Team 241's Turret Prototype ontop of the Harvester Prototype

[synth3tk]

The reason we sort of stood away from a turret design was because of accuracy, but it seems a lot of teams have overcame that challenge, and will probably be some of the better competition this season.

Kudos to those who can master the turrets!

[Sean Raia]

Originally Posted by qwertyuiop[]\

this is pretty funny because it is the inverse of our robot. we have our collector at the top and our pneumatic turret on the bottom.

So im guessing your strategy is to catch balls at the top and deliver them to the humans?

Originally Posted by synth3tk

The reason we sort of stood away from a turret design was because of accuracy, but it seems a lot of teams have overcame that challenge, and will probably be some of the better competition this season.

Kudos to those who can master the turrets!

Yea the turrets all look good right now, wait till they get rammed a bit, slide around the field at high speeds and get a broken moon rock or two wedged in the turret. THEN we will see why dumpers prevail over turrets.

[Dantvman27]

Originally Posted by Sean Raia

So im guessing your strategy is to catch balls at the top and deliver them to the humans?



Yea the turrets all look good right now, wait till they get rammed a bit, slide around the field at high speeds and get a broken moon rock or two wedged in the turret. THEN we will see why dumpers prevail over turrets.

Lol, we do not fear broken moon rocks

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Sean Raia

Yea the turrets all look good right now, wait till they get rammed a bit, slide around the field at high speeds and get a broken moon rock or two wedged in the turret. THEN we will see why dumpers prevail over turrets.

I'd like to introduce you to teams 33, 233, 217, 25, and I'm sure there are many more. Specifically, their 2006 robots. 217 had a turret, as did 25. They were the 2006 World Champion and World Finalist, respectively. The others finished lower down, say, division finalist to 217. Are there any questions? I'm sure they could easily handle damaged game objects, too.

[Vikesrock]

Our shooting mechanism is not quite finished yet, but it seems to me that the Orbit balls with 1 or 2 bands broken still provide enough resistance to compression to allow them to be expelled from these types of shooters. They certainly won't go where they are supposed to, but I don't think they will jam up as easily as you seem to think they will.

[Flying Coyote]

Excellent work team 241! Good luck to you during your competition. We have a similar concept (team 2594). Visit our posts: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...highlight=2594

8 days left!

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by teampronto

Not to diss any teams, but I don't really like seeing only mentors working on a robot. I've heard that's how it is a lot with the good teams, but it makes me sad

If standing around with their hands in their pockets or arms crossed is your definition of seeing mentors working, I hope you start your own company one day & I can get paid to do that very same thing there!!

[synth3tk]

Originally Posted by teampronto

Not to diss any teams, but I don't really like seeing only mentors working on a robot. I've heard that's how it is a lot with the good teams, but it makes me sad

Not to hi-jack this thread, but our mentors do a good amount of work on the robot, and we are nowhere near a "good team", by any stretch of the imagination. But the students still do most of the work, and just about 90% of the design/prototyping. They've learned how to work on a team, how to use power tools, etc.

It can be frustrating to watch a robot that "seems" like it completely built by mentors totally dominate your "dinky" student-built bot, but it makes the next build season that much more interesting. The important thing in FIRST, is what the students come out with, not the by-products of that goal.

And I would love to work at that company also, Elgin!

[R.C.]

Originally Posted by synth3tk

And I would love to work at that company also, Elgin!

I own it, itz called RC COLA CORPS. Anyone want to join?

[boomergeek]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

If standing around with their hands in their pockets or arms crossed is your definition of seeing mentors working, I hope you start your own company one day & I can get paid to do that very same thing there!!

As the first year mentor with his hand in his pocket, I can attest to huge contribution that students, mentors/teachers, sponsors and parents make to this team. Like most teams, the technical skill of our students and our mentors varies greatly. I'm learning from students in some areas and providing consultation in others. I'm very pleasantly surprised how much this robotics team reminds me of an extremely young professional engineering team: very chaotic with lots of informal training and brainstorming sessions to solve the inevitable problems that creep in. Actually, I was surprised that getting the robot built is really a minority of the problems needed to be worked out. This is about 40 person team (with close to 35 being students) finding their niche to make a contribution with the primary goal of inspiring students to solve problems for themselves. We have about 6-8 sub-teams and project management run by students.
Do mentors/teachers consult and have influence ?
Sure:
1) Nurturing parental and sponsor relationships
2) Teaching students technology and engineering: encourage:
a) safety, safety, safety
b) thinking about making it simpler, stronger, lighter and more reliable-
c) finishing it sooner, rather than later: a finished imperfect but workable alpha solution in the can, makes working on a potential beta a lot less stressful.
d) Use of math and physics
e) looking it up in reference material (including Chief Delphi!)
f) learning from failures as well as successes
g) not leaving a mess!

(For some reason, some teenage students sometimes don't think about these things)

BTW, I'm a telecommunications engineer by profession and I've never been part of a robotics team before.

Check out our web site at www.team241.org.