Designs that would never work...

[Cyberguy34000]

Like 30,000 other students this morning, I eagerly watched the Kickoff. For me it was in a crowded auditorium filled with anxious anticipation. After a string of technical difficulties, long-winded speeches and how-to videos, the triple play game of '05 was finally revealed. The entire room went deathly silent as the camera panned for our first full view of the new playing field.


Everything just went silent. You could almost hear the crazy ideas racing through people's heads on new strategies, new robots, and new, well, everything. Most teams didn't have access to the rules at that time, so while watching the robo-people demonstration, there were a lot of ridiculous designs going through people's heads. Designs that might actually work, given that you don't look at the rules, or think about it too hard.

This thread is dedicated to those stupid robot designs which will never stand a chance on the field, but are fun to think about anyway. If you don't put it in here we'd probably never hear about it otherwise. Here's a few of the nutty ideas I came up with. Enjoy, and don't hesitate to post some the ridiculous designs which came up in your own brainstorming sessions.

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King Kong

This large tetra shaped robot would start the team tetra strapped to its belly and rush to the center of the field during autonomous mode, raise off the ground using telescoping stilts, and then push itself onto the center goal, capping it, and then finally lower three locking pneumatics that would be connected to the stilts for stability. The stilts would also double as arms with the front two being "gate keepers", able to block off the entire center part of the field from opponents, while letting alliances members through. The back arm would be more like a wheeled base that would roll over to the tetra loading station, take a tetra, and then bring it back to be lifted by either of the other two arms to cap one of the center goals. This robot would dominate the field the field, crushing the enemy, and bringing victory to the alliance! MUHAHAHAAHAAA!

This design has one very obvious and fatal flaw, besides being illegal because it sits on top of the goal. In order to work the stilt/arms it would have have the strength of titanium and the weight of a toothpick. Oh, well...

Robo Herder

This robot would be a huge rectangular block that would just barely fit within the size/weight requirements (hey, that's one rule you can always count on ). It would rush to the center of the course during autonomous mode, and on the way split in the front like a "V" before forming a wide wall heading for the goal. Hopefully it would be fast enough to outrun the enemy robots. Before it hits the goal, the sides would separate (tethered, of course) and then go around the center goal where they would reform by a metal rod while it expanded to full size, taking up the width of the course. It would then shift into low torque and trap the little suckers against the wall, giving the alliance free reign of the course.

I actually really liked this design and it might have actually been a remote possibility if it weren't for the new rule this year about trapping opponents. It counts off 10 points for every 10 seconds you have trapped an enemy robot. So if you trapped all 3 enemy robots, depending on how fast you did it, you'd be seriously screwed, with a little over -350 points in penalties.

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So what robot designs/ideas were the first casualties in your brainstorming sessions? I'd love to hear about them, so feel free to post away!