[FVC]: Team 3228 S.P.A.M. FVC Robot

[Jared W]

With only three weeks until the tournament, I thought it would be appropriate to show off our newly finished robot for the 2007 Championsihip in Atlanta.

If anyone else would like to do so in this thread it would be welcomed =)

Just for some extra info, I would like to let you know that S.P.A.M. decided this year to have 2 FVC teams. From the overwhelming number of kids that joined SPAM this year (roughly 30 new kids), the mentors decided to have all the rookies work on Vex robots (we started with 3 teams of ten) to give them something to do. So the robot you see here is by all rookies =). The 2nd SPAM team lost in the Semi-finals at the Florida Regional while we were part of the Winning Alliance with Michael Kropp H.S.

Yesterday, the first time practicing on a full field with the new robot, we did 2 full test runs. The 1st time, we got 2 balls in autonomous and 16 balls in the operator mode. The 2nd time, we got 2 balls in autonomous, 15 balls in operator mode, and then got the atlas ball controlled. Of course, we were by ourselves, so there was no defense played. But we do have alot of room for improvement, since this was the first time we got to practice. We currently are working on scoring up to 6 balls in autonomous in the high goal, but the code is in the works.

Our robot is a 2 wheel drive (using 4 motors..we made gearboxes), using 4 in. wheels with rubber on the tower side, and omni's in the front where we pick up balls. We had to use this configuration for weight issues, our robot is fairly heavy, even though both arms are made mostly out of aluminum. On the tower, to spin the arm, we are using one motor with a 1:21 gear ratio. The robot collapses with a hinge we developed and barely fits inside the height requirements. Were using 3 motors on the intake, one for each tank tread you see, and one motor on top for the top tank tread. We also are using a servo motor to act as a gate to collect balls. We are using zip ties, ALOT of zip ties, which seem to work alright. We have experimented with the non-slip pad on the tank treads, but I think we have dropped that idea.

If you have any suggestions, comments, or questions, they would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Jared

This picture was taken about 2 weeks ago, so we have made some changes since the picture. But the info above is correct up to date. For example, in the picture, it shows wheels with no rubber in front, those were changed to omnis. Another example, the is a little ramp on the bottom arm, we got rid of that and extended the arm so it can now hold 9 balls. A third example would be the little ball of tank treads on the top of the bottom arm, that now extends back almost the whole length of the bottom arm.

[Adare180]

Looks Great! I am so proud of our VEX teams, and I will be cheering them on in Atlanta. S-P-A-M, SPAM SPAM SPAM!

[fredliu168]

so this is wut SPAM has cooked up. Can't wait to see this monster in action at Atlanta =D

Just a question, can it go up the ramp/hang?

[Jared W]

Originally Posted by fredliu168

so this is wut SPAM has cooked up. Can't wait to see this monster in action at Atlanta =D

Just a question, can it go up the ramp/hang?

It can go up the ramp, but we decided to not go for hanging.

Right now, it is about 3-4 inches away from hanging. But we did develop a system that would allow the gate to flip up and hook on to the bar. But we threw out the idea and decided it was better to get rid of one of the tower motors and make the arm go up and down faster. Plus, since we can get on the ramp, we can easily block a robot from hanging since our robot is so big and the arm gets so close to the top.

[sovierr]

Originally Posted by Jared W

Right now, it is about 3-4 inches away from hanging. But we did develop a system that would allow the gate to flip up and hook on to the bar. But we threw out the idea and decided it was better to get rid of one of the tower motors and make the arm go up and down faster.

If I can add to this - getting enough height to hang would be easy. What wouldn't be easy is providing the torque from the motors and/or gear tooth strength to handle the load. When we went to the aluminum kits for the arms, I assumed a natural outcome would be to add a hanging capability in the end. The complexity of the design forced the robot to be heavy (even witht he Al) and only allowed for one motor dedicated to driving the top arm.

Originally Posted by Jared W

Plus, since we can get on the ramp, we can easily block a robot from hanging since our robot is so big and the arm gets so close to the top.

Also I think we have a good chance to block robots from hanging if our endgame strategy is dedicated to this, but I would fall very short of saying we can "easily block" another bot.

[pwny_express]

Originally Posted by sovierr

If I can add to this - getting enough height to hang would be easy. What wouldn't be easy is providing the torque from the motors and/or gear tooth strength to handle the load. When we went to the aluminum kits for the arms, I assumed a natural outcome would be to add a hanging capability in the end. The complexity of the design forced the robot to be heavy (even witht he Al) and only allowed for one motor dedicated to driving the top arm.



Also I think we have a good chance to block robots from hanging if our endgame strategy is dedicated to this, but I would fall very short of saying we can "easily block" another bot.

Good design. Deja Vu though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf5jk1QmWb8
watch at 1:36

[sovierr]

Wow - it has several major similarities. I guess the biggest difference is that our 2 chambers are not independent. They are linked together with a split hinge.