229 Drive Train

[Justin Ridley]

That's Awesome!
I've been hoping to see another "Kiwi" since we worked on it back in '02... now with 3 matched motors again and another flat playing field we've got another perfect year to for it. Beautiful work, and great video, hope to see it sometime up close. And Anthony said, thanks for the nod.

One question... did you use a "triple stick" control for it like we did or do you have clever programmers??

[Collmandoman]

it's nice~ but the vdeo is UNNECESSARILY long~ I suggest you cut atleast2/3rds of it -

[Michael Leicht]

that looks like a blast to drive

is it?

[Amanda Morrison]

Originally Posted by Collmandoman

it's nice~ but the vdeo is UNNECESSARILY long~ I suggest you cut atleast2/3rds of it -

I believe the video was a parody of the original 857 bot, which was a few minutes long, also. The 229 video also used the same music... hence the 'parody'.

P.S. - Is that just regular 80/20 that you guys used? Did you just paint it gold, or did you buy it that way? Wicked paint job, though - good job to Chris Carnevale!

[Ian W.]

Originally Posted by Collmandoman

it's nice~ but the vdeo is UNNECESSARILY long~ I suggest you cut atleast2/3rds of it -

I believe you need to loosen up a bit, the team was having some fun, no one made you watch it. I for one, enjoyed the clip, I thought it was a very cool design.

I liked how the robot moves around, though I did see three drill motors I believe on the robot, no? Anyways, I suppose that's easy enough to switch over to three CIMs, just have to play with the gearing.

All in all, very cool idea, I like the drivetrain very much. I would love to have a go at driving that robot, because that definitely looks like a whole lot of fun. Bring it to Atlanta, you can sell turns on it! :-p

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Ian W.

Bring it to Atlanta, you can sell turns on it! :-p

If I was going to Atlanta I'd be the first customer. I'd pay $15 for a 3 minute try.

[JVN]

It is definitely fun to drive. Though, somewhat difficult to remember which side is the "Front" because of how fast it spins. We need a flag or something.

It will probably make the trip to Rochester, and MAYBE Cleveland.
If you ask nicely, maybe you can drive free of charge.

JV

[Jmoo]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

If I was going to Atlanta I'd be the first customer. I'd pay $15 for a 3 minute try.

Dude, we still have the original kiwi in our shop. Works great (play with it whenever we get bored.) I'll bring it to great lakes and midwest if people will pay to drive it.

[Billfred]

Hey now, no selling things at competitions!

(Can you tell I've been reading the manual too much lately?)

[663.keith]

this has to be the coolest drive train I have ever seen, nice paint job as well!

Originally Posted by Billfred

Hey now, no selling things at competitions!

(Can you tell I've been reading the manual too much lately?)

now now, there is no such thing as reading the manual too much . I read it every night just before I go to bed. In fact, no one else on my team even looks at the rules, they just ask me. (not that I can name just about every rule by its letter and number ).

[JAH]

That is awesome. I'd love to try to recreate that recreation. Just as a fun thing. Do you have any more video or pictures? Anything more in depth would be great. Post here, or you can email me at jhoff@cyberblue234.com. Anything would be appreciated. I'm really interested in that. Maybe something that myself and a few of the other kids on the team can work on during our study hall, just to see what 4 teens, without engineer assistance or knowledge can do. Maybe if we could get that working, we could try something of our own recreation. Yet again, that is great!

[Marc P.]

Back in 2002, I remember watching the kiwi video for the first time, and I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen! (And still have a copy of the video on my laptop) Great job on the recreation of the legend! I love the polished frame and neat wiring! I spoke with some of the 857 folks at the championship in Florida about the concepts behind the system. How many sticks are you guys using to drive, if not the tri-stick method? Share the magic Joel!

edit: The original kiwi prototype drive video is still up at 857's '02 site, just so you can see the parody .

[JVN]

Ok... it's not our real competition drive base (did the drill motors/trannys clue you in?)

Ever since we (the college mentors of 229) saw the 2002 video from 857, we've been impressed and amazed. We show their video at recruiting events, and team functions. We sit in our rooms watching it for fun (sometimes).
Overall... we love it.

So... we decided to build our own.

We originally intended to use the 3-joystick method, but our programmers protested. So, the control was done in code. Joel Johnson might be able to answer more questions about it.

Anyways, it makes a good demo robot. VIPs love the "omni-action"!

Of course, special thanks go to AndyMark, Inc. Those omni wheels of theirs saved us a ton of time, and they've been GREAT so far. High quality.

Hope you enjoy it,
John