paper: Heroes of Tomorrow - 2012 Tech Notes

[Adam Freeman]

Originally Posted by Jeff Waegelin

Adam,

Thanks for posting this... this is an incredible insight into the process that led to one of the most creative designs I've seen yet this season. I don't think I would ever have ended up going this direction with my design, but yet once I saw your robot in action it was clear it was elegant and perfectly suited for the unique design challenges of this year's game. Congrats on your Waterford win, and another great machine!

Thanks! That's funny...JVN told me almost the exact same thing. I guess all you Robowranglers think a like.

All the credit goes to our Chief Engineer, Jim Meyer. He knew immediately the need for a balancing aid. Combine that with the task to try to limit un-needed complexity and have robust components with more than one function, the robot just kinda took shape from there.

I kept saying that designing this arm is more like designing a tractor accessory than a FIRST robot component. It's definitely build to take some abuse.

The paper was inspired by 148, since you guys have done so much in the way of documenting your design process and build season. We once again attempted to have build season blog, but it ended up incomplete....(kinda stopped once the practice bot started running).

Anyway, I figured something should be put out there to document the process that went into this creation...especially since it appears to be a somewhat unique design.