3824's 2014 Bot: The Black Orchid

[Rohawk1]

Hey guys!

Patrick from 3824 here, and we would like to present to you our 2014 bot, the Black Orchid. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/at...d=13943334 62

While we do not have a release video up yet, we do have many pictures from Palmetto! http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/at...d=13943334 62

Chassis: 3D Printed carbon fiber infused ABS enclosure with a mechanum drive train.
Shooter: 4 piston array with printed head.
Pickup: RC Car and vacuum with orchid petals to hold the ball.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask! I know most things about our team Also, if you would like to see video, we have a youtube channel: FIRST3824

[JosephC]

I'm getting invalid attachment errors when I click the links.

[Rohawk1]

Originally Posted by JosephC

I'm getting invalid attachment errors when I click the links.

Whoops, thanks for the heads up, I am having difficulty attaching things. Is there another way to attach?

EDIT: Does this work?http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39934

[Justin Shelley]

Originally Posted by Rohawk1

Whoops, thanks for the heads up, I am having difficulty attaching things. Is there another way to attach?

EDIT: Does this work?http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39934

Yes your robot works like a charm, and so does the link

[Duncan Macdonald]

That last link works. I now understand what "RC car pickup" means.
I really like this robot, very unique and very competitive. Could you go into detail about the vacuum design? Did you take a shop vac and swap the motor? Did you experiment with different cup sizes and seals?

[Rohawk1]

Originally Posted by Duncan Macdonald

That last link works. I now understand what "RC car pickup" means.
I really like this robot, very unique and very competitive. Could you go into detail about the vacuum design? Did you take a shop vac and swap the motor? Did you experiment with different cup sizes and seals?

Yes exactly! We bought a couple shop vacs, cut them apart and replaced the motor with an am-9015 I believe (that number could be wrong). We prototyped the shooter head many times, and in that process we coupled the hose that comes with the shop vac to a printed head and found that door sealers (the plastic rubbery magic that keeps air out) work great with the aerial assist balls.

[orangemoore]

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[orangemoore]

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Due to request

[SoccerTaco]

My heart sank when I read the message from "nobody_eats_pi" saying our team exhibited ungracious professionalism. I sent a PM to inquire as to what the issue was and exchanged a number of PMs with them discussing what they were upset about. I would like to make this all public just to set the record straight.

Nobody_eats_pi was upset because we had "argued" for a score change and the poster felt that it was wrong that we did that. It was our final qualifying match, Q97, that they were upset about.

At the buzzer, the score was 82-83, with our alliance having the 82. Our drive captain went to the protest box after the match and made a protest. The protest was successful, and resulted in us getting the win, 132-83.

I explained to nobody_eats_pi that protesting is acceptable, within the rules, and certainly not un-GP (assuming it is done respectfully.) They did not realize that protests were in the rules. They were very sorry for having posted their message. I told them it was no problem, and I think all is well now.

The reason that our captain protested (not argued! ) was because for the last 15-20 seconds of the match, one of the opposing robots had our ball trapped down in the corner by the low goal. The rule on trapping says that trapping for that long becomes possession. The refs agreed with the protest, and assigned a technical foul for trapping, which gave our alliance the win.

If you are interested in seeing the trapping that prompted the protest to see what you think, here is the video of that match. If you jump to the 2:10 mark, you will see that we miss a shot. At around the 2:18 mark the ball settles down and team 4935 started guarding the ball. The match ends at the 2:36 mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHACEqafgMA

There were certainly no hard feelings toward 4935 - we picked them to be on our alliance for elims.

The outcome of the match was certainly important. With the win we ended up the #1 seed. Had we lost, Beachbotics would have become the #1 seed, and we would have dropped to 8-1 and been tied with the Flying Platy-pi.