Minibot

[Wendy Holladay]

What if you had a very, very light minibot that was clamped to the tower pole and launched upwards through some spring-based launcher on your hostbot. It would fly upward, connected to the pole, and then contact and trigger the top. Then it would fall back down the pole. Is that legal?

[EricH]

Quick hint: deployment above the deployment line is strictly illegal. So is intentionally detaching parts from your robot. So is doing unsafe things, quite possibly including launching hard metal/plastic objects 10 feet in the air.

[Bjenks548]

I think some people are confused. The robot is not launching the minibot from the ground to the top of the pole, merely from the bottom of the poll (after being attached) up to the top. I really don't see how this would be a safety issue and i can't find anything that says the minibot needs to climb the pole under its own power, instead of kinetic energy given to it from the now Hostbot.

[EricH]

Launching while clamped to the pole would probably be legal.

Practicality, however, depends on whether a) the launching method can get about 4N of force at the top and b) the minibot has to stay at the top or not.

[ThePeracha]

Originally Posted by EricH

Quick hint: deployment above the deployment line is strictly illegal. So is intentionally detaching parts from your robot. So is doing unsafe things, quite possibly including launching hard metal/plastic objects 10 feet in the air.

I hope they allow it. I mean, they probably didn't anticipate this but I hope they see the innovation here and allow. Plus, the way technology is going, we'll have flying parts soon enough anyway. Might as well start now.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by ThePeracha

I hope they allow it. I mean, they probably didn't anticipate this but I hope they see the innovation here and allow.

That's not something you want to say. There are a number of folks who saw a major rule change in 2002, when tape measures could not be used for a particular part of the robot until a GDC member saw innovation and allowed the use of tape measures for that part...

...at a competition...

...Making all the people who'd done it right the first time really, really mad.

At this point, it's not clear whether it is or is not legal. I'd figure that by Tuesday or Wednesday, when the first Update comes out, we'll know for certain.

[Chris is me]

Literally throwing the robot in the air, uncontrolled, is not going to work.

That being said..

[TJ Cawley]

are servos allowed to be used on the minibot?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by TJ Cawley

are servos allowed to be used on the minibot?

Are they on the list in <R92>? If so, yes. If not, no.

[Duke461]

The following items are the only permitted materials for use on the MINIBOTS:
A. TETRIX components,
B. no more than two motors (PN W739083),
C. exactly one 12V rechargeable NiMH battery pack identical to those supplied in the FTC kit of parts (PN W739057)
D. No more than one HiTechnic DC motor controllers,
E. No more than one NXT controller with the Bluetooth functionality disabled,
F. Polycarbonate,
G. Polycarbonate glue,
H. Aluminum sheet, 90° angle, u-channel, tube, bar,
I. rivets,
J. non-metallic rope or cord,
K. wire nuts,
L. cable ties,
M. limit switches,
N. no more than two common household light switches,
O. wire of appropriate gauge (see Rule <R40>),
P. non-slip pad,
Q. PVC or CPVC pipe,
R. PVC cement or cleaner,
S. Mechanical hardware (i.e. screws, bolts, etc) ,
T. Loctite or similar thread-locking product,
U. Rubber bands,
V. Surgical tubing,
W. Electrical tape and shrink tubing,
X. PWM extension cables,
Y. Universal security clips to hold the PWM connectors together,
Z. Hook and loop fastener (may not be used as tape), and
AA. Magnets.

[SashaKuznetsov]

[quote=Duke461;993678]
U. Rubber bands,
V. Surgical tubing,

^Hey guys, those of you asking about springs, you make something like that out of these and I'll give you a medal.

[Sean Raia]

[quote=SashaKuznetsov;993683]

Originally Posted by SashaKuznetsov1

U. Rubber bands,
V. Surgical tubing,

^Hey guys, those of you asking about springs, you make something like that out of these and I'll give you a medal.

Who says the spring mechanism needs to be built into the minibot?

Edit: My team had the exact same idea as the original poster of the thread. If it is legal in any way, i'm sure we (and many other teams) will go for it.

[SashaKuznetsov]

[quote=Sean Raia;993699]

Originally Posted by SashaKuznetsov

Who says the spring mechanism needs to be built into the minibot?

Edit: My team had the exact same idea as the original poster of the thread. If it is legal in any way, i'm sure we (and many other teams) will go for it.

Watch you do, if the spring is still connected to the minibot once it crosses deployment line, you're sunk.

HOSTBOTS may not contact their ALLIANCE’S MINIBOT once it has climbed above the DEPLOYMENT LINE.

That's a very small window of firing room. You would probably have to put something in place to stop your spring after a point.

[Djur]

[quote=SashaKuznetsov;993683]

Originally Posted by Duke461

U. Rubber bands,
V. Surgical tubing,

^Hey guys, those of you asking about springs, you make something like that out of these and I'll give you a medal.

Forget that, I'd go for AA. Magnets. That'll be fun to see.

[dexo568]

In the rules, it says we're allowed to use TETRIX parts. Does that include NXT sensors, as they're a part of the FTC BOM? It would make sense, as otherwise the NXT controller would be useless. And if not, what sensors can we use for the minibot?