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Unread 10-01-2011, 00:15
Josh Goodman's Avatar
Josh Goodman Josh Goodman is offline
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Re: Do minibots need to stay at the top of the pole?

First off, a note on the tower sensor. I have been told by someone who was at the FIRST NH Kickoff and went down to look on the field, is that the "sensor" is 3 limit switches, connected in series, positioned equally around the circumference of the target. What does this mean? It means your bot needs to be applying pressure to most of the plate so that all 3 switches trigger. Since it's in series, if one doesn't trigger, the light doesn't trigger/you don't get endgame points.

THIS being said. Although a launcher may be faster (completely ignoring the fact they're most likely ILLEGAL), it seems a launcher may have a greater percentage of error when achieving endgame points. For instance:
  • If you have a launcher, it's a one and done deal, hope it hits everything with the right amount of force AND THE TARGET DOESN'T TILT IN ANYWAY and if anything goes wrong, you're screwed and you can't retry (because the bot has already touched the pole and is after deployment/can't get touched by the hostbot without a penalty).
  • If you have something that physically climbs it (ie Wheels, Grabber, etc), you can continuously provide pressure from all areas of the tower until time expires (EVEN AFTER TIME EXPIRES IF YOU SO CHOOSE ). This results in maybe a SLOWER bot but with GREATER chances of completing the task at hand. So with a robot that can cover at least half, if not more of the target, and continually applies force by driving up it even after it's hit it, it has a MUCH bigger chance of activating it EVERY TIME.

Now, as to why I think it's illegal and/or not worth your time...

Okay so I'm pretty sure almost every team has talked about this idea but I still think the Q&A will vote these "launching" ideas as illegal. Based on the rules already provided in this thread:

Deployment ENDS when your robot contacts the pole. The instant deployment ends, the robot must be fully autonomous (No help from the host bot or controls). So first off, this cancels all ideas of launching it after it's latched onto the pole. Now the other problem is the definition of "climb", if based on this, the minibot must propel itself, all launching is a no go.

Now, a reason why launching might not be as good of an idea as you first thought. Let's say you get your deployment mechanism out and surrounding the pole in the last 10 seconds and your minibot still hasn't touched the pole. You need to:

A) Launch the minibot with enough force to make sure it hits the target on its first try
B) Close around the pole in some way so it doesn't fly off into space
C) Make sure the minibot accomplishes task B before the release line
D) Get the hostbot out of the way so that when the minibot comes hurtling down after, it doesn't hit the hostbot and incur a penalty (making contact after deployment).

I feel like with all the speculation on rules and everything that HAS to go your way in order to make it work, gearing up some TETRIX wheels to shoot skyward doesn't seem like an awful idea after all...


But for the love of god, if you decide to build a physical climbing robot, make it go in reverse after 10 seconds to make your life and the volunteers life easy.
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