Minibot Deployment Brainstorm!

[Nemisis]

My teams came up with an idea and are still building the minibot and well, we sorta overlooked a key element... Deployment!! So I'm curious what everyone else has thought of or even created!! What do You and your team think?

Thanks in advance!

[Andrew Zeller]

My team is going to be using the kind of slider that you have on your garbage can that goes in a cabinet. It works really smoothly and we are thinking of pairing it up with a scissors-type mechanism propelled by a pneumatic cylinder.

[Grim Tuesday]

We are using a set of sliders, similar to the ones used on keyboard slidey trays, pushed out by two pneumatic cylinders.

They arent as smooth as we would like, but oh well, they are already bolted to the robot. Plus, we have plenty of grease...

[Nemisis]

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

We are using a set of sliders, similar to the ones used on keyboard slidey trays, pushed out by two pneumatic cylinders.

They arent as smooth as we would like, but oh well, they are already bolted to the robot. Plus, we have plenty of grease...

Lol very nice as well! It doesnt always have to be exactly smooth as long as it gets the job done right? lol We learned last year with a kicker idea that grease always helps! Thank you very much for your reply!

[klmx30302]

Out deployer uses 2 pistons, one to push the deployer out, the other to deploy the minibot. We have prototyping videos (only using the deployer) on my youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/klmx30302 I would post individual links but I have 10+ vids of deployer testing.

[Nemisis]

Originally Posted by klmx30302

Out deployer uses 2 pistons, one to push the deployer out, the other to deploy the minibot. We have prototyping videos (only using the deployer) on my youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/klmx30302 I would post individual links but I have 10+ vids of deployer testing.

Hmmmmmm! Interesting, very nice indeed! thank you for the reply! im going through the videos now! thank u for sharing!

[wjr1965]

There has been some buzz about trying to standardize minibot deployment so that teams can get points for "coopertition" by lending their minibots to other teams. Deployment standardization would permit this to happen more easily.

[Nemisis]

Originally Posted by wjr1965

There has been some buzz about trying to standardize minibot deployment so that teams can get points for "coopertition" by lending their minibots to other teams. Deployment standardization would permit this to happen more easily.

That would be really smart wouldn't it? it would be sorta interchangeable am i correct? that way more than one type of minibot could be deployed from a single deployer? Rather ingenious!!

[Nemisis]

I apologize for the tardiness of my posts... for some odd reason the last two I've posted, it popped up and said that they would be posted as soon as a moderator had approved them.I'm Confused!

[Hawiian Cadder]

i believe what we intend to do is push the robot out, and then rotate the whole robot with the minibot on the end into the pole, that way the most power full motors, in a relatively ideal setup, will deploy the robot.

[Nemisis]

Oh thats cool! different from others I've heard! So your arm deploys it? Thank you for the reply! Good Luck!

[mac]

To all: Can the minibot change shape? We are using the battery to swing down.
As it climbs the pole. Gravity takes over. Keeping the wheels cocked onto the pole.


Thank You, Mentor Mac Team 686

[EagleEngineer]

The standard deployment system is a slider or drawer system. Simply just slides out. . Its very good cause if most or all teams have the same type of deployment you can share minibot with other teams and visa-versa.

[Andrew Zeller]

Here is a quick video that shows my team's deployment system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTh59TiHde4

We still need to cut a channel in the Plexiglass for the pole and we need to figure out how the minibot will attach to the plate, but the core of the system is there. We used a pneumatic cylinder and a 4-joint scissor lift with the sliders. The mechanism goes from 0 (totally inside the robot's perimeter) to 22 inches (touching the pole) in about 1.4 seconds. The maximum extension, like I said, is 22 inches, which gives us some space for the channel and for alignment error.

[Bill_B]

Originally Posted by boarder3512

Here is a quick video that shows my team's deployment system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTh59TiHde4

We still need to cut a channel in the Plexiglass for the pole and we need to figure out how the minibot will attach to the plate, but the core of the system is there. We used a pneumatic cylinder and a 4-joint scissor lift with the sliders. The mechanism goes from 0 (totally inside the robot's perimeter) to 22 inches (touching the pole) in about 1.4 seconds. The maximum extension, like I said, is 22 inches, which gives us some space for the channel and for alignment error.

Looks very good, guys. I know that drawer slide set from Amerock. 3#10oz and very sturdy. We're trying pneumatic actuation too with a two-arm linkage. that's quite a pile of washers you've got on the end there!