TEAM 422 - DANTE

[burkey_turkey]

Team 422, the Iron Dragons, would like to present our 2008 robot: Dante.

These videos are from late late monday night (about 1AM) right before crate when we finally got it all working. First, the drive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La3dPRnm7tk

We have 2 CIMS in each toughbox on each side, with a 1 chain to the back wheel, which goes to the front wheel. We have powered "reggiewheels" (our own custom ultra traction wheels we like to make) in the front, and powered omnis from anymark in the back. We were hoping this would let us 'drift' around the turns, and it actually works. I'll see if our PR officer has some video form our more agressive driver to share later. Now for our scoring device...

We have a giant 12' long thin spring steel band wrapped in a circle with holes punched in it for sprockets to reel it in. Powered by a globe, it gets really great grippage. The whole thing flips over the top of the elevater via a window motor. The forklift style elevater is powered by a van door motor and twists drums to spin 20' of steel cord to raise our two 80/20 towers.

Dante's "Ring of Fire" (the steel band) being sinched in via a battery then raised:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWaV3MhbKzY
*Note: At this time the motor mount was not contrained in one direction, and we wanted to make sure it worked so we *safely* volunteered the strongest guy there to hold the van door down while it raised the elevator.

The Elevater raising with the van door:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOkdyf1wM1k

As a final note, we realize all the stuff that is missing in these videos, and we see that the ring of fire doesnt fit in the starting position yet, but all that has been/will be fixed. We'll be at VCU and nats. What do you guys think?

[Bochek]

Very nice design, the lift isn't terribly fast but it seems to be sturdy, which is what really matters.

I love the way that strap holds down, the only thing i would worry about is the edge of it cutting the ball but it seems to work very well.

A note about the second video, its nice to see girls actually doing work on a robot. Im sure it adds some sanity to the team

All in all, nice robot, you just need to be at that stage 2 weeks before ship, not 2 minutes.

- Bochek

Looks great! I love Inferno and I love seeing all students working on the robot.

[burkey_turkey]

Yeah, i definitely agree with you on speed. When we changed from the fisher price that couldn't lift enough weight to the van door we cut our speed in half. Hopefully it will proove stable enough that we can start raising it as we turn the corner into our home stretch.

We were worried about the edge of the steel too, but it is surprisingly dull. I can rub my hand all over it and it feels really smooth. the end nect to the holes, the only not factory edge is terribly sharp, are we allowed to cover it in some kind of tape to keep it from hurting people?

[kevin.li.rit]

Originally Posted by burkey_turkey

When we changed from the fisher price that couldn't lift enough weight to the van door we cut our speed in half.

That's a little surprising, the fisher price is more powerful than the van door.

You can always try plasti dip or tool dip on your sharp edges.

[octothorpe]

Originally Posted by Coffeeism

That's a little surprising, the fisher price is more powerful than the van door.

Seconded – you may want to try a greater reduction with the fisher price. What gearbox are you using? Our elevator uses 2 FPs with approximately 46:1 reduction all told.

Nice robot, I like the smooth turning that the omni wheels give you in the video. And that 12' spring steel band is awesome – the way you winch it in reminds me of the film advance in an old camera... very cool. The elevator looks remarkably smooth up and down, even under the load of the ball. It's good to see that someone else was doing their first elevator tests on the night before Ship Day . It's so relieving when things actually work.

[burkey_turkey]

Originally Posted by octothorpe

Seconded – you may want to try a greater reduction with the fisher price. What gearbox are you using? Our elevator uses 2 FPs with approximately 46:1 reduction all told.

We made our own gear box, with about 1:2ish spur gear reduction followed by 1:30ish worm gear (so it wouldnt backdrive). I dont know the specifics, i didnt design it, but it only used one FP. It was about twice as fast as the van door and could lift about 6 lbs tied to the elevator. the spring steel band contraption weighs about 15. Considering the weight of the lift alone and the differences in speed i think the FP is still better, just the gearing down couldnt handle the load. If we had planned better we probably could have gotten more speed than the van door and still lifted everything we needed. shoot, we could even maybe gear the van door up some if we were feeling risky, but i dont think it will be worth the time, considering all we still have to thursday morning.

Also, i hadn't even though of the film advance in cameras when i was designing it, at least not conciously. Now that i think about it its almost an exact copy. IT IS RELIEVING WHEN THINGS ACTUALLY WORK.