MARS Presents: Ball-istic Jr!

[Tim Arnold]

Video: http://marsbot.org/BallisticJR
For those of you who dislike YouTube: http://marsbot.org/files/BallisticJR.wmv

The video showing our (mostly completed) 1/3rd scale mini version of our FRC bot is here! This bot took more time to build than you would imagine (or at least than what we thought it would). The ball track and drop is made from copper tubing and each was completely re-worked at least four times. The arm effectively has a one way clutch courtesy of a 1/4 drive wrench that we picked up at a flea market. Other than the tubing, wrench, and the mini-bungee cord used to power the arm, everything is made from VEX parts.

I think the end result is well worth the effort and time, it is a GREAT demo unit (especially when the robot isn't here or functional) and is small enough to fit in a car trunk. We hope to join in FRC 40's mini aim high competition in Atlanta, providing the field can make it.

[nuggetsyl]

i am impressed, nice job. I was not sure if vex was able to do our game easily. you guys proved not only can it be done but can be done in 7 days.


shaun

[Bharat Nain]

That is really impressive. Bring it to nationals so I can play with it.. I'd pay to! Simply amazing.

[Scott Shaw 237]

That is a very impressive robot you have there. Like Shaun said, even i wasn't sure if vex could do our game. This bot proves that it can and it can be pretty awesome to do too. I like it alot guys, hope to see it in Atlanta.

[coastertux]

WOW! That is awesome. It is amazing that you were able to scale down your bot and then have it work that well!

[MrForbes]

did they smiley face balls come from walmart?

[JJG13]

Really nice. Not as sexy as your FRC robot though.

[Pat Arnold]

Originally Posted by JJG13

Really nice. Not as sexy as your FRC robot though.

Hmmm... You know you're addicted to FIRST when robots are sexy!
We're still thinking about adding a few final accessories (bumpers, decals, etc.) and will definitely have this "mini-me" version of Ballistic at Atlanta.

[evanisthat!]

Too awesome.... It works better than our real bot right now...by Thursday afternoon though, that may change ; ). You guys rock! Hope to see you at Mayhem again

[John Gutmann]

How good does this shoot?

BTW that is a good conversion from FRC to VEX

[Tim Arnold]

Thanks everyone for your encouraging words! We will have the bot in Atlanta regardless of if the field is there or not (although obviously it will be awesome to have a throw down - our team has made 3 bots including Ball-istic Jr. [we are working on building some of the field our self])

Originally Posted by squirrel

did they smiley face balls come from walmart?

No, the balls to use were recommended to me by team 40 and are from this website: https://www.centurynovelty.com/detail_309_163-018.html

Shipping is very quick and they last for awhile. I recommend only taking out as little as possible for testing as we got all 15 balls out and gunked them up (scrubbing made the faces wear off - we have since gotten another 15 balls).

Finally, we did some more work on the bot... the shielding is now on and we are currently fabricating bumpers. Picture attached of current bot.

[DonRotolo]

...and the video is soooo cool! Great job, I'm envious.

Don