Team 179's Swamp Thing

[Steven Carmain]

I'm glad the only competition we have against them is nats.

[Mercutio]

Gahhh....

We surrender.

Your starting strategy is exactly the same as ours, but about four times faster and four feet wider. More than that if we don't hurry up on construction...

With a 10-foot wide bot, your turning must be incredible, but has the width given you any problems with maneuvering on the playing field?

You do realize that the wedge will turn your robot into a ski jump... I envision a bunch of robots cowering in the corner of the field because they can't push you and they're afraid to go over you.

[Adam Y.]

You do realize that the wedge will turn your robot into a ski jump... I envision a bunch of robots cowering in the corner of the field because they can't push you and they're afraid to go over you.

I was thinking the same thing just use the wedge and run right over them. All though we may end up with a broken bot.

If only one opponent can travel under the bar, I'm sure the bridge-blocker could stop them (on carpet rather than HDPE and only a 5 ft area to protect).

Nope twelve foot area to protect and that would be quite hard for one robot to do. Considering that there are two bars on each side of the arena.

[Jeremy_Mc]

are you sure when you're going over the lexan you aren't violating any of the rules about contacting field structures? it looks like you almost latch onto it, and they specifically said you can't do that in the kickoff.

i'm not sure that's what you're doing, but it looks like you are in the (somewhat in the) 2nd and 3rd picture...


*jeremy

[Keith Chester]

Very interesting. Any videos of deployment over the wall we can watch?

[Jeremy_Mc]

i'm also curious about how the net gets between the kickstands? in one picture, it's not there, but a few pictures over it is...

???

*jeremy

[Dan Richardson]

If an opponents bot gets up faster than yours.. do you have enough power to push them around?

Amazing Bot Tho

Dan

[Adam Y.]

Stuid question but what happenes after seeing your robot the other teams if there robot can go under the bar decide to chase after yours during the autonomous period.

[Swampdude]

Here's some answers:
1. No we never touch the wall it's like a pole vault.
2. Our light may be a prob, if I mount it like one of the many conflicting rules suggest I'd have to serve it up for a volley, and then we'd have a busted light by the 2nd match. So I'm going to make an optional mount and bring it and show the judge if they don't like where we put it (which can be seen clearly from any angle and at all times) then I'll show them our only option and it'll be obvious we'll have a broken light thereafter.
3. The net is tied between the kickstands all the time (it was off while we are working on them, still need pistons for those)
4. Yah we can push, but I'm sure theres a lot stronger bots. We're just not exposing a surface for them to push on.
5. ski slope yes :-)
6. we get amazing drivability on the ramp, theres a double hinge at the center of it which allows it to contour to the ramp at any angle. We drive each side separate like a tank (using a joystick for each side).
7. if someone wants to come around behind us we can just turn around, but the idea was to get all the bins. So if someone beats us to the stack, we're going to try and collect them in our net and push them back.
8. Currently just heard we're 130.5 lbs so were getting out the drill and puttin her on a diet :-( (I like them full figured)

I'm curious why other teams don't want to show there Bot at this stage. It's to late to design another bot, and with 700 other teams out there who cares what 1 teams strategy is. If people decided to make adjustments to deal with our bot, personally I'd feel pretty good about that. To think we were that important to another teams design. I just don't see it, everyones got too much to think about. It's all about learning and fun so whatever happens happens, I'm not to concerned. It's not like we've got anything to loose (last year we had a really good bot, but lost horribly at Nat's due to unrelenting fate). Seems like luck has a lot to do with how you place at these things. But then again there's always certain teams who just know what to do (wish we knew how to do that).

Also while I have this opportunity I just wanted to say to first the Mentors: Don't give up folks, your efforts are not in vain. The kids get something out of it whether we get acknowledgment or not. This program is so needed, and I'm really glad I got to be a part of it.

and to the Kids:
Our team every year gets a number of new students, and sure enough there are those few who just can't wait to get there hands dirty. And every year at this point I'm worn out and just want to give up. But those kids (the ones who really care) are why I keep doing this. So if your a student please understand "we need you to care"!! It's easy to get excited about this at the competitions (but thats a little late)....

Ok, getting off my soap box :-)

Anyhooo, thanks for your comments!
G/L everyone

[Ian W.]

