20-02-2007 17:00

FunkyRatDemon

Re: pic: Lift this

What are you using to lift others? We originally were using carbon-Fiber panels, however ours were going to make our bot' to heavy last momnet and we had to ditch them (our forklift is great though)

20-02-2007 17:11

Greg Needel

Re: pic: Lift this

can you lift if you only have 1 robot on your platforms?

20-02-2007 17:22

Wayne Doenges

Re: pic: Lift this

Yes we can, go to the 'Robot Showcase' and see the Youtube videos. It's under 'Team THRUST (1501) 2007 robot

20-02-2007 18:50

s_forbes

Re: pic: Lift this

Awesome frame! Is it made of steel by any chance?

20-02-2007 20:34

Wayne Doenges

Re: pic: Lift this

The whole frame is welded chrome moly tubing. Very strong and very light.
We are using two monocoqued wings. The wings are 17 pounds each and will easily support 200+ pounds with very little flex.

21-02-2007 01:10

roboticsguy1988

Re: pic: Lift this

Correction that is 300+...

21-02-2007 05:24

Curt Henderson

Re: pic: Lift this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrpb4zFe3j0

It's not one robot but, well you'll see the point.

21-02-2007 12:35

Stu Bloom

Re: pic: Lift this

I assume the tubing is donated ... but what are you claiming for its value. That stuff aint cheap!!

21-02-2007 12:38

waiakea11

Re: pic: Lift this

lol looks cool....do the two guys wiegh up to the same ammount as a bot? or did you guys just do that for fun?

21-02-2007 13:33

cooker52

Re: pic: Lift this

They wiehg more and we did pretty much do that for fun.

21-02-2007 13:41

GIR

Re: pic: Lift this

That's some very slick engineering folks. Huge kudos to your team!

21-02-2007 13:49

FunkyRatDemon

Re: pic: Lift this

You think that stuffs expensive...we have Carbon Fiber panels! (2 of, and quadruple layered at 1 x 1 yard each)
and were not using them!

21-02-2007 14:04

Adela

Re: pic: Lift this

oh my WOW, thats amazing.
any chance you'd explain to me how it works?

21-02-2007 14:30

d.courtney

Re: pic: Lift this

That isn't expensive at all if you make it yourself, we made some carbon fiber peices for our manipulator (as to make it more durable) and it wasn't that costly.

21-02-2007 14:37

Chris_Elston

Re: pic: Lift this

Hey Stu!

Actually it wasn't that bad. I don't have the price total in front of me but you can pick it up at your local aircraft supply store It's the same stuff they make landing gears out of on air planes. Helps to have a mentor who has made his own custom airplanes before...lol....

21-02-2007 15:19

cooker52

Re: pic: Lift this

The wings(a.k.a. the ramps) will start folded up next to the main structure. When it comes to the end of the game, we will release these latches that will drop the wings and allow robots to climb on. When they are ready, we will lift the wings and robots with a couple of air cylinders. We have tried lift our two robots from the last two years and it works almost flaulesly.

21-02-2007 15:23

Wayne Doenges

Re: pic: Lift this

The mentor on the right weighs 190 pounds and the student weighs 160 ish.
We can lift two max weight robots to a height of 12" in 4 seconds
We use two, 12" stroke, cylinders and two, 100 pound rated, gas struts.

21-02-2007 22:36

pakratt1991

Re: pic: Lift this

Looks like a nice lifting system there

Just wondering how is your drive train?
Does it give you the power to push and play defense durring the normal game time?
because of the way it looks, It seems that you only have 2 of the stock wheels that first gives you.

21-02-2007 22:43

hotcamguru1005

Re: pic: Lift this

looks cool, you will be an envied alliance member for those who cannot lift or are less than good at lifting

21-02-2007 22:49

waiakea2024

Re: pic: Lift this

nice very nice. i wonder if we can lift people. depending on how heavy they are we should be able to

22-02-2007 07:07

Wayne Doenges

Re: pic: Lift this

The new FIRST wheels are very sticky so we should be able to hold our own in pushing. With only two wheels we have the entire weight of our bot on a very small footprint.

22-02-2007 21:07

Stvn

Re: pic: Lift this

A reliable Robot for the rampless. The envy of everyone.

24-02-2007 11:46

conacher

Re: pic: Lift this

wow. that robot is strong. you guys are going to get a lot of points at the end. i'd love to be on your team.

24-02-2007 21:48

Curt Henderson

Re: pic: Lift this

The guy in the dark sweatshirt is Mike our design master mind. It was his concept and vision that the rest of us rallied behind to create this years robot frame and lifting trolley. With the help of his dad Jerry leading the wing design, we were able to build a robot that we feel will provide a solid contribution in our alliances point totals.

03-03-2007 07:26

Wayne Doenges

Re: pic: Lift this

The prototype wing was able to support 300 pounds while being rotated to a lifting position using just one support as a lifting point. It had MAYBE .5" of flex.
If you can get on the ramps, we CAN lift you.

