

[548swimmer]

Originally Posted by Nick Lawrence

I was skeptical at first myself, until I tried to twist one of or siderails.

It takes a lot more force to do so with these flanged lightening holes.

These punches made the difference between having to swiss cheese a super heavy over-trussed frame and being 15 lbs underweight.

-Nick

So do the punches punch and flange in one operation? If so, I want a set .

If not for the mini-flanges, would the sidewalls be just bare sheet? If so, that would explain why the mini-flanges help so much.

[Nick Lawrence]

Originally Posted by 548swimmer

So do the punches punch and flange in one operation? If so, I want a set .

If not for the mini-flanges, would the sidewalls be just bare sheet? If so, that would explain why the mini-flanges help so much.

Unfortunately, no they do not. We have two different punches for each shape, one that punches a smaller sized shape, then another that flanges the edges of that shape out.

All the pieces do have folds in them though.

Here is a photo of one of our practice bot siderails being made.

Here is a closeup of that siderail. After the first successful rail, we switched to an impact wrench to make things go faster.

Also, our bearings holes are punched in the same way. It's really neat, come take a close look at our robot sometime.

-Nick

[548swimmer]

Originally Posted by Nick Lawrence

Unfortunately, no they do not. We have two different punches for each shape, one that punches a smaller sized shape, then another that flanges the edges of that shape out.

All the pieces do have folds in them though.

Here is a photo of one of our practice bot siderails being made.

Here is a closeup of that siderail. After the first successful rail, we switched to an impact wrench to make things go faster.

Also, our bearings holes are punched in the same way. It's really neat, come take a close look at our robot sometime.

-Nick

That's really neat! I'm spoiled by our sponsors waterjet . Assuming we both make it to nationals, I'll check out your robot for sure!

[David Dawson]

Holy reduction batman! Is that a rs755 mated to a cimulator mated to a gem 3 stage planetary connected to at least a 3:1 chain reduction? When i come up with solutions like this my team makes me sit in the corner. This year i had to power our arm with two rs755 mated with cimulator and a tough box plus 3:1 chain reduction to make up for the lack of gearing.

[Pat Fairbank]

Originally Posted by David Dawson

Holy reduction batman! Is that a rs755 mated to a cimulator mated to a gem 3 stage planetary connected to at least a 3:1 chain reduction? When i come up with solutions like this my team makes me sit in the corner. This year i had to power our arm with two rs755 mated with cimulator and a tough box plus 3:1 chain reduction to make up for the lack of gearing.

There's also a 2:1 gear reduction in there after the GEM, which makes the total reduction 889.2:1.

It works surprisingly well, but one thing we've discovered is that the GEM won't backdrive (the radial load from the gear it drives causes the output shaft to bind inside somewhere), so we use a big wrench when we need to move the arm without power.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Pat Fairbank

There's also a 2:1 gear reduction in there after the GEM, which makes the total reduction 889.2:1.

It works surprisingly well, but one thing we've discovered is that the GEM won't backdrive (the radial load from the gear it drives causes the output shaft to bind inside somewhere), so we use a big wrench when we need to move the arm without power.

Pat, do you guys think you'll be adding floor pickup?

[Pat Fairbank]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Pat, do you guys think you'll be adding floor pickup?

We're going to see how Pittsburgh goes as is, and then re-evaluate after that since we have three weeks before our next event.

Personally, after spectating at FLR, I'm still inclined to believe that we can be sufficiently effective without.