pic: Team 1717 Panel (alone)

[rsilverstein]

We didn't have fiberglass available to us, and yes, weight was a huge issue.
The thin alluminum did pose a problem though, because although it wouldn't bend under pressure, it was so thin that anything that hit it, or scraped against it would cause a dent. One time when building it some kid dropped a skrewdriver on one of the panels and now it has a hole in it.
Oh well, it worked perfectly in competition.

Our major issue was to get the gas-spring release cables tuned correctly. At times the mount for the release got loose so they would deploy a little earlier or later. That was all fixed by our 2nd competition though

[EmilioM]

As for the honeycomb aluminum structure that was mentioned earlier - we tried a few iterations of the sort and were unhappy with the skin deflection that would occur at the unstrengthened portions on the panel. This foam-core design not only equally distributed those point load worries but also weighed less while minimizing deflection to an insignificant amount.

As for the dents and scratches Ross (rsilverstein) mentioned, the only negative effect those had was the loss of aesthetic appeal. Our mentor, who has a masters in material science, informed us that these dings and dents were actually GOOD for the panels as it further increased the tensile strength of the .020 aluminum facesheets which our panels heavily relied upon.

[EmilioM]

In the back you can see one of the aforementioned honeycomb aluminum iterations

[whytheheckme]

Originally Posted by rsilverstein

some kid dropped a skrewdriver on one of the panels and now it has a hole in it.

lol. Nice. Not "A team member" or "someone on our team".... just "some kid"

Jacob

[EmilioM]

Ya "some kid" and the funny thing is... Everybody on our team knows exactly who "some kid" is lol. He has this reputation - valid or not - for breaking stuff *cough* aashish *cough*... Aashish we love you.

[s_forbes]

Very sleek design, I like it! The size of your platforms make it one of the best lifting systems I've seen, and the unique materials really make it stand out from some of the other lifting mechanisms I've seen. Are you guys making it to Atlanta this year?

[rsilverstein]

Originally Posted by s_forbes

Very sleek design, I like it! The size of your platforms make it one of the best lifting systems I've seen, and the unique materials really make it stand out from some of the other lifting mechanisms I've seen. Are you guys making it to Atlanta this year?

Thanks for the compliments, everyone who put in long and hard hours on those panels all really appreciate it when others admire their work.

Unfortunately though (as you can see by my signature), we were only finalists in San Diego, not winners. So no, we won't be going to Atlanta this year. Let us know of the other lifting designs you see out there.

[EmilioM]

Thanks, we probably have the largest panels in the nation (at least that we seen/heard of) and the unique material you speak of is our 1.5" pvc-foam core design which is extremely rigid while also extremely light.

Unfortunately, we aren't. We twice lost to the Beach Bots (330 - an incredibly strong robot, look for them to go far in Atlanta) in the semis and finals in LA and SD; repectively. And both times we took the first of three games from them only to have them win the next two... Grr. Our only regret about not going to Atlanta is that we wont be able to showcase our unique design and reaffirm our feeling that we have one of the best lifting robots in the nation. To all those teams going to Atlanta - Good luck