BEST Tetra Grabber

[monstermike]

Now that all of the regionals are over, 1) Who do you think (has the best Tetra Grabber? 2) Who has the most unique? 3) Who's has the best hold on the Tetra? Please do not nominate your own team.

[Pierson]

I only saw teams at the So. Cal. regional... but Team 980 had an awesome robot and tetra grabber. They could drive by the auto loader and spin the column/post on which their arm was mounted. This meant they could pickup tetras at full speed. As they were still in contact with the colored triangle.

[Kyle]

Team 007 had an amazingling cool gripper.

[sanddrag]

Yes, I think 980 was one of the most unique. I can't point to a specific team but I think the most effective were those that acitvely grabbed the tetra rather than the tetra just sitting on something.

One of the most creative arms I saw was at the LA regional. At the start of human control, the robot went to the human loading station and the human player hooked a tetra in and then pulled (telescoped) the arm out to make it nearly twice as long. It stayed this way for the rest of the match and went on to cap several tetras. No pneumatic or motor actuation needed for the reach. Just a single pivot.

[slickguy2007]

I really liked 237's design a lot. When I saw it at NJ I thought it was pretty cool. Especially the way they went to go pick up that vision tetra.

I also like 135's rake design too. It was highly effective which made them a great alliance partner in finals.


GO 1403!!!

[Cory]

Active tetra grabber-173
Passive-20/254

[Ein]

Originally Posted by Cory

Active tetra grabber-173
Passive-20/254

Ours was most definitly actuated. It bent at the wrist and was attached to a extending boom on a 270 degree turret.

Originally Posted by DanielBCR

I did see 69, 330, and 980, but I wasn't entirely impressed with their "chopstick" design (granted, they were effective, but they did have their weaknesses). The advantage to it was that they could all cap very fast (I knew when 69 picked 330 that they were going to win the regional). I did like 188's gripper (kind of like our's but we have an active 3-pronged gripper). With all of these teams, if you bumped them hard enough, they could lose it. The difference was how easily they could lose it.

I guess the one I liked the best was 69s just because it was so darn fast. They didn't get that #1 seed for nothing!

-Daniel

We were number 1 seed I'd say 69 and us were extremely evenly matched, one on one.

[Justin_302]

135 has a quick and effective method of picking up tetras and stacking them.

I believe our method of picking tetras up is effective. We can stack vision tetras which i didnt see too much of.

[Daniel Brim]

Originally Posted by Ein

We were number 1 seed I'd say 69 and us were extremely evenly matched, one on one.

I was talking about the SoCal regional. I haven't had an opportunity to see your gripper but I might at championships .

[Ein]

Ah so, sorry.

[Mr. Lim]

Thanks to all who liked our grabber =).

I didn't want to post in this thread, because I think people are getting tired of me talking about this grabber and the story behind it. But here is a link to a movie for those who never got a chance to see our robot in person:

http://www.team188.com/videos/Split.avi

Right click, and select "Save As..." (The movie is 14 megs)

As well, we are giving away this grabber to any team who may need it. Details can be found here.

-SlimBoJones...

[Stephen Kowski]

KISS.....25 & 179 have very effective passive grippers though at the high speeds both teams move, it is sometimes a safety issue but i like the designs anyways....

[lynca]

To add to versions of the tetra grabbing mechanism,

The pivot (yaw) or turret action while the robot is moving is a very crucial feature to success,

476 had a decent semi-turret
57 also had a well designed pivot motor, similar to 71

these robots can be pinned but still function because of flexible arm movement,

Also, the roll over arm seems to be quite effective as well
233 and 231 are good examples,

[Holtzman]

The best gripper I've seen first hand is that of team 188 Woburn Robotics. Its capable of grabbing 2 at a time and dropping them individually. See this thread about it http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ra+grabber+188

Other than that, very simple designs seem to prevail this year. A simple t-bar seems to work quite well.

[Pierson]

Originally Posted by Holtzman

The best gripper I've seen first hand is that of team 188 Woburn Robotics. Its capable of grabbing 2 at a time and dropping them individually. See this thread about it http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ra+grabber+188

Other than that, very simple designs seem to prevail this year. A simple t-bar seems to work quite well.

While it is cool that they can pickup 2 tetras at a time there was a minor flaw in the elevator system. During the (I believe) quarter finals in LA, a force was applied to the tetra grabber by pulling down and away from the robot by an opposing team. The top of the elevator mechanisms came off of the robot rendering them useless for the remainder of the match. It was fixed in time for the next round. I think if they had designed it a little simpler by using less string and metal that was a little more structurally sound, this might not have happened.