FRC 2012 "Best Designs" Log

[Chris is me]

This is a bit nitpicky, but the rotating tower designs really weren't built to prevent jamming. The main reason someone would want to do something like that would be to ensure that balls feed into the shooter the same way every time. The teams that didn't do that either didn't rotate their turret very far or used some other mechanism to load balls into the shooter.

[LeelandS]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

This is a bit nitpicky, but the rotating tower designs really weren't built to prevent jamming. The main reason someone would want to do something like that would be to ensure that balls feed into the shooter the same way every time. The teams that didn't do that either didn't rotate their turret very far or used some other mechanism to load balls into the shooter.

Don't worry about being nitpicky. I'll make the appropriate change now.

[jspatz1]

Originally Posted by LeelandS

On another note, as far as 67's Utility Arm and 1986's Talons go, I'll give them their own special category that can properly display their awesome! If anyone has any up-close picture or video of The Utility Arm and The Talons, I think it would make the special category that much more useful, since my intended purpose for that category would be to show devices that don't fit into any one and single category, but are great pieces of ingenuity that teams in the future could really learn something from studying.

1986 reveal video showing arm functionality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCNUglCBD_M
Match video with several balances
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxVGk77nMH0
Talons functionality as first or last robot on
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef3Ie2Qft8I
Triple balance practice with talons catching the bridge tip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THB9xs8xXkU

[slijin]

Originally Posted by LeelandS

On another note, as far as 67's Utility Arm and 1986's Talons go, I'll give them their own special category that can properly display their awesome! If anyone has any up-close picture or video of The Utility Arm and The Talons, I think it would make the special category that much more useful, since my intended purpose for that category would be to show devices that don't fit into any one and single category, but are great pieces of ingenuity that teams in the future could really learn something from studying.

1114's a nice fit for that category too, then. Their bridge manipulator had "hooks" at the bottom that could latch onto alliance member's bumpers/bumper frames so that they could drag robots up behind them.

[LeelandS]

Hey all!! So, I'm not sure how many people know this. But Kickoff is tomorrow. I know it's been kept on the "down low" pretty well, but I think it's time the secret got out. Kickoff is TOMORROW!! I'm sure you're all pumped, in one way or another! With our annual ceremony that heralds the beginning of "The Time of Little Sleep", I thought it might be helpful to bring this thread back to life.

For those of you who don't wish to go back and look at the opening post, the below is a list of CD-member suggested designs considered "The Best of 2012". I'm reviving this because the entire point I made this thread for was in hopes that it would inspire people for their designs on future robots. For example, the ones everyone will begin planning tomorrow! I hope this list inspires some of you. Obviously not all the categories will line up with the game we are shown tomorrow (Or maybe they will! The picture of Rick Astley may mean The GDC is trolling us and just using the same game...), but hopefully someone will find some inspiration here!

Best regards on the 6-week journey we all embark on tomorrow! I am Looking Forward to what everyone comes up with!

-Leeland
__________________________________________________ ______________
Drives:
Swerve Drive, as seen by 16, 1717, 973 and others
-Omnidirectional drive system allowing teams to move in any direction, anytime.
-The Swerve Drive in 2012 aided teams in a variety of ways. With it, teams were able to drive onto the bridge on either the long or wide orientation. It also gave teams an amazing ball intake ability, allowing them to turn to any direction to acquire a ball. By avoiding defense robots, and traversing the field and acquiring balls quickly, Swerve drives had a huge advantage this year.

Ball Acquiring System:
Multi-Directional Drop Down Intake, as seen by 973,177 and 2415
-A drop-down intake system consisting of a series of rollers and urethane belt that sucked the ball into the robot, no matter what part of the device the ball contacted.
-This system gave the teams using it an amazing intake ability, being able to touch a ball with any part of the system and have it be acquired. This gave teams a lot of leeway when going to acquire balls, having a smaller chance of missing and not acquiring the ball.

