K.I.S.S. in action

[ConKbot of Doom]

We have all heard it, K.I.S.S, Keep It Simple Stupid. We may say we try to apply it, but do we?

I just got back from the Chesapeake Regional, our first one this year. I would be sleeping, but I'm amped up on energy drink because I couldn't fall asleep on the bus, or face great personal risk . We managed to rank 15th out of 55 or so. An improvement over last years 25th out of around 55, and the year before that (our rookie year) we placed 50 or so out of around 55. I'm happy with that.

Now back to KISS. This year out bot was a 3"x2" rectangular aluminum tubing frame, 1/4" wall. We used the kit drivetrain converted to 4wd, the trannies mounted on top of the frame. In the front we had 2 vertical 2x2 1/8"wall aluminum tubing members, and a 1.5x2 1/8" wall aluminum arm. We drove the arm with a sprocket bolted to it, and the bottom sprocket had a 5:1 gear down to a van door motor with spur gears. we had our electronics board in the middle of the frame, and lexan covers on the top and sides. For a hook I welded up a hook that reminds me of a jailai (sp? pronounced "hi lie") racket/scoop thing. We put it on a spring loaded hinge so that when we pushed down on the stack of tetras, it folded out of the way. That is pretty much it for our robot. Very simple, no telescoping or cascading lifts, no pneumatics, no cable systems.
We found it to be a very robust machine. We even nicknamed the the front of out machine "The Ramminator" since it was so solid. We never got called for ramming, because we didn't, we would slow down and then shove... just a fun name for it.

I find it very interesting that with a machine that simple we managed to rank 15th. We had a bad first 2 seeding matches, but then we were on fire for the other 3 on Friday, it was awesome. Today, our teammates wanted us to be defense, but our opponents weren't that aggressive, so most of the time it looked like we were just driving around looking like idiots. In our last match, we finally were offensive, but we lost the match. Our one ally got stuck for a little bit, and our other one was a box-bot (don't even get me started on those...) So between us looking stupid today, and us being a quiet team, no fancy outfits or mascots, we didn't get picked for an alliance. But we were the first backup team.

We could get 3 tetras on the center goals, and 6 on the side goals, about as much as some of the teams with fancy arms. But we were extremely stable too. The only way we would rock is forward, and then unless we got the front all the way down, we would self rite without driver/arm operator intervention. Handy? I think so.

Now KISS, doesn't have to mean no pneumatics, no cascading lifts...etc. You just have to use them well. Another excellent example of KISS would be team 1027. (I hope I'm remembering that right... I think I am) They had a low sitting bot with a telescoping arm, and pneumatics to raise and lower it. But they had a fixed end on their arm. Very effective, very fast, and very clean caps. Many kudos to them.

Now in Philly, since we know the game, and that defense doesn't work for us, its time to kick some tail.

Any other teams have a simple design that performed well?