2009 Aparatuses

[GregW11]

What if you were to hook up a pneumatic-like system to the trailer hitch that would pull it in closer to your bot, thus making maneuverability easier? (and somewhat preventing damage to the hitch too)

[bkwrm92]

Originally Posted by Hachiban VIII

We considered using a wedge that could be driven into the goal and then opened (like a beak) releasing tons of balls. It would make driving/aiming a lot easier. We'll have to see how that goes in prototyping...

Originally Posted by Hachiban VIII

using a wedge

<R17> kinda kills that idea. Sorry...

[Andy L]

I think a lot of people are thinking we're gonna be in a fast paced game like last year. From what I can tell this game will be much slower than last year and shooting could be possible, maybe not long range shooting like 2006 but shooting from a few feet away.

People may also be overlooking the ability to pin someone's robot or trailer to a wall to get a quick ball dump.

[Fred Sayre]

Originally Posted by bkwrm92

<R17> kinda kills that idea. Sorry...

Different kind of wedge. I however might be worried about the no out of bumper zone contact rules might be applied everything but the rocks and cells.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by ttldomination

I believe she might mean the rule where you cannot go outside the 28x 38 x 60 footprint this year. NOT AT ALL.

Honestly, I believe shooters are really inconceivable because in the past few game, the targets have not been moving as crazily as they will this year. The trailers are attached to the OTHER team's robots, and obviously taking your time to line up to shoot will prove fruitless if the trailer moves.

Go back and watch 2006 a little. There were teams that could hit the goal while being hit.

Originally Posted by Hachiban VIII

If I learned anything in 2006 it was that driving while shooting is pretty-much-darn-near-impossible. The robots just jiggle too much while driving to make good shots.

The best shooters of '06 had turrets and tilts that could get into position in seconds and fire off all the balls while the robot was sitting still (think 25). Robots that could'nt shoot very fast got pushed out of position and missed most of their shots.

That year there were plenty of robots who could fire on the move, I know RUSH did it.

Originally Posted by Andy L

I think a lot of people are thinking we're gonna be in a fast paced game like last year. From what I can tell this game will be much slower than last year and shooting could be possible, maybe not long range shooting like 2006 but shooting from a few feet away.

People may also be overlooking the ability to pin someone's robot or trailer to a wall to get a quick ball dump.

Go watch 2006 again, I can't recall the exact number but there were fewer balls that year and they COATED the field. The robots might not be racing around as fast but I think that balls will be flying all the time.

[Booksy]

Originally Posted by bkwrm92

<R17> kinda kills that idea. Sorry...

Not really, as long as it can't be used to push a robot, as in if it was placed sufficiently far from the edge.

EDIT: Fred beat me to it.

[paulcd2000]

My team is definetly thinking a lot about apparatuses. i think that if a team has a really good tracking system, and a highly accurate launcher, they could well dominate the field. However, i think there's mostly going to be close-range fighting due to the highly chaotic driving surface. So a dumping hopper might be best. It is difficult to say.

[Japper]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

I think you might get some good ideas from the 2006 game (especially the "behind the design" book for that year) and the 2004 game.

Both games had to move balls, 2004 required players to shoot them into mobile (and stationary) goals similar to this year's goals.

Jason

Where might some of us newer teams find these "behind the design" books?

[MrForbes]

amazon.com is a good place to start looking for any book

http://www.amazon.com/FIRST-Robots-H.../dp/1592533663

[Dr Theta]

As far as the wedge design concept goes I believe that it would violate the rule regarding intentional entanglement.

[spc295]

with only 20 balls per team and the preload of 7, which means that the human player only has 13 (assuming you preload everything) is a gathering device for a shooter important. maybe all the robot does is shoot from a clip, like in a pistol, and pushes moon rocks back to the payload specialist.

[joshsmithers]

Originally Posted by Japper

Where might some of us newer teams find these "behind the design" books?

Amazon. I reccomend that book to rookie teams, but more so going back and watching some TBA matches from 2006. And you can never go wrong with a few advanced searches for Aim High discussion on CD.