Our teams worries

[Nathan_Fraser]

First of all, congratulations for getting this far!

Part of FRC and design/engineering is perseverance. While I agree with the "Don't Panic" mantra, I would go a step further. Keep your chin up, your thoughts positive, and have respect for your work and the work of your teammates. It looks like you've done great work. Keep it up.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by Brandon_L

"First off, I'd get the programmers to pull the sissor lift down as soon as it hits it's max height, thus avoiding the ball coming down on the sissor."

Dude I LOVE you!
One question on that. Would that require a sensor or something?

There are 2 ways of doing it.

One would be to put a sensor (and sensor flag) in. The easiest spot looks like at the extended point of the cylinder.

The other option (probably the better of the 2) would be to time the time it takes to fully extend the cylinder (sissor) and then use a timer in software to retract it. The reason I say this might be better is because if your sissor hits something on the way up (like the overpass) the sissor would stop and your RC would never see the sensor.


BTW: 1824's 1st robot was a kitbot drive and frame only ... you guys are miles ahead of where we were.

[lproxster]

Dude, don't worry about it.

Last year, almost everything that could possibly go wrong with our robot did.

We still had fun though and we learned lots!

Best of luck this year!

[Devibeast]

Parts will break and they will be fixed, don't worry teams will help you after all FIRST is built around G.P.

[Blue_Mist]

Ah yes, every year we have learned how to change a battery in 30 seconds or less just before a match because someone was programming, that a six-wheel tank drive can work fine even if one of its chains is lying on the field, where to put the laptop on the robot so the program downloads en route as we are rushing into the queue line, how to build a completely new gripper from spare parts, that diamond plate is incredibly resilient (crashed gripper into the wall, which bent like an accordion), how to straighten out said gripper (made it through the matches until we built a new one!), and of course, what to do if your robot catches fire.

Don't worry about winning. If you're a rookie team, then just having a functional, non-kitbot drive train is a grand achievement. Defense has always played a huge part in games, whether it was encouraged. And of course, ask for as much assistance as you need. Every team in the Pits either wants to help or needs the help. Sometimes both!

[hallk]

Just curious have you guys weighed your robot?
You mentioned that you have spare wooden arms, do you also have spare scissor lifts? This would be a good idea in case it breaks but also depending on your weight maybe you could tie the two lifts together to make it less flimsy.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Brandon,
This competition is not about preventing you from competing, even inspectors will do everything they can to help you have a great weekend. I figure if you show up to play then it's my responsibility to make you play. You are out there with two other robots, you are not playing alone. If those robots need you to knock a ball off the overpass then you do it. If they need you to herd because all they can do is knock the ball off, then you do that. It is all about the alliance succeeding, not the individual. Also remember that you can change things at a regional event before you get inspected. The pits are open all day Thursday and each regional will have a practice field. Bring enough raw material for a design change (under 25 lbs. please) and ask other teams around you for help or ideas. Look at the other robots and ask them how the robot works. You might just find you have a unique design at your event. You can, as a team, decide the shortcomings and decide if you need to beef up the structure or replace it. It looks like you certainly have enough weight to make changes or add to your design.
Finally, you are a team, and the team makes the decisions. You rise together or you go down in flames together but you do it together. If you don't make it into the finals, then pick a team who has and cheer like crazy for them.
Good Luck.

[Brandon_L]

Originally Posted by hallk

Just curious have you guys weighed your robot?
You mentioned that you have spare wooden arms, do you also have spare scissor lifts? This would be a good idea in case it breaks but also depending on your weight maybe you could tie the two lifts together to make it less flimsy.

No, the arms are 1 inch steal tubing. The wood you see in the pics are prototypes. We have spare grippers for the lift.

And yes, we did weigh it before we shipped it. SInce we had to put it on an electronic scale and we couldn't really see the scale becuase the robot was in the way, we got a rough estimate. We only saw the first two numbers but its still underweight. I looked under and saw 11X (X being the # I couldnt see)

Anyway guys, thanks alot, you've helped a ton!

One more question....

We blew our IR board. At the competition there is a bin or something where we can swap for a working one, no?
If so, We'll get on wiring that as soon as we get to the comp