pic: Top Gun Going Into the Box

[Rick TYler]

Madison, I'm bummed I didn't see you in Bellevue! I know you didn't bring your 'bot, so I didn't look for you.

The biggest improvements for us this year were in chassis building and software. We had two great new software mentors and a student (*ahem* my son, John) who really dived into it. They wrote PID code, and code to use the camera, encoders and the gyro. They also programmed some (untested) autonomous modes. Our chassis rules, and we are proud that, although we used 9x2 Beadloks, we didn't copy the TRC chassis. It was welded by a student, too.

Our game system team got a little behind, though, which is why the shooter wasn't working in Bellevue. The shooter now works fine, and the ball lifter is good, but the little bit that ties them together still needs to be installed. It should consume the morning at Portland.

There were a few times where we wanted to use a bit of plywood for something, but didn't because we wanted to break with our natural laminate past. The only wood in the robot is the electronic boards. I wanted to paint them "Top Gun Blue" but our chassis boss was in a hurry. Look for TGB decals, banners, shirts, &c. at PNW.

The ball lifter picks balls up and drops them down a pair of rails to the foot of the "loader" mechanism. The dual-8-inch Skyway shooter is powered by that big CIM nestled in the angle of the tower. Power is transmitted by aluminum pulleys and timing belts. There are a few small #25 chains, too. With everything you see, we are underweight. We have certain problems as a team (still working that out), but last year and this year we built solid, low-CG chassis with simple, robust drivetrains. A lot our philosophy is that you can't play if it doesn't drive or if it tips over. Even if the game mechanism doesn't work, you can still contribute if you can drive the robot. I'm looking forward to seeing if we get enough testing in on Thursday to let our software gang fully implement what they've written. And I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing this year's X-Bot. You're following a strategy I pitched to the team, but they wanted to shoot.