Achieving Consistency

[RoboChair]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

Something we agreed we wouldn't try was a wheeled shooter knowing we had had limited success with them in the past. While it eliminated a lot of winning robot concepts it allowed us to focus our efforts on mechanisms we knew we could make far more consistent than wheeled shooter with foam balls.

This right here is EXACTLY why we always try to prototype some robot mechanisms in the offseason that we have never tried before. We remembered the 2012 game balls and knew that they could be shot well with a good wheeled shooter and we have had a lot of experience with them, so for stronghold we ran a wheeled shooter(the wheel you choose makes a huge difference btw, it depends on the game piece). However you should always expand your knowledge base whenever possible. Take design risk when they don't matter so much. In 2014 we did an elevator,which we used the last 2 robots. In 2015 we did an articulated arm, which we used this last year. For this year we are doing both a turret and a pneumatic catapult.

Build what you know!

Steal from the best, invent the rest! Then take notes, record your results and put it in the cloud.