Team 3807's "Meh" Build Log!

[Thromgord]

Well, we're just about done.

I wish I could say that this thing was updated nearly often enough, but it wasn't. Maybe next year (when we also have more credibility under our belt by NOT getting second-to-last place at Regionals the previous year.)

This robot is so good, we're probably not going to end up in second-to-last place at regionals!

Its features:

A Passive Aligner, for when you just want to ram into a tote until it's in the right spot for your robot to pick it up!

We built the Passive Aligner in about an hour. It's basically just two long sticks that are attached to the main robot by a bolt and some surgical tubing. Despite their simplicity, they seem to work almost magically. Previously inept team members (me) can now pick up bins with relative ease!

A Non-Unique Forklift, capable of not only picking up stacks of up to six totes, but also able to lift bins!*
*Bin-lifter will probably be done in a day or two.

I'm actually very proud of our forklift. At this point, we could probably carry around a team member of average size and weight without the robot tipping. It has a special attachment to lift bins, and the clips we're using seem to do a nice job of carrying 4 totes reliably (we should be able to get up to 6 with a clip replacement and some guards on the sides of the forklift.)

A Vertical-Mounted Electrical Board!

Because why not. It's wonderful to see all of the twinkly lights, and it also puts the on/off switch in a very convenient location, so that if the robot suddenly begins driving off at full speed, we can chase it down and stop it! (This actually happened three years ago.)

A Reasonable Center of Gravity! Because tipping is bad.

Our robot is only about three feet high (without guardrails) and weighs in at about eighty pounds. In other words, it's a scrawny little thing... and yet it can pick up tote stacks that weigh more than half of what it does.

It's capable of making Coopertition stacks, though only barely! It's quite simple and difficult to break! With some properly placed decals, it will be so beautiful, it will cause the opposing team to cry and drop their tote stacks!

I can't believe that there's still a week to go before the Week-Zero Scrimmage! It'll be held on Valentine's Day here in Colorado (how romantic), and there's no better color for Valentine's Day than good ol' eye-rattling pink!

Oh, and here's a video of the robot. Because a video is worth 30,000 words a second.

Let me know what you think! Thanks for any feedback.

-Thromgord

[asid61]

Looking good with no visible tipping! I think you can gear up your lift if you want though.

[Thromgord]

Originally Posted by asid61

Looking good with no visible tipping! I think you can gear up your lift if you want though.

Not a bad idea... although:

1) The lift isn't running at full speed in this video. It's capable of being a little faster than the video showed.

2) This thing has enough torque to pick up six totes and a bin. At full speed. I would rather be able to have this thing pick up a bunch of totes slowly, than only be able to pick up three or four quickly, and then die a horrible gear-grinding death.

3) It will probably take more time to drive to a tote than it will to raise or lower this forklift more than one tote height. This is really all that's needed in this competition.

4) We're lazy and don't want to change things again (we already switched out the lead screw once).

I think that we're satisfied by this thing's lift rate right now. You're right in that it's not the best, but should be more than good enough.

[lcoreyl]

From watching you drop off the stack, it appears you can pick up an existing stack of arbitrary height; is that true?

[Thromgord]

Originally Posted by lcoreyl

From watching you drop off the stack, it appears you can pick up an existing stack of arbitrary height; is that true?

Yes.

Here's a brief look at what our robot can do.

>Pick up a single tote! (Because this list has to start somewhere.)
>Pick up a single bin! (At least, we'll probably be able to do this reliably in a day or two.)
>Place a single tote on top of a stack of 1-2 existing totes! (We could have made it capable of placing a bin on top of a larger stack, but we decided it wasn't worth it)
>Place a bin on top of a tote! (Again, probably a day or two before this happens.)
>Make a stack of up to six totes and a bin! (This is the Big Kahuna right here.)
>Pick up a stack, add to it from the bottom, and drop it off again! (This will probably come in handy too.)

In short, it's capable of doing most things.

Right now, we're considering replacing our currently-unwieldy clips with door latches. (You know, the things that poke out of the sides of doors to keep them open or closed). They're spring-loaded, they can handle a great deal of force, and it wouldn't be difficult to slide a tote down through them. Furthermore, they're cheap and you can get them at Home Depot. We'll try them out later today or tomorrow.

Also going on: Autonomous programming! The current Autonomous program has the robot drive forwards until it senses a tote, whereupon it then stops, lifts it, moves forwards, and drops the tote. It's a triumph of Modern Engineering... and we're planning to add more totes into the mix to increase the fun even more!

Oh, and finally, we're pimping our robot cart... I'm going to make a video on that soon.

-Thromgord

[lcoreyl]

Originally Posted by Thromgord

Yes.

Here's a brief look at what our robot can do.

>Pick up a single tote! (Because this list has to start somewhere.)
>Pick up a single bin! (At least, we'll probably be able to do this reliably in a day or two.)
>Place a single tote on top of a stack of 1-2 existing totes! (We could have made it capable of placing a bin on top of a larger stack, but we decided it wasn't worth it)
>Place a bin on top of a tote! (Again, probably a day or two before this happens.)
>Make a stack of up to six totes and a bin! (This is the Big Kahuna right here.)
>Pick up a stack, add to it from the bottom, and drop it off again! (This will probably come in handy too.)

In short, it's capable of doing most things.

Looks good. If your driver is practiced and reliability it good, your team should have a good year. In particular (if you don't end up as alliance captain) I can see where your lift could be trusted to take a <6 stack with a RC and add the necessary totes underneath without toppling the RC to get a 6+RC stack.

Originally Posted by Thromgord

The current Autonomous program has the robot drive forwards until it senses a tote

*emphasis mine

Did you know you can start the match already touching the tote? It has to be completely supported by the floor, but you can already be attached when you setup...

this thread has the relevant rules and Q&A links:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133786

[Thromgord]

Originally Posted by lcoreyl

Looks good. If your driver is practiced and reliability it good, your team should have a good year. In particular (if you don't end up as alliance captain) I can see where your lift could be trusted to take a <6 stack with a RC and add the necessary totes underneath without toppling the RC to get a 6+RC stack.

Yes, this is one of the strategies that we're likely to use. I think that other alliances would appreciate the extra points there.

Did you know you can start the match already touching the tote? It has to be completely supported by the floor, but you can already be attached when you setup...

this thread has the relevant rules and Q&A links:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133786

I don't think I made this clear at all

This feature will be necessary if we decide to try to stack totes during autonomous. I realize that we can start the game by simply picking up a tote that we had placed in the robot's arms, but if we decide to do anything more ambitious, we have the capability of doing so. Which would be nice.