The Inaugural Year: Team 4817 Presents Orchid One

[ENIAC]

Also, I am thinking of adding a 84" deflector to our lift mechanism. We could extend it when necessary to block shots.

[iyermihir]

You should look into one of these for a quick 10 point hang.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...=10+point+hang

-Mihir Iyer

[Orion.DeYoe]

Originally Posted by ENIAC

A question: if we were to develop something for our withholding allowance, which would be more valuable: a floor pickup or a 10-point hang? I can see us completing one or the other, but not both, unless we integrated them.

It depends. Can you dump in the 1 point goal with your design? If so then I would advise building a pickup. If not then I would say build a hanging mechanism.

EDIT: When I consider your somewhat limited resources and time I would probably have to lean towards the passive hanging mechanism.

[ENIAC]

Originally Posted by iyermihir

You should look into one of these for a quick 10 point hang.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...=10+point+hang

-Mihir Iyer

That's a very good idea. I think I will be trying to source some good plywood in the next few days.

[Mk.32]

Wow I can't imagine what it would be like to work without being able to order any parts I want and have them shipped to me for almost nothing within the end of the work.......... Big props to you guys!

Firstly definitely build the hanger, the passive hang is pretty easy to do and 10pts will make a different.

As a future suggestion, maybe you guys can source some local motor controllers, to test with and then when you fly in for comp switch them out for FRC legal ones when you get to your comp. But I guess you can load up on goodies for next year when you are state side for regional.

Just wondering how hard is it to get materials in Singapore? I have spent a good chuck of time in China and was able to get almost anything I wanted from the street vendors/flea markets in terms of metal/wood/motors/electronics (abit not FRC legal ones).

[ENIAC]

Originally Posted by Mk.32

Wow I can't imagine what it would be like to work without being able to order any parts I want and have them shipped to me for almost nothing within the end of the work.......... Big props to you guys!

Firstly definitely build the hanger, the passive hang is pretty easy to do and 10pts will make a different.

As a future suggestion, maybe you guys can source some local motor controllers, to test with and then when you fly in for comp switch them out for FRC legal ones when you get to your comp. But I guess you can load up on goodies for next year when you are state side for regional.

Just wondering how hard is it to get materials in Singapore? I have spent a good chuck of time in China and was able to get almost anything I wanted from the street vendors/flea markets in terms of metal/wood/motors/electronics (abit not FRC legal ones).

In Singapore, everything is somewhere, but there is no easy way to find it. I could probably find motor controllers and the like, but it is a lot more work than in the states. In addition, Singapore might be small, but it can still be a pain to get around, and there aren't many centralized markets for that sort of thing. There's a few, but most of the team doesn't know what to look for. In addition, the mentor situation is different than on a lot of teams, so we don't have consistent access to expertise, and they don't really know where to buy stuff either. Let me put it this way: Singapore does a lot of contracting, less in-house stuff than in the States.

It depends. Can you dump in the 1 point goal with your design? If so then I would advise building a pickup. If not then I would say build a hanging mechanism.

EDIT: When I consider your somewhat limited resources and time I would probably have to lean towards the passive hanging mechanism.

Yeah. I was thinking of ways to implement a pickup, and the only practical thing would be some sort of spatula system. We can dump in the low goal, but I doubt we could score enough to make more than 10 pts. If we can implement it, we will, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm more confident in a passive hang as well as a blocking mechanism actuated by our elevator.

[Orion.DeYoe]

Originally Posted by ENIAC

Yeah. I was thinking of ways to implement a pickup, and the only practical thing would be some sort of spatula system. We can dump in the low goal, but I doubt we could score enough to make more than 10 pts. If we can implement it, we will, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm more confident in a passive hang as well as a blocking mechanism actuated by our elevator.

Yeah my team has many resources and we're still finding that picking up frisbees is a difficult challenge.
Something I like about your robot is that you receive discs from the feeder station in the back of the robot and then push them out the front (as far as I can tell from the picture). This will allow you to move back and forth across the field without turning. This is a feature that I feel like a lot of teams have missed this year, you'd be really surprised how much time it wastes to turn around every time you want to cross the field (especially if you don't have a second robot to practice with). If you guys can use a nice smooth path across the field and just go back and forth as fast as possible I think you could make two or three trips of four discs to the 1 point goal (when you're not acting as a mobile feeding station) which equates to 8-12 points along with a passive 10 point hanging mechanism will make you score a decent amount of points (enough to win most qualification matches).

[Orion.DeYoe]

Another thing you could do is hold 2-3 discs in autonomous and drive up to the 1 point goal and dump them in. It shouldn't be to hard to program and you can tune it at the competition on practice day.

[EricLeifermann]

Originally Posted by Orion.DeYoe

Another thing you could do is hold 2-3 discs in autonomous and drive up to the 1 point goal and dump them in. It shouldn't be to hard to program and you can tune it at the competition on practice day.

They'd do better to try and feed another team during auto mode so they can score them preferably in the top goal

[Orion.DeYoe]

Originally Posted by EricLeifermann

They'd do better to try and feed another team during auto mode so they can score them preferably in the top goal

I suppose. It really depends on the design of the shooter robot. We would be better off picking up off the floor than trying to line up to a mobile feeder station. Another thing is that you would have to drive up to the shooting bot (you can't just position the robots end to end like you could last year).

[EricLeifermann]

Originally Posted by Orion.DeYoe

I suppose. It really depends on the design of the shooter robot. We would be better off picking up off the floor than trying to line up to a mobile feeder station. Another thing is that you would have to drive up to the shooting bot (you can't just position the robots end to end like you could last year).

Yes you can, it just depends which "ends" your trying to line up. Our hopper can accept discs from all 4 sides a robot like the one shown in this thread could easily feed us from the side.

[ENIAC]

Just a question. How should the sides be shielded? They're pretty vulnerable at the moment, and I'd like to shield the tower somewhat. Is polycarbonate the best option?

Also, we will be changing out the chutes from acrylic to polycarbonate. Is this necessary? Also, what should the hanger be made out of? Will plywood work?

Thanks!

[dcarr]

Originally Posted by ENIAC

Just a question. How should the sides be shielded? They're pretty vulnerable at the moment, and I'd like to shield the tower somewhat. Is polycarbonate the best option?

Also, we will be changing out the chutes from acrylic to polycarbonate. Is this necessary? Also, what should the hanger be made out of? Will plywood work?

Thanks!

Polycarb is a pretty good all around choice - typically 1/16" will do the job for most applications like this.

I've certainly seen some hangers made out of plywood like this one, so if it works for you it might not be a bad option.

[kartikye]

At the competition we striped all functionality and made a pretty simple but effective defence bot.