03-03-2007 20:30

Rich Ross

Re: pic: Lift this

Nice. Especially after seeing countless robot who can't climb ramps, this appears to be a good design. I just hope your partners are willing to head back early enough for you to make it all the way up.

03-03-2007 21:46

roboticsguy1988

Re: pic: Lift this

You know it was hard to imagine when we started doing Monocoque (which comes from airplanes, because they are made the same way), that we would someday have a robot with wings, i mean seriously a monocoque robot with wings how ironic.

04-03-2007 01:18

pakratt1991

Re: pic: Lift this

Hey guys,
I just saw an interesting idea that was used against team 488 at PWN that i though I might clue you in on,
Due to the lack of pushing power in both your robot and team 488, there was nothing they could do if they were trapped on one side of the field, this forced them not to lift any robots while letting the opposing alliance was able to get one up and have the other block 488 at 1/2 court....

hope you guys have thought about this and worked around it...


-team 997
2007 PNW regional champs

04-03-2007 02:57

pakratt1991

Re: pic: Lift this

I also had a question bout your gas struts.
this is the same system that team 488 used and in the final rounds they were not able to recharge all of their system in such a short time... have you solved this?
I do not completely understand the gas struts my self so this might be a dumb question, I am going to go look them up now.

04-03-2007 06:58

Madison

Re: pic: Lift this

This isn't true. There is no 'recharging' necessary with the system we have in place and any trouble you may have perceived during the elimination rounds had nothing to do with our gas springs or lifting mechanisms -- both were working fine throughout.

The only required action to prepare our robot for the next matches was a reset of the mechanisms that restrain the gas springs -- this system is completely independent of the lifting action itself. I'm not sure if I understand how you might've thought that our systems weren't functioning properly, but I'd love the opportunity to answer any questions you may have so as to fill in the gaps in your understanding of the mechanisms.

04-03-2007 07:07

Wayne Doenges

Re: pic: Lift this

The gas struts, on our bot, at the start of the match, are in compression . When triggered, the gas struts assist the pneumatic cylinders in the lifting. Gas struts don't need recharging. Look at any van lift gate and you will see two gas struts.
Our whole lift/wings are a one shot deal. Don't get me wrong, we can raise and lower our wings but we only plan on lifting only once during the end game.
I just viewed Team 488's robot. They are nothing like us. Our two pneumatic cylinders and two gas struts are centrally mounted to our tower at one end and to a trolley at the other. Our Wings are attached to a trolley. When triggered, we lift the trolley/wings. 90% of our robot is lifted.

We don't plan on putting ourselves in that position but thanks for the heads-up.

04-03-2007 13:39

pakratt1991

Re: pic: Lift this

I'm glad that you have though of this before...

and I dont know how I came to the conclusion that it needed to be recharged, I guess it was resetting the spring... Too many assumptions, thanks for the info

04-03-2007 17:19

Madison

Re: pic: Lift this

No worries. I can understand how some might think that we're having trouble with our robot if they don't know exactly how it's designed to work. A few folks on my team pointed out that folks in the stands thought we'd been badly broken when we took our robot off the field in three pieces after our first match. It's designed to come apart very easily, of course.

04-03-2007 21:35

pakratt1991

Re: pic: Lift this

yeah I noticed the pegs, that was a really nice design feature, probably made it easy to repair.

08-03-2007 22:36

ditch64

Re: pic: Lift this

so from the looks of it, this is a dedicated ramp bot, correct? so you deploy at the beginning of the match id assume and just wait? would suck if there were more then one ramp bot on your team... btw AMAZING design!!!

09-03-2007 05:25

Curt Henderson

Re: pic: Lift this

Our bot is a dedicated "Lifter Bot" and our strategy is for the first 1:45 min is to make as much defensive noise for our opponents as possible to limit their capacity to score, we will then return to our home zone, deploy our "Wings", let our partners drive on and then execute our lift for the 60 bonus points. We can deploy and lift in 5 secs., but if need be, we can continue to raise after the power has been cut at the match end as long as we initiate the lift while power is still available.

09-03-2007 07:47

ChrisMcK2186

Re: pic: Lift this

A team had one almost exactly like that at VCU regional last weekend. It looked fantastic but several bots had problems climbing on to it in exactly the right positioning to avoid the topple, expecially ours . I could be because our back wheels hung over behind it and that didnt lend itslef to good balance.

Chris

09-03-2007 09:45

Wayne Doenges

Re: pic: Lift this

Not to worry. We plan on putting 'Sharks Teeth' on our wings. They will function the same way they do at parking lots. You know the ones I'm talking about? You can drive in, but if you try to leave through the entrance they stand up and blow your tires.
We will add pieces of lexan that will bend as you go onto our wings but will catch on your undercarriage and stop you from rolling off without blowing your tires

09-03-2007 12:07

Curt Henderson

Re: pic: Lift this

To add to Wayne's post further, we also have outriggers that get deployed and automatically latch when the Wings are let down. These outriggers move our pivot point out the the center of the Wings. This will make our robot virtually untippable during our lift phase.