Over-the-Bumper Intake, as seen by 469, 2056, , 2826, 341 and others
-The over-the-bumper intake system was a very common design in 2012, with many dominating teams using it. Essentially, it's just a collector system that drops out over the bumpers and lifts the balls up over the bumpers and into the robot. This can turn an entire side of a robot into a collector.
-By using this, teams were able to greatly speed up their collecting of balls. By making them as wide as the side of a robot, teams were essentially able to just drive at a ball and collect it. This proved to be a huge asset for teams who were shooting, and teams who were stealing balls.

Drop-Down Intake, as seen by 1114, 1323, 987 and many others
-The drop down intake is a different variation of the Over-The-Bumper intake. However, instead of lifting the balls into the robot, it sucks the balls in through a break in the bumpers.
-By using this, teams can extend their reach of ball acquisition, as well as widen their range. In addition, many teams used this as a bridge manipulator as well.

Ball Transport System:
Rotating tower, as seen by 33, 973, 177, 78 and others
-Instead of just the shooter rotating, the entire tower/storage system and shooter rotated. In doing so, balls entered the shooter the same way every time.
-In doing so, the teams using this design ensured balls entered the shooter the same way every time. This resulted in more consistency as far as shooting was concerned.

Perpendicular Entry” Tower, as seen by 971
-971's tower and intake system put the balls in around a corner, greatly reducing their risk of jamming.
-Like the rotating tower, 971 rarely (if ever) had ball jams, keeping their shooting consistent every match. Combine that with their lightening quick ball elevation, and 971 was a force.

Ball Scoring System:
Arm/Shooter combo, as seen by 548, 330, 1323 and others
-These robots had a shooter attached to an arm, allowing them to get their shooter up to the top basket, and pop the shoots out from a much closer distance.
-Many teams had an issue getting consistent key shooting throughout the season, but by having the shooter on the lift, the teams were able to greatly increase their consistency. Most of these teams also acquired the ability to shooter from distance, allowing them to circumvent defense.

Rotating Wheel Shooter, as seen by 1114, 610, 118, 1717, 399 and many, many others
-The rotating shooter is exactly as it sounds: A spinning wheel acting as a shooter, on a rotating device so it can point in different direction
-By using this design, teams could target a basket and face it with a turret design, and then shoot from a distance. By tracking the target well, teams using this could avoid defense and put in a lot of points.

Bridge Manipulator:

Wedges, as seen by 1114, 233, 118 and many others
-A very simple concept, this design includes a mechanism that lowers down and drops the bridge, allowing the using robot to just drive into the bridge. No strings attached.
-The benefit of this design is that the utilizing robot does not need to take much time to lower the bridge. Where an arm pushing down the bridge has to stop and push down (careful not to get their bumpers caught on it), a robot with a wedge simply has to drive into the bridge. Smooth and easy.

Passive frame angle, as seen by 11 and others
-Another simple concept. The robot's frame is set at an angle that allows them to tilt the bridge (usually upwards) by just driving into it. This generally allowed a team to help another team with no bridge lowering device get on the bridge.
-The beauty of this design is that it is passive. It will "deploy" every time, since it is a built-in robot feature. As long as the robot is built robust enough, a team using this will always be able to manipulate the bridge.

Bump Crossing:
Large Pneumatic Wheels, as seen by 1114 and 2056 and many others
-These teams use large pneumatic wheels in their drive systems, which allowed to simply drive over the bump, quick and easy, forward or backward.
-By relying on the type of wheels they used, these teams had a passive device that worked every time, no failure. This gave them more time to work on other robot functions and gave them and even more robust design.

Drop-Down castor wheels, as seen on 254, 971, 111 and others
-This system consists of a caster wheels (or set of wheels) on the bottom of the robot that pop out, lifting the front of the robot high enough for the front wheels to drive on the barrier.
-This system worked well because it allowed teams to just activate the wheels, and then drive their robot right over the bump, quick and smooth.


