FRC228- GUS 15

[davepowers]

I'm proud to present GUS Robotics Inc.'s 2013 competition robot and build blog. This year has been something else, the ups and downs have all been worth it. Hard work really does pay off. Here's this years competition robot and something I'm very proud of, our build blog!



http://frc228buildblog2013.blogspot.com/

Good luck to everyone competing this year, unfortunately there was no time to make a fancy video, but we'll make something really awesome after the seasons over! I will also white paper the cad including the hanger after the season is over!

-Dave Powers

[Leav]

Absolutely amazing. This is the kind of robot I look at before each season to get inspired by and to learn from.

very cool.

do you have any more shots of the interior and/or chassis? i'm very interested in your chassis design, chain tensioning etc.

[Steven Donow]

Looks awesome! Love the wide intake. GUS always have some of the sweetewt looking bots.

[davepowers]

Originally Posted by Leav

Absolutely amazing. This is the kind of robot I look at before each season to get inspired by and to learn from.

very cool.

do you have any more shots of the interior and/or chassis? i'm very interested in your chassis design, chain tensioning etc.

Thanks for the kind words!

The chassis design is one we've used for years. It is .090 alum, CNC turret punched frame. Our gearboxes are two speed VEX Pro ball shifter with the optional third stage in place. The wheel configuration is the standard 6wd, 1/16th inch drop center, 6 inch colsons with treads cut into the competition wheels. It's bulletproof and incredibly smooth. In the pictures below you can see some more details. We haven't had to use chain tensioning because the chain lengths were calculated out in the CAD before anything is even made. Through out the season we may experience a little chain stretch, in that case we just add some floating idlers to counter the stretch.

Packaging was difficult for us this year, so keeping everything as neat as possible was a must. Let me know if you have any other questions!

-Dave Powers

[slaythebad]

Just curious, why the treads cut into the Colsons? Aren't they plenty grippy? Did you have trouble with the grip in testing?

[davepowers]

Originally Posted by slaythebad

Just curious, why the treads cut into the Colsons? Aren't they plenty grippy? Did you have trouble with the grip in testing?

By our testing cutting the treads in the colsons increased the coefficient of friction by up to 30%, this summer we will be working on documentation to prove this. There is a reasonable difference in the amount we can push with our competition robot that is fitted with the cut colsons to the practice robot, that has just the left alone colsons. This will be the forth year driving with these colsons and I can say we rarely even come across someone we can't push!

-Dave Powers

[jwfoss]

Nice work guys, I'll be sure to stop by and get a tour of the machine this weekend.

[coalhot]

So purty!

[2348humanplayer]

Sooooo...no climb?

[Alpha Beta]

Originally Posted by stevend1994

Looks awesome! Love the wide intake. GUS always have some of the sweetewt looking bots.

Always been a fan of GUS robots. Love the wide intake too. Does it pick-up two at a time? Only say one at a time in the video clip on the blog.

[davepowers]

Originally Posted by 2348humanplayer

Sooooo...no climb?

Who said that?!

Originally Posted by Alpha Beta

Always been a fan of GUS robots. Love the wide intake too. Does it pick-up two at a time? Only say one at a time in the video clip on the blog.

It can pick up two at a time and index them into our hopper rather well! Maybe I'll try to get a video tonight of the practice robot if there's time!

-Dave

[Jibsy]

Looks like that Tormach is treating you well!

What is that rubber-looking material you are using on the intake?

[davepowers]

Originally Posted by Jibsy

Looks like that Tormach is treating you well!

What is that rubber-looking material you are using on the intake?

Treating us well is an understatement! The orange rubber material is part number 3482K4 from Mcmaster(http://www.mcmaster.com/#rubber-angles/=lqooc9). It's just orange rubber angle, nice and stiff, pulls the frisbee right in!

After some practice we have modified the intake slightly, instead of double wrap all the way around, we do four straight strips across the roller. With the spiraled rubber it would tend to funnel the frisbees to one side preventing us from picking up two frisbee's. With the straight rubber it solved the problem!

-D

[Jibsy]

Originally Posted by davepowers

Treating us well is an understatement! The orange rubber material is part number 3482K4 from Mcmaster(http://www.mcmaster.com/#rubber-angles/=lqooc9). It's just orange rubber angle, nice and stiff, pulls the frisbee right in!

After some practice we have modified the intake slightly, instead of double wrap all the way around, we do four straight strips across the roller. With the spiraled rubber it would tend to funnel the frisbees to one side preventing us from picking up two frisbee's. With the straight rubber it solved the problem!

-D

Can't wait to see the climb now

I was definitely looking at that exact stuff yesterday, debating whether or not to order it! Thought it would be too stiff. I do believe I will place an order now thanks to your input. Thanks!

[davepowers]

Originally Posted by Jibsy

Can't wait to see the climb now

I was definitely looking at that exact stuff yesterday, debating whether or not to order it! Thought it would be too stiff. I do believe I will place an order now thanks to your input. Thanks!

Glad we could help! Good luck this year!

-Dave Powers