Originally posted by Swampdude

4. Yah we can push, but I'm sure theres a lot stronger bots. We're just not exposing a surface for them to push on.

uh, what about the back? i didn't see any ramp there on the video. can't a robot that goes under the bar come up and push you around? i'd call that an exposed surface (unless of course, that part of the ramp just wasn't on yet).

[Adam Y.]

(unless of course, that part of the ramp just wasn't on yet).

If it had wedges on both sides of the robot it would not be a ski ramp anymore. It would be a speed bump. Btw you still did not answer the question about a robot coming under the bar in autonomous mode and getting in the way. It may be fast but the robots are right next to each other.

[Todd Derbyshire]

My two questions are the following what happens if an alliance rams you while your vaulting. Also would bins falling on your bot mess up your deployment? I am envisioning you in midvault and somebody just knocks over the wall and all of a sudden "Avalanche".

[Swampdude]

Here's my thought process on those:
As I said before we can turn around, then they get the wedge on the other side. But lets say they're double teaming it and we're getting hit from both sides, then we effectively distracted both opponents and most likely still got the bins, and it wouldn't be easy to spin us around if your teammate was on the other side of us. But thats not to say we think this thing can do it all. I'm sure we'll have all kinds of crazy things happen. And I know we didn't think of everything - thats impossible.

The thought process on the opponent coming under the bar at us full speed is reasoned out by odds. I figure 50% of teams go under the bar, then out of that 50% they have to start on our side of the ramp (so thats 25%) then they have to have a ramming program maybe 50% of those so 13%. Then out of those 13% they have 4 motors with a nice transmition and traction and come screaming at us. Then they still need to elevate after coming from under the bar at us cuz were about 1-2 feet off the ground at that point. Then they run the risk of smacking there arm on our frame. I think the odds really start dropping off at that point. But since I pointed all this out it's gonna happen. Even then I think with the momentum we built up while flipping I think the only damage would be a bent kickstand. I'm probably too optomistic. But also we took an opponent out of the bin stampede giving our ally better odds.

If someone knocks those bins on us in under 4 secs they deserve to win :-) and it doesn't really matter how we do heh. But the front is reinforced all the length with struts so it can take a pounding

I don't have a vid of the flip sorry ;-)

When I do though I need a server to post the vids. I got like 450 viewings of those vids I posted and my ISP sent me a nastygram :-( I'll probably get some crazy fee too... ugh..

I promise to get one after the pistons get here (come on UPS)!!

[Jeremy_Mc]

i think your odds are slightly off, but that's ok...

i'm not sure 4 seconds is entirely accurate either, but hey if you can do it, i'll bow down to you lol

the reason i say that is the speed of the pistons (i'm assuming that's what you're using to flip/vault)

that would be an amazing achievement

*jeremy

[kmcclary]

An absolutely AWESOME machine, Swampdude!!! Man I'm glad we're not facing you guys this year! That ramp-cliff scares the heck out of me!

Originally posted by Swampdude
Here's some answers: [...]
2. Our light may be a prob, if I mount it like one of the many conflicting rules suggest I'd have to serve it up for a volley, and then we'd have a busted light by the 2nd match. So I'm going to make an optional mount and bring it and show the judge if they don't like where we put it (which can be seen clearly from any angle and at all times) then I'll show them our only option and it'll be obvious we'll have a broken light thereafter.

How about mounting the gumball on a "spill-proof houseboat cup holder", within your machine? You simply whip up a pivoted "U" holder for the gumball, and keep the gumball's center of gravity below the pivot. Think of it as a solid version of a kid's playground swing, but it doesn't have to have a solid crossbar at the top (in fact you could probably have the lens entirely above the swing axis).

Set it up so the swing axis is parallel to the unfolding axis. Now, it'll always right itself as you unfold, and be in the right orientation to meet spec. In fact, if you're clever and use insulated bushings to electrically isolate the hinge pins from the chassis, you could probably even feed the power to it through the pivot pair to eliminate a dangling wire!

If you wish this inside and protected, you'd have to replace a couple of chunks of the green exterior paneling with something transparent so it's visible on all sides, but that shouldn't be a problem, right?

- Keith