Pearce Practice Day Success!

[Pavan Dave]

Taken from http://www.pearcerobotics.com/

Originally Posted by Pearce Robotics

With the help of Lockheed Martin, JJ Pearce and the P-51 Mustangs were able to provide a practice field for teams around the Dallas area to practice on and provide support for other teams who needed a little help with their robot as the build gets closer to a close.

The event was held this past Saturday many teams from near and far with some traveling the upwards of 150 miles just to get a glimpse of the playing field and see what's in store for the Dallas Regional come March 12th.

[Enigma's puzzle]

Wow the field is larger than i thought, and i didn't realize that the seats were tilted that far back.

And i am sorry to say this but those bumpers are illegal on the orange robot. I never wanter to be the person to say that.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Enigma's puzzle

And i am sorry to say this but those bumpers are illegal on the orange robot. I never wanter to be the person to say that.

Neither do I.

They're actually both legal and illegal. They are illegal because the ends on the front are less than 6", and because the interior portion is apparently connected to them. (The interior portion, by definition, isn't a BUMPER, though it is a bumper--it counts in size and weight.) The interior bumpers are legal, provided that they are counted as part of the robot for both size and weight.

[Alan Anderson]

Agreed on the seats -- this is the first look I've had at real ones, and they are awfully low and reclined compared to my expectation based on the drawings.

The green bumpers don't seem legal either. That might be six inches of full BUMPER on each front corner, but it doesn't look that way to me.

Bumpers aside (I hope this doesn't turn into ANOTHER bumper thread), is there any video of how teams are driving, so some of us can get a bit of a glimpse at possible strategies?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

The green bumpers don't seem legal either. That might be six inches of full BUMPER on each front corner, but it doesn't look that way to me.

Good point, but they just might have an easier time adding more.

[Pavan Dave]

Yes. We did inform the teams that they had bumper issues but our biggest concern for the event was making sure that their primary robots were running. This was just as much a workshop to help teams from the Dallas-Ft. Worth area as it was for teams to get a chance to drive on the playing field.

Any questions?

Pavan

[Tazlikesrobots]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Agreed on the seats -- this is the first look I've had at real ones, and they are awfully low and reclined compared to my expectation based on the drawings.

The seat in the picture was actually broke, but they are very low to the ground though.

[Pavan Dave]

I have uploaded the longest clip I have of robots on the field. However I would appreciate it if you would all stop being critical of the robots there and stop badgering the teams in respect to the game and the rules. We addressed those concerns at the workshop and they are being taken care of. And please do not bother to "point out" that we have people on the field while robots are running and how the human player may not be in his seat while throwing balls.

Without further ado:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRAMaqQhVJw

Enjoy!

[Stuart]

There are now about 30 images on the Images section of our website. check it out. all and Iall I would say it was a very productive and informative day for all involved.

[jgraber]

Originally Posted by Pavan Dave

I have uploaded the longest clip I have of robots on the field. However I would appreciate it if you would all stop being critical of the robots there ... Without further ado:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRAMaqQhVJw

Enjoy!

The Orange bumper people know about the 6" rule and plan to modify their bumper, although we did not discuss the aspect of the non-bumper part needing to be separate for weighing.

I'm a mentor for team 2743, with the Green bumpers. Those bumpers are an example of what happens when you wrap the bumpers around the corner, rather than cut them in some way: lots of unwrap force! The front bumpers are exactly 6", but not mounted securely in front. Because of the temporary electronics mounting, #2743 was not able to check trailer nesting correctly, but likely the front bumpers will need adjustment/enlargement to avoid trailer pole contact.
New 18 lb bumpers with solid left and right side Green bumpers are planned, with cut noodle corners rather than wrapped.

An interesting side effect of the practice: Since none of the driving robots had ball handling equipment currently installed, all the 'points' scored were scored by human players, none by robots. Therefore, one can conclude that only humans will score points in a real game also.

Other observations from that practice:
I saw 5 teams, only 2-3 were driving, only one had any kind of ball handling installed.
All driving teams were in 4w drive wide config.
One team not yet driving was in 2w narrow config.
I saw no traction control running.
I saw no steerable wheels.
Drag race between 4cim and 2cim bots showed insignificant difference.
Pushing contest between Green 86 lb robot and Orange 82? lb robot was slightly won by Green.
Pinning tests between Green and Orange showed that either could eventually escape being pinned at the wall.
The 2/3rds field seemed crowded with 2 robots and 20 balls on the field, it is hard to imagine how crowded a full field with 6 robots and 100+ balls will be.
Orange team had some excellent basketball-trained human players.
One orbit ball exploded into individual rings as it was being thrown by gripping the rings (rather than cupping the ball as if it were solid).
The orbit ball barely fits through the Outpost shield wall hole, doesn't seem possible to throw it through that hole to the diagonal opposite corner.
Green battery connection fell apart in middle of driving, possibly due to being hit by a ball. We need to use Zip ties for competition!
Green CIM key fell out, team moved to a lighter colored floor tile to work on it, to make pieces easier to find on the floor. Since we didn't bring any tools (!) of our own, thanks to the other teams that graciously loaned us some tools and washers to rebuild our Toughbox. We plan to use set-screw locking collars to hold in the keys for competition.
Due to our exposed electronics, no high-speed head to head collisions were performed. A common manuever seemed to be two robots circling and chasing each other's trailers.

[AlexD744]

Was it possible for one robot to trap another against a wall by their trailer, at least for 4-5 seconds? And did you have the carpet edging?

[jgraber]

Originally Posted by AlexD744

Was it possible for one robot to trap another against a wall by their trailer, at least for 4-5 seconds? And did you have the carpet edging?

Probably, although we were doing just general experiments: "I'll try to trap you, ok, now can you get out? OK, now you try to trap me" Steerable wheels would help a lot here, since trying to turn means only one side of wheels are pushing.

No carpet. FRP/Regolith was installed over the hard gym floor seen in the repair pictures.