pic: Delta field at River Rage - Load In/Out Gate closing the gate

[skimoose]

loading photo ...

[Elgin Clock]

Let's hope that "fine tuning" is in the works!

[Roger]

It's good that the opening is wider, but not so wide that the gate gets heavy to pick up and move. Is the wider opening intended for simultaneous two-way traffic?

Having done a {very modest} amount of gate-keeping, it always seemed to me there were a lot of steps to open and shut, and in the rush one step always got mixed up. A two-step pick up gate hang on side*, then drop floor is simpler -- in theory at least .

* Hmm, does the gate hang on the side? It looks like the hooks are the same, but the pipe in the middle would be in the way.

And that "T" pipe sticking out looks like a major hook.

Okay, that's enough of armchair criticism. I'm sure the sub-committee in charge of gate design has it all well in hand.

Heh -- they didn't even take the price stickers off the pipes! Proof it came from the store!

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Roger

It's good that the opening is wider, but not so wide that the gate gets heavy to pick up and move. Is the wider opening intended for simultaneous two-way traffic?

Having done a {very modest} amount of gate-keeping, it always seemed to me there were a lot of steps to open and shut, and in the rush one step always got mixed up. A two-step pick up gate hang on side*, then drop floor is simpler -- in theory at least .

* Hmm, does the gate hang on the side? It looks like the hooks are the same, but the pipe in the middle would be in the way.

And that "T" pipe sticking out looks like a major hook.

Okay, that's enough of armchair criticism. I'm sure the sub-committee in charge of gate design has it all well in hand.

Heh -- they didn't even take the price stickers off the pipes! Proof it came from the store!

To answer some of your questions: No simultaneous traffic would be feasible, unless they changed the max dimensions of the robots. (But let's not speculate about that! )

As far as a hook, The pipe is cut in half & does fit nicely over the exposed whole pipe from the field border. That is a good idea in theory, but is also a problem since the whole (around 5 1/2 feet tall) bar turns 360 degres on the lexan shield since it is only attached to it by zip-ties.
(And yes, you did hear that correctly. The new gate assembly is definitely around 6 feet tall)

The sleeve... Aye.. Not a big fan of that concept at all.
Actually, let me correct myself.
The concept of a concentric sleeve is good in theory, but already the sleeve was smashed on some of the gates, which led to them being tight or near impossible to slide over the exposed bar from the field border without some extra time involved.

Speaking of extra time; No, the gates will not hang on the side. As anyone who worked a gate in the past knows, the best place to put the old shield part with hooks while the gate was open, was hanging on the field, with the lexan side facing in as you mentioned. This is no longer feasible as well, since the hook IS directly in line with the metal bar, so I just opted to stand it up along side the field border on the inside. It's tricky, & a bit of a reach over the field border but that's the least of my worries in that regard I guess.

If anyone has any more gate questions, or some clarifications as to how it looked at River Rage when these pics were taken, feel free to ask since i operated the gate all day long & got some feedback from some of the other gate operators as well. We definitely shared notes within ourselves of what we liked & didn't like about the field.

Like I said, I hope that "fine tuning" is already in the works since we got some real-world experience with the field at River Rage!

[Roger]

I didn't want to answer too quickly, lest I get taken as someone extremely interested in this . But the photo at this thread caught my eye: I guess there is a reason for the added width! I didn't really think it would allow two robots passing side by side, though two people could. I fear that it will have people think they both can get by with robots.

I did use the word "hook" two different ways. The first I meant the U-shape hook to hold the panel on the field wall. In regards to that, if the pipe attached to it rolls upward when it gets placed on the field wall, due to being attached by zip ties only, I suppose it could be made that way.

The second "hook" I meant as that small pipe sticking out and catching a robot or a leg as it goes thru the gate. Seeing the photo linked above I see it's in the current gate anyway, at the hinge and to a lesser extent on the latch side. I withdraw my comment that the pipe could catch a robot et.al., as it obviously isn't a major issue currently.

This part of the gate is a major custom built part, even if it is from store-bought peices.