How is everyone designing their basket for holding balls?

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by ida_noeman

Um... Many people have been talking about blocking shots. Unfortunately for people who have been designing to block shots from the beginning, there is a rule against this - you can't purposely place your robot in front of another robot to block their shots, and there is a 5 point penalty per ball - this can add up fast. So, if many people don't know about this, perhaps it would be good to put your shooting mechanism lower down - you could penalize them massively.

Welcome to FIRST and congratulations on your first CD post.

Can you direct me to the rule you reference above? You can just post the rule number, I can look it up from there.

[Mike Norton]

http://www.valleytech.k12.ma.us/robo...2%20Sunday.jpg

this what it looked like and

http://www.valleytech.k12.ma.us/robo..._ball-goal.JPG

is how it worked

Yes if you wanted to build a robot that stores all the balls then dump them very quickly this could be a option for you. Two sets of rollers one to pick up and one to discharge them this machine could stores easily 40 small balls and be able to get rid of all of them within 5 seconds. with a open middle you could throw balls into it and use the ball roller for a backboard. very easy to make the shot.

this unit is very light, it is made up of light square tubing and very thin Sheet metal. so you can make a very strong base and not worry about flipping over

[Andrew Blair]

Originally Posted by ida_noeman

Um... Many people have been talking about blocking shots. Unfortunately for people who have been designing to block shots from the beginning, there is a rule against this - you can't purposely place your robot in front of another robot to block their shots, and there is a 5 point penalty per ball - this can add up fast. So, if many people don't know about this, perhaps it would be good to put your shooting mechanism lower down - you could penalize them massively.
--phobbs

This is a mis-interpretation of the rules.

<G16> Maximum Height - A ROBOT may not extend above 60” above the floor or the ALLIANCE PLATFORM in a stable configuration at any time during a match. Each violation shall result in a penalty of 5 points per occurrence or 5 points per ball shot or ball blocked during the occurrence, whichever is greater. ROBOTs designed to violate this rule are not allowed. For example, a ROBOT that extends a blocking device in front of the center goal will be disqualified. Transient conditions that may cause a diagonal dimension of the robot to momentarily exceed the 60” height restriction – such as during a tipover or when climbing onto the ALLIANCE PLATFORM – are not subject to this rule. The one exception to the height restriction is provided in rule <R13> (flag rule).

The rules state that when your robot stably exceeds 5' tall, you will be penalized by 5 points. The second part of the rules state that while in the state of being over 5' tall, if you block any shots, you will be penalized for every blocked shot. The idea behind this rule is that, if you exceed 5', but do no harm, you will only be docked 5 points. If you exceed 5' and block shots, you have done harm, and you will be penalized more severely. There is no rule against blocking shots with your robot while it is within the proper size constraints.

[ida_noeman]

Originally Posted by Andrew Blair

This is a mis-interpretation of the rules.

The rules state that when your robot stably exceeds 5' tall, you will be penalized by 5 points. The second part of the rules state that while in the state of being over 5' tall, if you block any shots, you will be penalized for every blocked shot. The idea behind this rule is that, if you exceed 5', but do no harm, you will only be docked 5 points. If you exceed 5' and block shots, you have done harm, and you will be penalized more severely. There is no rule against blocking shots with your robot while it is within the proper size constraints.

Sorry guys - should have read the rule for myself before posting. Either way, it's going to be difficult to block a robot unless you are right in front of it - but then they can back up.
Again, sorry.
--phobbs

[xolnian]

We haven’t decided on how we’re going to hold the balls but one of the more interesting suggestions that has been recommended was the extending laundry basket

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/store...roductId=58670

This would allow your robot to fit the dimensions and then extend to 5 feet. They are also very lightweight and cheap (7.99 at Ikea). Good Luck.

[Andrew Blair]

Originally Posted by ida_noeman

Either way, it's going to be difficult to block a robot unless you are right in front of it - but then they can back up.
--phobbs

Hey, thats where holonomic drive comes in!

[Pavan Dave]

Originally Posted by greencactus3

whoa. attempting to standardize basket openning sizes. good idea for the HPs . but sorry, so far we have no plans to have any top opening... hm.. although it may be boring, it could be a good plan. i unno... but so far we will not be joining that idea.

Ditto, we veto'ed that idea.

-Pavan

[Tim Arnold]

I don't recall the rules stating what condition the balls need to be in when fired


Ever heard of a paper shredder?

[Safarley2901]

Originally Posted by MrBamboo

My team is making a harvester and we think that a great strategy is to transfer a very high number of balls from a harvester to a good shooter quickly and safely. We think most teams will have some kind of mechanism that picks up balls from the ground, but transfering ball by dropping them on ground next to an ally shooter is not very efficient or safe, also the balls are free for opposing robots to take or move. I think most teams will have an open basket of some sort to allow human players to toss balls in. So here is the question

What shape and how big are your basket openings and how high are they positioned? And where on your robot is it?Obviously if your basket is at the 5 feet limit it is very difficult for a harvester to pass balls to you because of the height limit. I think it would help everyone to have some sort of a standard for this. This way harvesters knows what they can expect in designing a transfer mechanism and the shooters can expect good allies that can supply them with balls without worrying how they can take those balls.

So again, What shape and how big are your basket openings and how high are they positioned? And where on your robot is it?

We Are planning tohave an open bin on top. We are not collecting balls from the floor on the hope that our alliances will be able to put balls in our open top robot.

[Safarley2901]

Originally Posted by Pez1959

Unless you have a very tall hp, accurately loading a robot will be quite hard. Just something you may need to keep in mind...

I'm 6'5"

[Joe O]

Originally Posted by robosapien

I don't recall the rules stating what condition the balls need to be in when fired


Ever heard of a paper shredder?

Consider rule <G19>, which states that robots cannot damage field equipment. The balls are game objects and cannot be damaged, within reason.