FRC 2013 "Best Designs" Log

[Kevin Leonard]

A possible category or mention could go to robots who could score colored discs.
Teams like 639, 558, 51, and us (20) could score colored discs from the ground, without having to climb. Doing it ACCURATELY and CONSISTENTLY is more difficult, but it can help teams score and win matches as either a primary or secondary shooting option.
If you want to lump in teams who dump with their climb as well, that could work.

[zekeF]

Originally Posted by Thunder910

A possible category or mention could go to robots who could score colored discs.
Teams like 639, 558, 51, and us (20) could score colored discs from the ground, without having to climb. Doing it ACCURATELY and CONSISTENTLY is more difficult, but it can help teams score and win matches as either a primary or secondary shooting option.

Another team that could do this well is 2145 the HAZMATs

[runneals]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I think butterfly drive should get a mention. It was extremely well suited to this year's game. Firstly, seven-disc autonomous modes were much easier with one. Secondly, being able to switch to omni for ease of alignment, then traction to hold orientation was very useful, and IMO a big part of how 148 could start accurately FCSing so quickly. Add to that the offensive benefits of a butterfly drive (not vulnerable to t-bones, can push through defensive problems, etc) and 2013 seems like the best year for butterfly since its creation.

Neutrino LOVES Butterfly Drive!

Originally Posted by Boe

i know of two without wheels

1503's catupult type fouor discs at once

and there was a fcs that used a belt to shoot the frisbees, it looked very nice, but i cant remember the team number. They were in galileo and had a yellow powder coated robot and thier pit was located very close to the practice field. My team also tried a belt shooter but it didnt pan out towards the ends of the season so we redesigned post build, id love to know more about how they got it to work

Yah, 525 had a "flinger".

[AaronLeondar]

Originally Posted by JesseK

- There were also GREAT designs for overall game strategy. Like 1425. It's one of the most ingenious & strategic overall designs I've seen employed in recent years. You need to see a video to believe it. They were 60" tall, were a FCS-only type of bot, and strafed when someone tried to block them. It looked like they could shoot THROUGH the opponent's pyramid and still make shots. A few times they strafed all the way over to the unprotected feeder and resumed FCS from there.

A video to show our shooter can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWGYaSL-YE0

And a video of one of our matches with our strafing technique can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr7AQm-zfYU

That also brings me to a very cool concept a saw throughout the season: 2046 using a flyswatter-type device for blocking. Was very amusing to watch, as well as the many other robots who used very unique blockers (610's giant pink one is a top contender as well).

[LeelandS]

Okay, before I release a full update, I'm gonna have to have someone explain this "Butterfly Drive" to me. It seems very similar to what I know as Octocanum, but I presume that since no one has used that name to term it, there is a notable difference between the two. Can someone please elaborate for me?

[GearsOfFury]

Originally Posted by LeelandS

Okay, before I release a full update, I'm gonna have to have someone explain this "Butterfly Drive" to me. It seems very similar to what I know as Octocanum, but I presume that since no one has used that name to term it, there is a notable difference between the two. Can someone please elaborate for me?

3928 has a nice page dedicated to their implementation:

http://www.teamneutrino.org/seasons/...bot/butterfly/

I assume 148 has a great blog or two about theirs, as well.

[LeelandS]

Originally Posted by GearsOfFury

3928 has a nice page dedicated to their implementation:

http://www.teamneutrino.org/seasons/...bot/butterfly/

I assume 148 has a great blog or two about theirs, as well.

This is actually part of what confused me. By reading this, I gathered that it was pretty much the same as Octocanum. Aside from some features on the technical side that 3928 implemented, is it correct to say that Butterfly Drive and Octocanum are more or less the same, or is this overgeneralizing?

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by LeelandS

This is actually part of what confused me. By reading this, I gathered that it was pretty much the same as Octocanum. Aside from some features on the technical side that 3928 implemented, is it correct to say that Butterfly Drive and Octocanum are more or less the same, or is this overgeneralizing?

Octocanum uses mecanum wheels, Butterfly Drive uses omni wheels.

[LeelandS]

Okay, so after a rather long, humorous and somewhat vulgar conversation with Gregor on the subject, I guess I understand this whole "Butterfly Drive" thing now. Appropriate changes will begin being made to my working copy of the log.

P.S. I really don't think we need a new name for this thing. Half the conversation was me ranting about how it doesn't make any sense to name it something totally different just because it uses different wheels on a virtually identical system.

[GearsOfFury]

Originally Posted by LeelandS

Okay, so after a rather long, humorous and somewhat vulgar conversation with Gregor on the subject, I guess I understand this whole "Butterfly Drive" thing now. Appropriate changes will begin being made to my working copy of the log.

P.S. I really don't think we need a new name for this thing. Half the conversation was me ranting about how it doesn't make any sense to name it something totally different just because it uses different wheels on a virtually identical system.

1625 calls theirs "Monarch Drive"...! But AFAIK it's the butterfly dive, with chain instead of belt, and since the team colors are "orange and black", well...

[z_beeblebrox]

Is this thread for "coolest" or "most effective" designs? They are often quite different.

[Anupam Goli]

Originally Posted by z_beeblebrox

Is this thread for "coolest" or "most effective" designs? They are often quite different.

Both? a unique solution that works is praised comparably to a run of the mill concept that is iterated to work effectively.

[Jeff Waegelin]

Originally Posted by LeelandS

Okay, so after a rather long, humorous and somewhat vulgar conversation with Gregor on the subject, I guess I understand this whole "Butterfly Drive" thing now. Appropriate changes will begin being made to my working copy of the log.

P.S. I really don't think we need a new name for this thing. Half the conversation was me ranting about how it doesn't make any sense to name it something totally different just because it uses different wheels on a virtually identical system.

They are, in fact, very different. Octocanum is an omnidirectional drivetrain. Butterfly is not... unless you add a 9th "slide" wheel - in which case it becomes Nonadrive, which is yet a third flavor.

Now, that being said - you could lump all three of these into "articulating drivetrains", which is how we categorize them on 148. We have done all three styles (Nonadrive in 2010, Butterfly in 2011/13, Octocanum for an offseason project before 2011). The Nonadrive is the original, created by a couple 148 students in fall 2009, and that inspired all the subsequent variations.

[craigboez]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I think butterfly drive should get a mention. It was extremely well suited to this year's game. Firstly, seven-disc autonomous modes were much easier with one.

Can you explain why 7 disc auton was easier with a butterfly drive?

[Boe]

Originally Posted by craigboez

Can you explain why 7 disc auton was easier with a butterfly drive?

i believe he is reffering to when the traction wheels are down the robot is a four wheel drive with a long drive base causing the robot to barely (if at all) be able to turn which makes driving strait in auton easier