pic: Team 846 Presents: Funk Cannon

[cmrnpizzo14]

Another fabulous intake system from you guys. Do you have active control of the ball at all times when its in the robot? That's how it appears to me but I'm not quite sure.

Good luck this season, I hope you can get that regional win this year!

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Sky restraining order.

Nice.

[Chinmay]

Great robot this year! Best of luck this coming week. I know that as soon as the competition bot is updated with the changes on the practice robot you guys will be a force to be reckoned with.

On a side note, I think this is one of the few years that I agree with the voice to use omni wheels. I'd love to see a defender try and pin you guys without you just spinning out of it

What's the final weight? Also, can you describe the mechanism that pulls back the shooter? I would love to know more about it

[nuclearnerd]

Assuming your video isn't just showing us the good shots, and your shooter is consistent, it looks like you've got a nearly perfect bot there! Can you share how you choke the power & angle to get your short shot?

[xSAWxBLADEx]

All I can think about when I see this video is "wow, I wish michigan had that weather right now..." On a side note, beautiful weath...I mean robot!

[xXhunter47Xx]

Tell me more about that drivetrain, looks like you have the outer wheels as omnis for less turning scrub but the center wheel for traction to avoid being pushed around. Very cool bot.

Amazing machine from 846. Can't wait to see y'all compete.

On a side note, am I correct when I see no Jaguars on your robot this year? Have you moved on from CAN and have joined the PWM world?

[Chinmay]

Alright, So while the team is flying to Ohio, I'll do my best to answer some questions. They can fill in the gaps later

What has your experience been with those 'W' tread wheels? How long do they last you?

no clue, but they can easily be changed out and they cost next to nothing

Do you have active control of the ball at all times when its in the robot?

Do you see the little pancake cylinders in the video? those have control of the ball once its inside the robot.

Can you share how you choke the power & angle to get your short shot?

There is a two-position latch, one for long and the other for short shots. Die springs absorb residual energy. I'm sure someone can post a closer picture later

Tell me more about that drivetrain, looks like you have the outer wheels as omnis for less turning scrub but the center wheel for traction to avoid being pushed around.

6-wheel drive (no center drop for stability) “Funky Drive” has a few advantages for this robot over a six wheel drop center. Early in the season, the decision was made to not have a dropped center wheel so that when the robot shoots, there isn't a rocking. To also make it easy to turn, there are 4 omni-wheels on the corners. This also has a convenient benefit of making it easy to get out of pins.

To answer a few of my own questions (now that I know some more)
Final weight is 99 pounds. I dont understand the details of the mechanism for retracting the springs well enough to describe it, but it is cool...

[Jean Tenca]

Man I love the detail work on this robot. Functionally, it's very similar to my team's robot (4488) but I like some of the different approaches you had to the same problem. I have to mention that your choo choo design and 2 level shooting mechanism are beautiful. It made me smile and forward this to my team to admire (and learn from). Best of luck to you guys!

[the.miler]

Also the reloading mechanism is a crank, JVN style, with some optimization. We also added a slot so that when the shooter arms have been stopped early for the short shot, we can still continue cranking until we pull the shooter arms out from under the short shot hooks so we can disengage them and choose which shot we want to do next.

In order to get a large reduction conveniently, since our required torque is fairly large, we use a worm gear setup. This has the added benefit of no backdriving and allowing us to go in either direction without worries.

Originally Posted by Andrew Lawrence

On a side note, am I correct when I see no Jaguars on your robot this year? Have you moved on from CAN and have joined the PWM world?

We did join the PWM world and are thus far happy with it, even though we can't get current readings and the benefits of cleaner wiring as easily. If a better solution appears, we will be happy to continue exploring CAN and Jaguars.

[the.miler]

We generally played well at Buckeye, ending the qualification rounds as the 4th seed. We were selected to play in the #1 alliance by 910, and managed to pick up 639 to create the awesome Buckeye Regional winning alliance. #redfunkyfreeze

Here's a highlight video: http://youtu.be/-FytjA6-5Bc

Best moment is at 2:12 with an awesome bank shot that made it into the goal. Sweet spot shots are good.

We've made a few adjustments to our robot since Buckeye to shoot balls of different inflations more consistently, as well as improve human loading. Hope to see it pan out well at SVR.

Also, we never replaced the Versawheels. They wore quite a bit, but our driver liked drifting a little bit. As long as the drift remains controllable, we'll keep it. VEXPro Omniwheels also held up well.

[Stephen.Yanczura]

Originally Posted by the.miler

Also, we never replaced the Versawheels. They wore quite a bit, but our driver liked drifting a little bit.

Same with our driver! We have 6wd with white higrip wheens on the rear (4) and omnis on the front. We were initially seeking a higher traction alternative but he likes the slippyness of the white kit wheels. : shrug :

[the.miler]

Originally Posted by Stephen.Yanczura

Same with our driver! We have 6wd with white higrip wheens on the rear (4) and omnis on the front. We were initially seeking a higher traction alternative but he likes the slippyness of the white kit wheels. : shrug :

That's awesome! Slipperiness side to side, but not forward and backwards, has been a good thing for us, glad to see other teams having similar experiences.

Originally Posted by roystur44

Great robot. You guys are gonna be a force at SVR this weekend. I almost think a 4 wheel drive robot with the 27 inch square frame would be better than a 6.

No rock gives a more consistent shooting solution.

Thank you! This same train of thought is why we decided to build a 6 wheel drivetrain with no drop, using the omniwheels to make sure we could still turn on a dime. It's worked great for us. Look forward to seeing you around at SVR!

[roystur44]

Great robot. You guys are gonna be a force at SVR this weekend. I almost think a 4 wheel drive robot with the 27 inch square frame would be better than a 6.

No rock gives a more consistent shooting solution.