What do you think of a wedge

[Jeff Waegelin]

Originally Posted by Cory

We have totally digressed from the original topic of this thread. Someone needs to either start a new one, or agree to disagree (preferable)

Cory

Agreed. Please either keep the discussion in this thread about wedges. Start a new thread if you want to discuss the merits of allowing defensive play in FIRST. If this thread keeps heading that direction, it's getting locked.

[KenWittlief]

I think I led the thread off topic when someone stated they wanted a defensive wedge on their bot, because they expect to get bashed when minding their own business - collecting balls, capping goals.

I tried to point out that should not be necessary, such teams would get disqualified...

but back to the idea of wedges - if you put one on your bot, does it fold down after t=0? I would think to be effective it would have to extend out, and you wouldnt want to pull your wheels inside the 30 x 36" footprint to make room for wedges - that would make you less stable.

As a rule, you want your wheels touching the floor as close to the edge of the space footprint as possible - "Wider is better!"

[Joel Glidden]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

... they expect to get bashed when minding their own business - collecting balls, capping goals.

I would consider neither of the above minding one's own business. I would definitely consider interrupting such practices in a competitive match.

I tried to point out that should not be necessary, such teams would get disqualified...

I can't seem to find this in the rules. Where does it say that I can't sack the robot that's trying to cap my stationary?

but back to the idea of wedges

Yes, back to this (don't want Jeff to lock us down)

if you put one on your bot, does it fold down after t=0? I would think to be effective it would have to extend out

I think these guys have the right idea.



-Joel

[KenWittlief]

hey can I borrow that bot this morning?

can it be programmed to go back and forth and back and forth on my driveway in auton mode?

I would think you would want a sharper edge on it than that to deflect an attacker upwards. How well did that work?

also, if the idea is to be protected while 'minding your own business' wouldn't you need a wedge on at least 3 sides of your bot this year? if you have to spin around to point your wedge at an attacker, I dont think you will be able to continue to collect balls, or do what you want with the 2X ball

the protection would have to be passive - like a turtle :c)

[Raul]

Originally Posted by Gary Dillard

We built a deployable wedge at nationals in 2002 (started fabrication Friday morning and installed it Friday afternoon) and only used it once - defeating Wildstang in the Newton Division Finals (or semis?). It still has the skid marks from their tank drive on it.

The intent was not to flip anyone; we built it as a counter to anyone who had better traction than us (actually we had Beatty in mind). Because when you wedge under them, their normal force to the carpet goes down at the same rate that your's goes up from their weight pushing down on you. We were fighting for a goal with Wildstang, who had engaged their center tank and was winning the fight. We deployed the wedge, turned around, and pushed/lifted them across the field for the win.

If only we'd thought to use it on RAGE in the finals... but we ran out of time. Hat's off to Mr. Nye the science guy

Think out of the box - don't assume that every wedge is like Battlebots. If you're fighting for position you need to find an advantage.

Gary,
That was an ingenious device. We never saw it coming because, as you said, we had not seen you use it before. This was an example of a simple device to overcome another robot's strengths.

This incident led to our design last year where no one ever got beneath us while our wings were down.

Our robot was shaped like a wedge last year in stack attack... its a simple and easy design (we were rookies... so easy was good for us)... it works fairly well, but its a little top heavy... we almost tipped ours last year going up the ramp...