pic: Up... Up... Up...

[CD47-Bot]

loading photo ...

[Kris Verdeyen]

Does that remind anyone else of the robot from Lost in Space? Those arms flailing about uselessly as the robot runs around panicking, "Danger Will Robinson, danger!"

Great picture, though.

[sparkyakabair]

im part of Sparky 384 from Richmond and i think i speak for ma team when i saw datz really hot!!!! How the arm flings out and knocks the robot over. Wat regional was this? I think this was to great to miss.

[Dan-o]

If that arm's only purpose is only to flip robots, I would ask you to reconsider whether your strategy is very gracious. Granted, our robot flipped twice during the elimination rounds at Annapolis, but that was mostly driver error. It isn't right to go around purposely immobilizing robots, that's not a game.

[sparkyakabair]

i understand and i feel the same y. I missed the maryland one but at VCU regionals we flipped over twice. But we self righted ourselves. I was tryin to get to the point that its a brite idea how the arm just moves out so the robot can push other bots or block em. I don't mean like intentionally flip them over cause i kno how stressful that situation is for the drivers and for the other members of the team.

[Aaron Lussier]

Dont worry dan-o Its not used to flip bots, They use it to swing and hit the wall of boxes, quite well actually, from what I saw at BAE

[MarcusF]

The arm is mostly made to knock over stacks and right our self in any orientation we do use it for defensive purposes too, the reason that happened was for alot of reason the arm was angled perfectly the driver went forward and I think 38 moved back... wham robot over side. We were very sorry when it happened and made sure they were ok.

[sparkyakabair]

i m really sorry dan if u took it da wrong way. wat i meant was dat we should have thought of somethin like that for out bot. Sparky can knock down boxes but our strong point isn'r really stackin boxes but we can stck like three boxes. But do any one kno wat kind of game is goin to or maybe was proposed for next years competition?

[157#1Driver]

Originally posted by Dan-o
If that arm's only purpose is only to flip robots, I would ask you to reconsider whether your strategy is very gracious. Granted, our robot flipped twice during the elimination rounds at Annapolis, but that was mostly driver error. It isn't right to go around purposely immobilizing robots, that's not a game.

Ya that was the first time that happend. It was an accident. Ya the arm is really strong. We have a chip driving a screw. it was so fast we had to slow it down and add a limit switch. Very strong sturcture too. We have righted ourselves many of time, for those who were at BAE, and the none stop hitting from other teams. Its really good for counter balance too.

[Marc P.]

Yeah, this was definitely interesting to say the least... I was lucky enough to get such a good viewpoint as a volunteer =D

When I took the picture I didn't actually realize it was tipping... I just thought it was good confrontation between 2 bots. It wasn't until we went up and over and teetered for a while that what actually happened sunk in... Guess we were lucky though- we fell over once in trials during build period, and our electronics "birdhouse" (see next picture in gallery for better view) literally flipped out and shattered on the ground. (It was made of 1/4" polycarb).

Needless to say we were laughing about it the rest of the day, definitely the highlight of UTC's Practice Rounds.

[sanddrag]

Originally posted by Marc P.
we fell over once in trials during build period, and our electronics "birdhouse" (see next picture in gallery for better view) literally flipped out and shattered on the ground. (It was made of 1/4" polycarb).

Polycarb wouldn't shatter. I think you made it from acrylic.

[Marc P.]

Originally posted by sanddrag
Polycarb wouldn't shatter. I think you made it from acrylic.

Alright, so it didn't shatter, it just kinda cracked and fell apart... I do know it was polycarb though, it was supposed to be smoked poly, but it didn't look all that good when all was said and done, so we just painted it.

[sparkyakabair]

do u think it would be a good idea to maybe put like a underlite body kit in out robots next year? i saw one team had it and it was pretty sweet. Maybe somethin orange to go with our logo. Would it affect anythin at all? like slow it down or somethin like dat?

[Rurouni]

I remember this match! Yeah, the arm was mostly used for counter-balancing and knocking over stacks. That was the only time I ever saw someone flip because of it, at least at UTC. Great Picture.

[Marc P.]

Originally posted by Rurouni
I remember this match! Yeah, the arm was mostly used for counter-balancing and knocking over stacks. That was the only time I ever saw someone flip because of it, at least at UTC. Great Picture.

Thanks for the compliment

In answer to the previous post, you are allowed to use "non functional" decoration, so lights are allowed. They will draw some power, but probably not enough to affect performance dramatically. In 2001 we had sweet purple lights under our polycarb cover, so the insides of the bot glowed purple and cool. If anyone remembers, here we are- http://home.earthlink.net/~nonnebots/38.JPG

I guess it's a nice looking thing to do if you have weight and power to spare.