03-11-2012 04:45 PM

Jeff Waegelin

Re: paper: Heroes of Tomorrow - 2012 Tech Notes

Adam,

Thanks for posting this... this is an incredible insight into the process that led to one of the most creative designs I've seen yet this season. I don't think I would ever have ended up going this direction with my design, but yet once I saw your robot in action it was clear it was elegant and perfectly suited for the unique design challenges of this year's game. Congrats on your Waterford win, and another great machine!

03-11-2012 05:54 PM

Adam Freeman

Re: paper: Heroes of Tomorrow - 2012 Tech Notes

Thanks! That's funny...JVN told me almost the exact same thing. I guess all you Robowranglers think a like.

All the credit goes to our Chief Engineer, Jim Meyer. He knew immediately the need for a balancing aid. Combine that with the task to try to limit un-needed complexity and have robust components with more than one function, the robot just kinda took shape from there.

I kept saying that designing this arm is more like designing a tractor accessory than a FIRST robot component. It's definitely build to take some abuse.

The paper was inspired by 148, since you guys have done so much in the way of documenting your design process and build season. We once again attempted to have build season blog, but it ended up incomplete....(kinda stopped once the practice bot started running).

Anyway, I figured something should be put out there to document the process that went into this creation...especially since it appears to be a somewhat unique design.

03-11-2012 05:59 PM

thefro526

Re: paper: Heroes of Tomorrow - 2012 Tech Notes

Adam, thank you for posting this.

Interestingly enough, after some friends and I saw a picture of your robot from Waterford and saw videos of it running we all kind of said 'How the hell do you come up with that.' Looks like our questions have been answered.

03-11-2012 06:21 PM

Josh Goodman

Re: paper: Heroes of Tomorrow - 2012 Tech Notes

This is how you build a robot.

03-11-2012 09:14 PM

AlecMataloni

Re: paper: Heroes of Tomorrow - 2012 Tech Notes

I'm sure that many teams out there are kicking themselves right now for not thinking of this.

This is possibly the greatest creation I've seen yet this season. Hats off to 67, your team is always setting the bar high. I only wish we were able to play with you guys. Maybe at the championship?

03-11-2012 09:24 PM

Aren_Hill

Re: paper: Heroes of Tomorrow - 2012 Tech Notes

I'd like to issue my thanks for posting this, phenomenal integration and execution.

03-12-2012 12:07 AM

Legator91

Re: paper: Heroes of Tomorrow - 2012 Tech Notes

Sadly I wasn't able to make it to the competition this weekend, but I was watching video, or checking TBA all weekend to get updates.

I have to say the robot this year looks amazing Adam. You guys did a great job in design, and fabrication. All of us HOT alumni at Michigan tech were wondering just how everything worked on the bot this year, and the tech notes definitely explained it all.

Also, reading that brought back some great memories from my 2009/2010 build seasons at GM. I can definitely say the way we did stuff at HOT greatly reflects the engineering design process I am learning about in school.

Great job this weekend, and good luck for the rest of the season!

03-12-2012 01:26 AM

Drivencrazy

Re: paper: Heroes of Tomorrow - 2012 Tech Notes

Very interesting read. I always enjoy looking into other teams approach to the design process. Thank you for posting this and congratulations on another great robot and a good win at Waterford!

03-12-2012 01:27 PM

klbarie

Re: paper: Heroes of Tomorrow - 2012 Tech Notes

Couldn't have said it better myself.