FIRST Team 57, The Leopards, 2012 Robot

[Kevin Sevcik]

I know, we so rarely post pics and vids. So you'll forgive me that the videos below are completely unedited. And my kids can only take blurry pictures, apparently.

Mechanicals:
Weight: ~119 lbs (depends on signage)
Drive Train: 4 CIMs, 6 AM pneumatics, ~12 fps.
Shooter: 2 FP 0673's through a CIM-sim, direct driving 2 6" performance wheels /w inside-out urethane V-belts for grip
Conveyor: 2 BB 550's through 64:1 P60's driving a mess of polycord belts
Pickup: 1 BB 550 though a 20:1 P60 direct driving a conveyor brush
Bridge manipulator: 1 AM PG71 driving a ridiculous looking wedge/robot platform. We'll likely be swapping this for a BB 775 through a 256:1 P60 at Bayou.
Other: All the flat space is a platform for a robot to sit on to (hopefully) make a 3-bot balance possible.

Electricals:
10 Black Jags on CAN, drive encoders, shooter encoder, camera for auto-aiming, gyro, ultrasonic for ranging, some photoelectric proximity sensors for ball counting, and probably some things I've forgotten in the week since Stop Build.

There's still some tweaking to be done on programming and that wedge motor to be swapped out, but it's functional and without any major mechanical issues. And we actually came in underweight as designed and first built, which is always nice. We'll see you at Bayou and Lone Star.

Calibrating ranges on our shooter: http://youtu.be/jWk8ULt-qbU
Driver practice and debugging the pesky ball counters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sN5NGbMJZg

Pictures are from a few days before ship when we were painting the camera mount. It's going underneath the shooter.
FIRST Team 57's 2012 Robot - Front View FIRST Team 57's 2012 Robot - Back View

[AllenGregoryIV]

I like it, the inside out V-belt is really clever way to get grip on the ball and the bridge platform might just end up being a game breaker.

Can't wait to see it in action at Bayou.

This is just another great looking robot that's competing at lone star this year, it's going to be fun.

[Pjohn1959]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

I know, we so rarely post pics and vids.

So, first off, welcome to Chief Delphi...

It looks naked without all the cool signage you always come up with. Where's the ramp that you are supposed to have that helps your alliance partners get on the bridge?

Good luck at Bayou!

[Vikingtech2054]

Wow its exactly like our robot, they look like twins, maybe if we meet up at world we could do a three robot stack.
How do u plan to stay in contact with the bridge the entire time, because of the rule update about having to stay in contract with the bridge the entire time

[n1ckd2012]

Well done! See you at lone star.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

I like it, the inside out V-belt is really clever way to get grip on the ball and the bridge platform might just end up being a game breaker.

Thanks. We originally had wedgetop tread on, and it was shredding balls at full speed out of the CIM-sim. Welded V-belts gives us a smooth, seamless grip surface. I highly recommend welding the belts. For testing purposes we tried drilling the ends and shoving in quick connects. I still have the bruise on my leg from the belt that flew off at full speed.

Originally Posted by Pjohn1959

It looks naked without all the cool signage you always come up with. Where's the ramp that you are supposed to have that helps your alliance partners get on the bridge?

We're making use of the "ramp" that's already on the field. The idea is for a robot to drive onto the bridge, the bridge ends up on top of our wedge, and they drive onto our robot. I'll grant it's going to take a little practice to make it work, but we didn't have to change our original design terribly much to make it possible. Electrical was a little annoyed at the cramped space for the electronics, of course, but we're hoping it'll be worth it. Or at least fail as spectacularly as our last ramp bot did at Lone Star.

[Madison]

This isn't a question that's necessarily related only to this robot, but this is probably as good a place as any to ask it.

I'm having trouble visualizing how a robot can climb atop your robot and then both you and them will drive up the bridge without ever losing contact with the bridge. So, how does that work?

[dodar]

Originally Posted by Madison

This isn't a question that's necessarily related only to this robot, but this is probably as good a place as any to ask it.

I'm having trouble visualizing how a robot can climb atop your robot and then both you and them will drive up the bridge without ever losing contact with the bridge. So, how does that work?

Yes.

[EgROS]

The ability to have another robot piggy back with you onto the bridge... what a novel concept!!

Can't wait to see this in action at both Bayou and Lonestar!

[Kevin Sevcik]

I'm unsure whether that last post was tongue in cheek or not, given 57's history of ramp bots.

For the [G30-1] concerns, yes, we'll need to back away from the bridge slightly. Which is to say just enough and long enough for it to drop under the edge of the wedge. The lives of my drivers and the refs will be much easier if they rule the loss of contact isn't extended, strategic, or repeated. Strategic being the only bit I'd worry about.

There's also going to be a precisely calibrated system of flexible polymer contact maintenence feelers (zip ties) on the tip of the wedge. Which should reduce the level of doubt to acceptable levels. Failing THAT, I have a servo based flipper system I could put on there to positively assure contact during the whole sequence.

[EgROS]

If my previous post sounded sarcastic or tongue in cheek, I want to apologize. I truly think this is a very unique and creative idea that has the potential to make a huge difference in the outcome of a match, especially during eliminations. I have not seen any other teams do something like this for this game. I want to congratulate you guys of thinking outside the box and coming up with this innovative idea and want to apologize again for any unintended sarcasm that was conveyed.

[Kevin Sevcik]

More apologizing! No offense taken even if it was tongue in cheek. 57 has a colorful history of building ramp and carry bots. Even when they might not make much sense. So, you know, of COURSE we're going to build a ramp and carry bot this year.