pic: 254 Presents: Slipstream

[JVN]

Originally Posted by The Cyborg

As a TF nerd, I am now a huge fan of your robot. That is very awesome!

Also, If I am not mistaken, the name indicates that your robot is female

They're all female... like cars, ships, and airplanes.

[Eugene Fang]

You guys should name your minibot "Mini-Con."

[Grim Tuesday]

The first thought that went through my head when I saw your robot was
"that can't be real time"

Anyways, can you detail a bit more about your drive train?

[CallieJ]

Does this mean I can post pictures now?


For people asking about drive- it's fast. Really really fast. Scary fast sometimes, especially if you're the one driving (our robot has the same drive and sometimes it's practically uncontrollable. We're working on that....).

You guys did an amazing job this year. It was an honor and a privilege to see Slipstream come together and I am 10000x more proud of our robot because they share some components.

Also, thank god you didn't name it Ravage.

[sNeff]

Beautiful, elegant bot. (Loving the decals)

Interested to see the deployment in action this weekend.

I'm excited for SVR in a few weeks--it's looking to be another great year for everyone.

Beat uber fast robot that can effectively hang tubes and is part of the team who mostly wins at SVR? CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

[ducttapedude]

Absolutely beautiful.
I'm definitely loving it, brings back some awesome memories as well : D

Mike has definitely been here ; )

[IanW]

Been waiting for this one since the end of the build season.
Very nice robot. Team 254 is one team that I personally really admire.
Good luck at your competitions.

[EagleEngineer]

Amazing robot, simple yet efficient design. Very fast. Great work.

[Chickenonastick]

Lovin' the Decepticon Access Point.

[s_forbes]

It looks like you guys are leaving the realm of robot mechanics limiting your speed and are now only held back by the skill of your driver. Scary!

As usual, very slick and beautiful machine work. Any estimate on how many pounds of aluminum chips you made this year? Looks from the pictures like your gripper rollers are powered from transmissions near the arm's hinge point... I'd love to see more detailed shots of the mechanism if you happen to have any. I can't get enough Cheesy Poof pictures!

Question for you and other roller claw teams out there... I've noticed a trend of pneumatic releases for roller claws among some of the 'elite' teams. Was there a design limitation with a straight roller claw approach that necessitated this feature? We didn't go with the roller route for our gripper mechanism and I'm curious.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by ducttapedude

Absolutely beautiful.
I'm definitely loving it, brings back some awesome memories as well : D

Mike has definitely been here ; )

Mike has most definitely inspired portions of our design. We like to copy the best and then put our own spin on it. Maybe someday we'll make a 233 arm.

[MagiChau]

Watch out its a transformer! It is going to be hanging tubes like it has human arms while still being veiled in its vehicle form.

[ATH1RSTYM00SE]

Hmm while this machine looks really capable, what i have to question is if the tubes are overinflated as they were for a large portion of our regional, can your compact roller design still handle them? Just a question but good luck guys we hope to see you in st louis

[NickE]

Originally Posted by ATH1RSTYM00SE

Hmm while this machine looks really capable, what i have to question is if the tubes are overinflated as they were for a large portion of our regional, can your compact roller design still handle them? Just a question but good luck guys we hope to see you in st louis

Yes, the tubes in San Diego were somewhat overinflated as well and we were able to handle them with ease. Slipstream's manipulator has 5 degrees of freedom and the rollers actually separate to release tubes. If a tube is so overinflated that it cannot be compressed between the two rollers, the rollers are simply pushed aside and the tube can be grabbed.

Furthermore, we have programming and sensors to actively suck tubes in so that even if only part of a tube is in the grabber, it can still be held securely. When a tube is in the grabber, you can actually pull the robot around by the tube.