Ideas for a demo bot

[Jeff 801]

I was put in charge for building a demo bot to attract people to robotics and I am out of ideas.

[Alexa Stott]

If your 2006 robot was a shooter, you could always use that (assuming it's still together). A machine shooting things always seems to attract people.

I know that some teams have built t-shirt canons. You might want to look into something like that, as well. You can just search for that here on CD, and you'll see a number of threads.

[Dan Petrovic]

What is wrong with the bot you built for competition this year?

As long as it can interact with people, any bot can be a demo bot. We had elementary school kids thrilled to have our robot give them tubes and take tubes from them.

[Bongle]

Originally Posted by InfernoX14

What is wrong with the bot you built for competition this year?

As long as it can interact with people, any bot can be a demo bot. We had elementary school kids thrilled to have our robot give them tubes and take tubes from them.

Although both may be exciting, there are varying degrees of excitement. Personally, I think a 2006 robot firing poof balls into a crowd is more fun for the crowd than a robot picking tubes up from the front of it.

As for a demo bot, how about something that 'juggles'? You could shoot balls up from one side, have them arc through the air, and be caught by a funnel on the other side to be recycled into the shooting mechanism.

Comedy option: This.

[tseres]

if i get a summer job i want to build basically a tank that shoots tennis balls.

[artdutra04]

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/tags/dewbot



And a few more pictures when we took our a few of robots on our parade float:
http://www.team228.org/media/pictures/tags/dewbot

[Pat McCarthy]

Check out this thread
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=50308
It's full of ideas and inspiration for demo/show bots!

[tseres]

i really like that dewbot....

[Taylor]

Johnny 5?

[tseres]

you mean... "Numbah Johnny five!"

[Roger]

Originally Posted by InfernoX14

We had elementary school kids thrilled to have our robot give them tubes and take tubes from them.

We're doing the same thing with our robots (prototype and competition). We brought both to a fair one of the elementary schools had, which we had sponsored for Lego League. Unfortunately, it was raining so all we had a narrow hallway to drive only the prototype around. The elementary school age kids had a blast just driving it up and down the hall and banging into the walls -- it is kind of hard turning around, and the principal did it first, so there was precedent. Shoulda put the bumpers back on! The kids didn't care they weren't doing the tubes -- they were driving a robot!

We did have one 3rd grader however that was such a good driver, and kept coming back all afternoon, so we let him pick up tubes and put them on traffic cones: one on the floor, one he had to raise the arm up to get a cone on a shelf. I expect him in the robot club in 6 years!

Our shooter robot from two years ago was taken apart for practice driving, but it would have been more awkward to drive around, and in that hallway nothing would have been safe from those poofballs. It would have been good for basketball halftime shows.

Oh, I was hoping for an invite to do a demo in the gym, and try hooking tubes on the basketball hoops (we didn't bring the camera for trying an autonomous mode), but no go. It would have been fun driving the robot down that long crowded hallway to the gym, yelling out "Robot coming through!"

[tseres]

about the school demonstrations: they work. my high school team came to my elementary school when i was in gr 8 to show off the tetra robot. it got me hooked. mostly because of that demonstration, i am now obsessed with robots, and my first FIRST competition this year got me even more excited..the only problem is that im in gr 10, and our school didnt have a team last year because all of the gr. 12 left.

[Qbranch]

So far this summer:

>Take old kidde car (something like this one, though this one's more modern than mine) and turn it into a goose chasing/remote control robot. Building my own control system from scratch, including Radio Control packet routines, operator controller, robot controller, and motor controls with video feedback, range of one mile.

>Build a 3-Axis cartesian robot for the manufacturing place I work at, using THK linear bearings/ballscrews, making my own frames. Using AutomationDirect SureStep stepper motors of various sizes for drives on the three axes, will have an envelope of about 36" X 24" Y 12" Z. The manipulator, when finished, will be doing vision inspection and ATE of electronic engine controls. Am designing and programming my own motion controller capable of simultaneous 3 axis motion and helical interpolation (never done helical before, should be fun! )

-q

[Protronie]

Originally Posted by Qbranch

So far this summer:

>Take old kidde car (something like this one, though this one's more modern than mine) and turn it into a goose chasing/remote control robot.

-q

I love it! What a great idea. We have a big problem with the geese here too...
Now if that robot was able to stand guard and sense when one of them is on the property and automatically come out to chase them you'd have something a lot of property owners here would line up to buy!

In fact I want to place my order for three right now!
Could you mount a BB gun to it too? j/k

[IraJason]

If you're looking to go the cheaper route, you can use VEX to make something small-ish. If you've seen any FVC robots, you know VEX bots can get to be a nice size, and it's not that hard to get more parts in case it get's screwed up. And VEX bots can pretty much be controlled by anyone. We took two to that Franklin Institute during their Family Fun Night, and all of the kids who picked up the controls loved it, even though they were just driving a squarebot across the floor.