MakeShift 4039 Robot Reveal 2015 - ROY G BIV

[Brandon Holley]

Another fantastic entry from 4039. You guys quickly have become one of my favorite teams to follow.

Nice job!

-Brando

[lynca]

This design balances simplicity and functionaly really well !

I'm already putting together a plan this offseason to play with tethers and multiple robots.
I have a feeling that the GDC has fully embraced tethered robots.
Do you have any detail on your tether ?

[Nick Lawrence]

This is my favorite robot this year due to the elegant use of COTS components to build a super effective robot. Great work guys!

-Nick

[philso]

Originally Posted by Matt Ciprietti

BIV:

• ROY without wheels (which makes for common spare parts)
• allows the human player to constantly load totes, even when ROY is not present

Using common parts is brilliant!

Do the forks on BIV get out of the way so that robots other than ROY can pick up from it?

How is BIV controlled?

Did you bag the "mechanisms" for manipulating the RC's too?

[JohnFogarty]

I have to say thank you. The picture and video of your stacker helped us solve a really blindingly obvious problem with our stacker fingers.

We actually had some door hinges and poly-carb in our shop so when we met tonight to continue working on our fingers we came in with a fresh idea and you're team's stacker gave us the inspiration we needed to solve a big problem!

Great robot(s) and good luck this season!

[g_sawchuk]

Awesome robot. Good luck at comps. #teamtether

[Chris is me]

Incredible execution and absolutely beautiful simplicity. I'm floored. Incredible job.

There are some robots that amaze me with their technical gizmos and crazy cool complex ideas, and there are other robots that accomplish huge tasks of the game in a breathtakingly simple, elegant, and polished manner. The latter robots, like these by 4039, make me feel really, really stupid. I love this machine.

Please don't beat us too hard at Finger Lakes.

[MattRain]

Awesome robot. Nice touch on the end.

[Karthik]

"Roy G. Biv is a colourful man and he proudly stands at the rainbow's end" -- Stuck in my head forever.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by Karthik

"Roy G. Biv is a colourful man and he proudly stands at the rainbow's end" -- Stuck in my head forever.

It burns!

[Shifter]

Thanks to all of you for your kind comments. In response to some questions:

lynca - our current tether system utilizes 25 ft of 10 gauge wire pair (to limit voltage drop) running in a split nylon corrugated loom protective sleeve. This is after we tried many alternatives including retracting extension cords, expandable sleeving, coiled pneumatic tubing, home-made festoon systems, and spring-loaded dog leashes. Many of these may be good options for moving in a limited area but we want ROY to be able to reach the co-op STEP if our alliance partners cannot. We'll continue to test alternate solutions (including wheel/gear mud guards, BIV-mounted fishing poles, etc) leading up to our first competition.

philso - yes, BIV's forks move upwards to clear room for fork-out-front-style robots other than ROY to access stacks. However, we've found mecanum wheels don't play nicely with our current tether system. BIV's vertical is driven by a single motor whose controller is mounted to ROY. Our second driver controls raise/lower manually.

PayneTrain - good luck at Palmetto and Virginia. If both our teams make it to World's we'll gladly trade you shirts.

JohnF - glad to hear you could use the idea. Hardware store door hinges are a bit makeshift but if they work, why not?

Good luck to all teams competing in week 1 - work hard and have fun!

[Cam_Team 2619]

I like the bin pull method best.

[Henrique Schmit]

Great Bot, you chose a really uncommon design that seems to be very effective
I look foward to playing with you again some day.

[Addison4300]

Outstanding!!! I love how you have a tethered 2nd half! Great Job!

[Matt Ciprietti]

Originally Posted by Nick Lawrence

This is my favorite robot this year due to the elegant use of COTS components to build a super effective robot.

Thanks! As a team with limited machining capabilities (just a bandsaw, drill press, mini-lathe and mini-mill) we have made great use of the new products that have been released in the last couple of years as well as many random hardware store finds. Couple those with a bunch of really creative and dedicated students and great things can happen!

Originally Posted by philso

Did you bag the "mechanisms" for manipulating the RC's too?

They wouldn't get into the bag! What's up with that?! I offered to put food in there and everything!

Originally Posted by Karthik

"Roy G. Biv is a colourful man and he proudly stands at the rainbow's end" -- Stuck in my head forever.

Yup. I'm a week ahead of you in first hearing that song and I'm sad to say that it hasn't got any less unstuck...