Team 701 Testing Intake to Shooter Ball Transfer

[bEdhEd]

Here is our first test of transferring the boulder from the back roller of our intake to the shooter. We don't expect to be driving the shooter wheels this fast for the intake.

[Cash4587]

How much compression is being used on that shooter? It seems like more than I would have expected to be normal, am I right in assuming that it looks like 4" or so of ball compression?

[bEdhEd]

Originally Posted by Cash4587

How much compression is being used on that shooter? It seems like more than I would have expected to be normal, am I right in assuming that it looks like 4" or so of ball compression?

Are you referring to the Colson wheels or the Banebot wheels?

[mrnoble]

Our teams must have a mind-meld. Ever since we played against you in Colorado in 2013, our designs have ended up with so many things essentially the same. Looks great!

[bEdhEd]

Originally Posted by mrnoble

Our teams must have a mind-meld. Ever since we played against you in Colorado in 2013, our designs have ended up with so many things essentially the same. Looks great!

You don't know how badly I've been wanting to compete at Colorado again, but this year's distant regional is Idaho, since its brand new. It would be great to get a PM with some description of the similarities and a few pics perhaps?

[Valkonn]

What kind of tubing is that? The orange one.

[Mike Marandola]

Originally Posted by Valkonn

What kind of tubing is that? The orange one.

Urethane belting. It's very popular for game piece conveyors. A good example is 973 in 2009:

[Valkonn]

Both 973 and you used the orange one, which appears to only come in solid. Is there any reason to use the solid one over the hollow tubing?

[Ty Tremblay]

Originally Posted by Valkonn

Both 973 and you used the orange one, which appears to only come in solid. Is there any reason to use the solid one over the hollow tubing?

I find solid easier to weld. With the use cases it's going to see in FRC, hollow is plenty strong enough.

[Orion1]

if you don't mind me asking, what are the small green wheels on the roller gripper made of?

[asid61]

Very nice! I will be looking forward to seeing how you arc the ball/ adjust angle for shots.

[bEdhEd]

Originally Posted by asid61

Very nice! I will be looking forward to seeing how you arc the ball/ adjust angle for shots.

We had a very successful test yesterday with our pneumatic actuating system. Worked as expected on the first try! Now, it's a matter of tuning our angle and seeing if we could go for some smaller cylinders. With the angle and arc we hope to have, I predict that we may be able to shoot over any defenders that meet our front bumpers. The reason I predict this is because our 2012 robot Odin could shoot over our 2011 robot Valkyrie when bumper to bumper.

You can see that here. The great thing about this game is the height limit is much lower, and Valkyrie is much taller than any robot in this game (at least before the end game). It's important, however, to consider Odin's shooter shot from the middle of the robot frame, where our 2016 robot will shoot from right behind the bumper. So the tradeoff this year is closer-to-bumper shooter with smaller defense robots vs. middle of frame shooter with taller defense robots. We'll just have to see.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by Orion1

if you don't mind me asking, what are the small green wheels on the roller gripper made of?

Banebot wheels.

http://www.banebots.com/category/T40P-2875.html

[MichaelBick]

Originally Posted by bEdhEd

You can see that here. The great thing about this game is the height limit is much lower, and Valkyrie is much taller than any robot in this game (at least before the end game). It's important, however, to consider Odin's shooter shot from the middle of the robot frame, where our 2016 robot will shoot from right behind the bumper. So the tradeoff this year is closer-to-bumper shooter with smaller defense robots vs. middle of frame shooter with taller defense robots. We'll just have to see.

There are a couple more variables involved. Some teams are thinking of shooting from further away with flatter trajectories. Those teams will be very block-able by a full height team using their 15" extension to block.

[Libby K]

Originally Posted by Ty Tremblay

I find solid easier to weld. With the use cases it's going to see in FRC, hollow is plenty strong enough.

We tend to use the aluminum connectors for the hollow (instead of welding) and it's worked like a charm for us.

The trick with hollow & the connectors is to 1) get a straight cut on the tube for both ends, and 2) not to reuse an end once you've pulled the connector out. Snip it a little bit so the scratched-up part is gone, and you've got a really solid belt even when re-using the connector.