Bridge Balancing Aid (i.e. Stinger, etc.) :

Four Bar Linkage, as seen by 33, 469 and others
-The four bar linkage is a simple balancing system, in which a mechanism made up of a series of bars is pushed down, lifting up the bridge.
-This system is slightly more complex than the drop down piston, but is considered more effective because the device can reach outside the robot's frame perimeter.

Drop down Piston, as seen by 148, 2056, 1114, 2337 and others
-The drop down piston is simply an air cylinder with a piston-mounted Caster wheel (or some other type of wheel that can roll in multiple direction) that pushes the robot (and as a result, the bridge) up, and allows the robot using it to continue driving to complete the balance.
-This is a much simpler method than the 4-bar linkage, but not viewed as as effective since the robot is limited to having it within their bumpers, reducing how much they are able to drive onto the bridge with it deployed. Still, this design has proven very effective to many teams, and has resulted in the first ever triple balance (by 148), and many thereafter.

Drive brakes, as seen by 1507, 1718 and others (videos not available)
-Many variations of the drive brakes made an appearance in Rebound Rumble. The basic principle is that some sort of mechanism would engage and prevent the robot's wheels from moving. Doing so prevented the robot from rolling as the bridge tipped. Some variations include: 1507, who had a motor/winch-driven caliper that stopped their wheels from turning. And 1718, who shot a block up against their center wheel.
-The drive brakes were a useful balancing mechanism because they aided in balancing no matter where on the bridge the robot was. A "stinger" was only really useful if the robot was on the outer side of the balance. The drive brakes allowed a robot in the middle or the other side of a triple balance to aid in balancing.

The Man on a Ledge device, by 118(Picture)
-The Robonauts really thought outside the box this year, with a risky design that was really stretching the definition of the rules. The Man on a Ledge design, as it has been termed, was a device that attached to the side of the bridge, and in an amazing chin-up like motion, lifted the entire 118 robot off the ground and into legal bridge balance position. Although the device was ruled illegal for grappling with the bridge (violation of G10), it was an amazing bit of ingenuity by The Robonauts, and though it's loss didn't seem to hurt their season finish too much (Newton Champions), it could have certainly changed many things in the course of its use.
-This design would have been so effective because Endeavor (118's robot) was supported solely by the bridge (required to earn balance points), while taking up absolutely no space on the bridge. So essentially, a triple balance would be as simply as a double, a double as a single, and a single as... well, nothing.
Thread about the device

Special Designs

FRC1986, The Teeter-Totter Talons
-1986 had a pair of pneumatically powered 'talons' that would push down and aid in the balancing of the bridge. But more than that, they acted as 1986's bridge manipulator, intake system, and so on and so on!
-With the aid of the talons, 1986 could not only push up on the bridge to even it out, but they could even brace the bridge from falling. Quick and effective. With the addition of the Twin Tucking Tabs, 1986 was a balancing machine. The Talons were one of 2012's most versatile and unique designs, surpassed by, if not totally rivaling, the next design on this list.
Post of a series of videos about The Talons!

The Utility Arm, as seen by 67
-67's Utility Arm allowed them to acquire balls, go over the bump, and manipulate the bridge. This arm would push the bridge down with little effort.
-The utility arm was built to be robust, so 67 would always be capable of manipulating the bridge. It could quickly and easily push the bridge down to allow 67 to drive on smoothly. To aid in balancing, the arm featured driven wheels that would help push The HOTbot and their balancing partners, and had gas shocks build into it that would force it up when power was cut to the motor when the match was over, ensuring the balance was legal!

[slijin]

What a beautiful thread revival.

Thank you for this; we'll definitely be using it as we teach and lead design in the coming weeks.

[LeelandS]

I'd like to apologize. I've found that some of the links to videos featuring the robots are now dead. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I'll try to renovate the necessary links as soon as I can.

Have an awesome Kickoff!

-Leeland