Design Challenge: Baton

[Cuog]

I would put the attachment on the end of an arm that can easily run on the floor so that i could just drive into the baton, there would be a plow type thing on the front of the robot so i would just hvae the arm line up correctly with this and one the baton is in it the opperator presses a button and the calw colses around the baton, the arm then can lift and manipulate it however is needed.

[MikeJ675]

Just made this in Rhino 3d(my program of choice)



simple, effective.

The wheel on the back is so it can basicly drag on the ground when waiting to grab a baton. grippy materials would be added to the claws to fit the batons. Probably would have lightening holes in the main plow. It may be possible to grab more than one baton at a time, if you line them up right.

[Rickertsen2]

I think that one of the most important things is that however it works, orientation doesn't matter. It needs to be something where you can just drive over and schnarf up a baton.

[phrontist]

The "schnarf"-age factor is key, as rickterson mentioned above.

I very much like the idea of being able to drive over a baton and get it into a hopper. The question then is, how do you get a baton into the end-effector mechanism that does all the fancy positioning? I'm thinking along the lines of a toothpick dispenser.



In case you have never actually looked closely at one of these, they consist of a big bin of toothpicks and a drum with a toothpick shaped indentation in it. When the drum rotates, a single tootpick ends up in the indentation and is deposited in the little tray.

So the robot I'm thinking of breaks down something like this:

1. A mechanism like those described above "sweeps" batons into a hopper
2. The armateur that is to place the baton would be able to move to the "tray" position at the press of a button. A sensor (banner? a simple button?) would determine whether a baton is currently in the tray, and if not, rotate the drum to put one there. This way, at all times, the driver can press a button and the end effector will grasp a single baton as long as one is available.

This would be a very fun robot to drive... all you would have to do is "run over" lots of batons and then load them in whatever orientation is required.

Now that this thread has become quasi-popular, the GDC is reverting their design back to the origional curling idea.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by phrontist

Now that this thread has become quasi-popular, the GDC is reverting their design back to the origional curling idea.

Oh god, what have I started!?!!!

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds"

[Henry_Mareck]

i think a sweeper idea would be the most effective, assuming the batons are in the open, or not agianst walls.
But, what if the batons are on a pedestal, or anywhere the robot does not drive on? I think the simplest idea would be just a single grabber, like a pair of pliers with rubber on them. You might need a strong pneumatic to keep it closed if you caught the very end of the baton, it is large and/or heavy.
You might even be able to have two grabbers, seperatley operated. they could grab one together, or grab two seperatley. that might be cool

[lukevanoort]

I feel a need to insert a ghetto design, so here goes. I'd use a four door hinges from a random door or hardware supply store. (long ones, not househole hinges.) Then get some sort of softish foam (wrestling matish) or, more ghetto, make small pillows. These would go on the ends of the hinges, which are controlled via servo, or some motor. So, the soft parts on the gripper allow the baton to be less slide prone and the hinges are very ghetto.

Don't feel like firing up MAX at this hour, so here is my ghetto rendering.

Top
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Side (it wouldn't be so steep in real life)

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[RbtGal1351]

Does a toothpick dispenser work with only one or two toothpicks in it, though?
(I don't know, it also doesn't seem like it would work if the toothpicks were scattered in random directions.)
I want a toothpick dispenser for xmas now.

Please continue with all the ideas, but a note if FIRST actually uses batons as a scoring object, it's unlikely they will be small enough to fit inside your robot (because of size requirements). So there goes the "driving-over-the-batons" idea. Unless you have an expandable chassis...

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by RbtGal1351

Please continue with all the ideas, but a note if FIRST actually uses batons as a scoring object, it's unlikely they will be small enough to fit inside your robot (because of size requirements). So there goes the "driving-over-the-batons" idea. Unless you have an expandable chassis...

Did you see HOT's bot? There is a lot space if you design to fall over at the begining of a match. I doubt the batons will be 60 inches long. If they are, an open ended toothpick thing like a keyed shaft and a expandable storage tank is all you need. An expandable chassis is sort of overkill, but not as hard as it sounds. A few pneumatic cylinders, maybe some telescoping stuff, a omni drive, and you're golden. Length and width adjustable, although you'd need a lot of slack in the wiring.

[Andrew Blair]

Originally Posted by lukevanoort

A few pneumatic cylinders, maybe some telescoping stuff, a omni drive, and you're golden. Length and width adjustable, although you'd need a lot of slack in the wiring.

Problem is, getting golden while you're building the beast...

[Cuog]

Or convincing some people that the pneumatics are worthwhile weight

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by Cuog

Or convincing some people that the pneumatics are worthwhile weight

I hear that. My team refuses to use pneumatics, the last time we did was our rookie year, '01. But, we had a lot of people leave, so fresh thinking abounds... sort of. None of our current members except the head teacher and my father (when he was on 900) have dealt with pneumatics, but a large number still suscribe to the "death to pneumatics" method of building robots. However, I hold a decent amount of sway with the head coach for some reason that I still haven't figured out, so we might have limited use of them this year.

[Andrew Blair]

This completely getting off the track of the thread, but pneumatics really are only better when you can afford or need short, quick motions. Motors are better for long, continuous and precise travel.(They're really easier to work with too by my view. Less electrically operated components to go wrong) From someone who has looked it over from all angles and recently returned from the "Pneumatics should always be used" stage, be careful. There comes a time/use/amount for every component, but the pneumatics are less flexible (in constant use) than motors. In my opinion...


But they'd be great to grab onto a baton!!!