Feeder Bot

[Bill_B]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

Apparently throwing of any sort is out of the question for our team... They want full control of the tubes at all times.

The team realizes they will be in a variety of alliances with other teams, don't they? The longer the time before an actual event that the team comes to grip with the A-factor, the better their strategy will be. Just ask the team how they will convince an alliance team who thinks throwing will be OK.

[Techokami]

We do plan on throwing them in, as it would be faster than inserting them through the slot, however it's hard to get good accuracy or distance with the square and triangle.

[mahumnut]

1418 discussed this as well, we tried throwing the pieces around and the only way we could get them to go anywhere with any sort of distance or accuracy was with a bunch of spin. Designing a mechanism to impart enough spin and launch it across the field length would be REALLY tough. We decided against it.

The other problem is you have to drive all the way across the field from the starting position to get to the loading lane. Because you can't cross the middle line in autonomous, you would have to wait for teleop to start. After a few games, I'm assuming other teams would be able to catch on and block you from ever getting into position. You would also have to avoid hitting the towers which are in the way.

Even if you were to build a robot that could launch the pieces, I still don't think it would be a game breaking strategy such as Las Guerrillas last year.

[Erik Huang]

This was HUGE in our strategy meetings; we even found some really effective elim. strategies using this;

don't forget, to bring 6 tubes across the field in one game, you'd have to make the roundtrip in under 15s, without obstruction. most team will realize that, so they might be throwing into the field as well.

[Erik Huang]

out of curiosity, i was wondering the dimensions of the pin/peg on the scoring rack/alliance wall: i know it's make of, essentially, a cylinder with a flange on the end: what is the radius/diameter/circumference of the flange?

[Chickenonastick]

Sounds like a lot of work for the tube dispenser

[Stephen of REX]

If I were to do this I would make the robot receive the tube out of the slot, rotate it 90 degrees, then catapult it over the field.

[spiffyspleen]

Originally Posted by Stephen of REX

If I were to do this I would make the robot receive the tube out of the slot, rotate it 90 degrees, then catapult it over the field.

Do you think it would fly further in a vertical position?

[pandamonium]

I will have for you tonight video of team 73's prototype that Accurately shoots all sized tubes 10+ feet in the air and over 30 feet.

It was working yesterday but my camera was not

I am really excited because the feeder concept is slowly becoming a reality!

[Cyberphil]

Originally Posted by pandamonium

I will have for you tonight video of team 73's prototype that Accurately shoots all sized tubes 10+ feet in the air and over 30 feet.

It was working yesterday but my camera was not

I am really excited because the feeder concept is slowly becoming a reality!

Hmm, I really want to see this. Sounds impressive. At this point in time, its a little late to change our pace, but this sounds very interesting...

[MagiChau]

Originally Posted by pandamonium

I will have for you tonight video of team 73's prototype that Accurately shoots all sized tubes 10+ feet in the air and over 30 feet.

It was working yesterday but my camera was not

I am really excited because the feeder concept is slowly becoming a reality!

I would applaud if you guys can manage to get your human feeder to just keep chucking tubes at it and your robot spits them out while on the edge of the lane safe from pesky robots.

[pandamonium]

I think optimally we would not even need to move. Which would allow a more rapid fire, shooting tubes at about as fast as the human player can load them, approximately 2 - 4 seconds. For this to be viable we will need to add another 15 feet on to our range, but keep in mind this is a prototype made out of 4 pieces of wood and is not the most sturdiest of mechanisms.

[jyh947]

If a human player were to throw a game piece, would hitting a tower cause your team to receive a red card?

[rawrbot]

I am looking forward to seeing this feeder in action. i've been prototyping a tube launcher but wasn't able to get past 20 feet. a launcher feeder would be a huge advantage to any alliance.

[pandamonium]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrgc6KNDgY8

Distance: Triangle 27 feet, circle 30 feet, Square 28 feet, also the side to side was Fairly accurate.

Height: we had to limit the height because we were in a room with a ceiling but it was still at least 12 feet

The design is using two single surgical tubes tied on either end.

Ideally I would like to get about 10 more feet out of a final design but I think that will come with a more rigid design

as always any thoughts or suggestions you have are welcomed