pic: FRC971 Spartan Robotics 2013 Reveal

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by Adam Freeman

Looks great! Sort of has a tank like appearance to it.

One question, the arms on the intake were cut and welded side to side instead of butted together. Was that to allow the intake to be as wide as possible?

For anyone that has an intake sticking out infront of the robot, just have a plan to repair it quickly if it gets damaged.

Last year we ran through 3 districts, MSC, Championship qualification, and one round of eliminations matches before we met a collision that broke the weld joint on our arm. If not for a couple of planned plates ready to rivet on we would have been completely screwed.

The farther you go, the higher the stakes...and the more agressive the defense gets.

It does look like a tank. When I first saw the CAD of the full robot, it looked "wrong" to me because of a lack of any speed holes. We went into the bag at 102 lbs, although that didn't include the hanging mechanism.

The side welds are indeed to get the widest intake. It's primarily due to packaging constraints of the rotation joint and driving gearbox.

Sound advice on repair preparedness. I believe there is a plan, although it may not be as well thought out as having brackets ready to go. With the side welds we can bolt the arm back together in a pinch, but it could still pose a problem. We'll keep that in mind.