FRC Team 973 2012 Robot :: Encore

[rcmolloy]

After a lengthy build season and strenuous nights after build at shop, the Greybots are proud to present their new addition to the family. As I speak for 973, we are all ready to have an Encore performance from our 2011 season. Right now, this is only what we had going into week one. Some current fixes and additions to make Encore superior are being added today and will be added until we feel they are not needed.

Reveal Video Link: http://bit.ly/wObGYx

On a personal note, I would like to thank the students, mentors, and parents that welcomed me into the 973 family this year. You all really know what it means to outwork the competition and all of you should be proud of what we have and will accomplish this year (I sure am!).

Check us out this weekend as we take it to the court in Long Beach, California for the LA Regional!

[MOEhat]

Very nice robot. Love the creative collector and it's re-direction of the balls to the center! good luck!

[Nuttyman54]

Looks fantastic, very cool to see Emperor Swerve making its official event debut. I will definitely have to stop by your pit at Champs and check this out.

Best of luck at LA and CVR

Beautiful robot Greybots! Excellent machine! I can't wait to compete with Emperor Swerve/Encore at Central Valley!

[ejSabathia]

The "GoPro on a stick" footage gave a unique viewpoint and the video came together well, nice job Cory. Good luck this weekend, tell Adam he'll have to do w/o the commentary of his favorite inspector this year.

[Akash Rastogi]

Nice work with the video Cory, glad you went with that song, it fits well!

The robot is definitely as cool as you described, and I'm sure there's features yet to be unveiled. Is the competition bot all black?

Quick questions: With all the different methods of fabrication mixed into this bot, what went where? For example, the brackets that Tonthat made, what did those get used for? What parts are tube and what is sheetmetal?

What motors/ custom gearbox are running in that shooter?

Is the intake going to double as a bridge manipulator/balance bar or will you have dedicated mechanism for that? (I'm guessing this is what some of your additions today will be).

Very cool bot, I look forward to seeing it at the Championships

[tzjin]

Fantastic! I really love your ball intake system. We'll be seeing you at Champs!

[Steven Donow]

Amazing intake. Definitely is a perfect complement to using Emporer Swerve. Awesome machining as well. You guys are gonna do great this weekend.

[nlknauss]

Great looking robot! I wonder why it is called "Encore"?

Anything special with the vision system? Best of luck this year!

[BrendanB]

Truly amazing! I love the progression of 973 robots from 2008 to 2012! Good luck this weekend!

One question, can he cross the bump?

[Grim Tuesday]

Possibly the best intake I have seen yet.

[LeelandS]

First thing I did after watching this video:
Texted my friend: "973 is a beast o_o"

I'd say that's a pretty accurate statement. The robot looks absolutely amazing. Between the swerve, the intake and the shooter, I wonder what it's going to take to stop this marvel from running rough shod all over their FRC events.

I look forward to seeing this thing in action. Good luck!

[V_Chip]

Very nice robot. Wishing you luck this season!

Question:

How robust is your ball collector? 177, Bobcats has an intake much like yours, but they busted it on the fender at WPI and broke the outer roller system.

[rcmolloy]

Guys, thank you for all the replies. The team was hard at work today finishing up the bot and getting as much done as possible for us to do damage tomorrow. A technically specific response will be posted by Adam sooner or later since this is his baby.

EJ: I honestly thought the video would have been much better if the bot was powder coated and I didn't feel like an idiot running around with the "GoPro on a stick" for hours on end. Regardless, it came out decent.

Akash: There are a few different fabrication processes that went into Encore. There were sheet contributions from 1477 that ended up in our a-frame for member anchoring and support while 1647 gave us sheet pieces that went into supporting our tower. The shooter is two RS-550s driven by belt which we can actually replace the motor mounted pulleys to ranger our rpm from 0-5000 or 0-9000/10000. The actual reduction Adam knows off of the top of his head. I'm fairly certain that Encore will be running the 0-9000/10000 rpm set. The picture below should show you the current modifications we have going into Friday without our Stinger (Dingus) that should be added sometime during the day tomorrow or early in the morning.

Knauss: When it comes to the vision system, I am still fairly certain our setup is pretty much an exact copy of what 971 is doing with the FitPC. I'm sure I or Adam can update tomorrow with the exact status of our vision system.

Brendan: Our initial system did cross the bump but struggled to do so. However, our new addition (Mantis Arms), as you can see on the picture below, will allow us to do it much quicker and without the struggle we had earlier on.

Victor: Adam actually was kicking and hammering down on the intake a few weeks ago and it held up perfectly fine.

Below is the update going into tomorrow! Encore will be ready to roll!

[Dan_Karol]

"WOW"


It looks like you have great control of your drive, something many teams with crab/swerve often struggle with. I really like the speed on the intake system too. I bet if you can keep that shooter working reliably you will find yourself looking at a lot of robots your could pick come the elimination rounds.

Good luck and great looking robot guys!