Grasshopper's Homework Thread

[JamesCH95]

Grasshoppers,

Post your check-in message here. For bonus points post your mechanism/sub-system/feature write-up here as well.

Other CD Users,

This thread is for a specific Grasshopper's homework assignment as well as CD account creation and check-in. Please feel free to say hi, ask questions, harass the freshmen ( ), or whatever the most recent CD initiation ritual is.

[JamesCH95]

Example mechanism write-up:

Team 2451's (Pwnage) motor-in-wheel swerve drive module.



Thread: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=128465

2451's motor-in-wheel swerve drive is awesome because it is one of the lowest-profile full 4-wheel swerve ever made in FRC. It also epitomizes the 'use on part in multiple roles' design principle. The CIM motor not only drives the wheel, but acts as the wheel's dead-axle and the steering gear is also the carrier for the whole drive module. I also like how cleanly the module integrates into the robot's chassis, that is quite spectacular. More to the point, they had a competitive robot with a reliable execution of the first-ever competition swerve drive, that is very impressive. They used the great maneuverability that this swerve drive gave them to deal with aggressive defenders quite gracefully.

[Kevin Ainsworth]

PNWAGE thanks you for the nice words!!!
5 weeks until robots!!!

[GraysonDaly]

Hello, it's Grayson!

I wanted to talk about Team 610's shooting alignment mechanism from their 2013 robot. We saw this robot in action at Granite State Regional that year and it was one of the most effective and efficient robots there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJDj...SlR b_rLXUTtM

This is a video of their robot in action. I was most impressed with the mechanism they used to line up their shooter with the goal using the pyramid as a marker. Their robot could not be touched because it was in contact with the pyramid, and the mechanism was sort of passive and simple. The robot would line itself up by basically just extending hooks and driving up to the bar of the pyramid, and then would PUMP frisbees into the goal almost indefensibly. And at the very end of the game, the robot would line itself up one last time to achieve a 10-point climb. This mechanism was good in two ways: it worked well and was reliable, and the strategic theory behind it was uniquely thought-out.

[Mr. Lim]

Grayson,

Thank you for the amazing "shout-out."

The mechanism you highlighted is called the "bunny ears" within the team. When you ask the guys who were intimately involved with this robot, they will tell you the "bunny ears" were probably the single biggest reason why we won the 2013 World Championship.

They were a very low-key feature that not many other robots had, and they brought our shooting performance to an elite level (i.e. reduced time to stop and line up our shots while protected).

The irony is that most people, including younger members of our own team, still don't realize how important they were, or that they even exist!