28-01-2008 17:53

Bob Steele

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

This is our second year and our second attempt at a robot.
This one is designed in Inventor. Just thought we would see if anyone wants to speculate on it from this view.

Good luck everyone!!
We will see you in Atlanta...

Bonus points to those that can figure out the name of the robot..
Uber Stinktier....

R

28-01-2008 17:55

EricH

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

Hurdler with omni drive.

Oh, and the name is German for "Skunk". I guess that's appropriate for a team known as "Skunkworks"...

28-01-2008 17:58

Bob Steele

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

Nice job Eric...
actually Super Skunk (Uber = Super)

I love German it is such a descriptive language... Stinktier is literally
Stink Animal... It is named in honor of our German Exchange student ...

28-01-2008 18:04

Madison

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

Do y'all have a way of rolling tubing to make the claw? We're trying to figure out a way of doing something similar ourselves.

The machine looks good. There're some interesting things happening there with the 18" stroke, 1.5" bore piston and the peculiarly placed van door motor.

28-01-2008 18:04

thefro526

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

Is that an arm or an elevator all i can make out in that pic is a massive claw and a van door motor

28-01-2008 18:21

Bob Steele

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

We do have a way to roll tubing but we won't be using rolled tubing.
We made up layups to make the curved components from either carbon fiber or fiberglass... looking at the merits and weights of each right now.

It is a lift... a reclining lift...... two under jaws (the mandibles) and a upper "maxilla"
Three points of contact with the lower jaws articulated to close on the ball. The "maxilla" is also pneumatically operated and works in conjunction with the lower mandibles. There is also a tongue...

Jaws and maxilla are all pneumatically operated...hopefully automated closing based on input from a sonar sensor..

Taigene motor controls the cable system for the lift...

I will post a side view later...

Madison, we can roll tubing but it takes soft aluminum... it would probably have to be heat treated...we have a mock up in 3/4 X 1/8 wall that we are testing... let me know if we can help...

29-01-2008 00:30

Elgin Clock

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

A friend of mine commented on how it looks like "a pope hat on wheels", and that's when it hit me..
Your team is playing chess this year!!!

Bishop ftw!



Btw, going with the tubing conversation, chromoly tubing is good if you have access to a shop that makes that kind of stuff.
(Any shops that design or fabricate chassis for race cars or bicycle frames near you by any chance?)

29-01-2008 01:21

jgannon

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

There aren't any legal 18" stroke pistons, so it has to be either the 1.5x11, or the 2x24. (I'm not great at estimating distances, but I'm guessing it's the 11".)

29-01-2008 03:19

Guy Davidson

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

Looks like a very cool machine, from what I can see from the picture (and that isn't much). Can't wait to see it at Portland!

29-01-2008 11:41

MrForbes

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

I'd suggest cutting out a form from wood that is the correct radius for the bend, clamp it firmly to a heavy work bench, and then clamp the end of the tubing at one end of the curve, and just bend the tube by pulling the loose end so the tube bends around the curved form.

This will probably work better with some types of tubing than with others...you'd want tubing that is relatively ductile, so 6061 is probably out of the running

29-01-2008 16:40

Bob Steele

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

Thanks for all of the comments.
We have had success using a pipe bending machine originally designed to bend muffler pipes... a mentor just happens to have one...
It worked pretty well on 3/4 square soft aluminum tubing (wall thickness 1/8")

A pope robot eh?
interesting... perhaps the side view will explain...
It is actually a 15 " throw 1.5" diameter Bimba cylinder...
It is used for tipping back the lift to obtain a better center of gravity during flight.

We will see everyone in Portland, Seattle (Tacoma) , and at CMP.

I hope this thing works....

R

29-01-2008 16:47

jgannon

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there aren't any legal 1.5" bore cylinders with a stroke greater than 11". The only legal cylinders are the ones available from this page:
http://www.bimba.com/FirstFree.aspx

29-01-2008 16:57

rachal

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

You should name it after a rocket...

Just wondering, why did you angle the omnis instead of using mecanums?

29-01-2008 17:32

Bob Steele

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

Thanks for the heads up... it looks like our engineering team goofed.
Glad you caught it... ..

We will figure out something else then... the only long cylinder is the 2" 24" throw big boy...
I don't think we can afford the weight of that beast...
and we certainly don't need the power...

We named our robot the super skunk ( in German..) as a tribute to the German exchange student on the team... and because we are the skunk works...
Our t-shirts show our skunk holding up the Trackball...

We used the omni's because originally we wanted to make a circular frame and had worked prototyping that drive system during the fall.
When the game came along we had to redesign but we had omni wheels around so we decided to use them. We like the AM plastic omni wheels mounted in tandem and directly driven by DeWalt transmissions with CIM motors...


smile...

29-01-2008 17:41

EricH

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

What about ganging a pair of smaller cylinders, rigged to throw simultaneously? As in, tying them together so that they will stay in a straight line, and firing both using the same tubing?

29-01-2008 17:55

JHSmentor

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

My understanding was that these are the only sizes that you can order this year. But, any Parker or Bimba cylinder is actually legal regardless of size. Am I wrong on this one? If so, then we need to re-evaluate our design as well.

29-01-2008 18:11

EricH

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

Re-read the pneumatics rules, and read the Q&A. They are only legal if they are an exact match to a cylinder on the current order form (or as close as possible--there is still an issue needing clarifying about part numbers having to be the same).

29-01-2008 20:57

Bob Steele

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

We have already changed our design to use an 11" cylinder and it works fine.
It was a small change now but would have been tougher later.
Thank you guys for giving us a heads up...

Easy redesign now because we are still to cut these parts...

THE SKUNKS THANK YOU!~!!!!!

The Chief Delphi family is nice to be in...


For anyone's information ... the ONLY cylinders you may use are cylinders identical to those in the Pneumatic manual...

30-01-2008 14:15

Madison

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

Ah, I see. Our gripper base is designed to accept anything as large as 1x1" square tubing -- and to allow replacing it quickly when it gets mangled to Hell. We've got 1x1x1/16" on hand as well as some 3/4" round tubing. The square tubing is 6061; I'm not sure what allow the round tubing is. We bought it back in 2006 and found then that we couldn't accurately bend it in a way that suited our needs.

I'll PM you a screenshot of our claw so you can get a better idea of what we're going for.

30-01-2008 15:32

=Martin=Taylor=

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

Our team built its own pipe bender to bend 3/4" 1/16" wall tubing. It took about three days to build and was fairly cheap (considering it was built from scrap). We were able to bend a 27" diameter ring with no kinking or deformation.

If you are interested, PM me and I'll explain how it was done.

Before we did it ourselves, we recieved an estimate from a pipe bending company that wanted to charge us $2000 (including discount ) with a lead time of 20 days!

30-01-2008 18:22

JHSmentor

Re: pic: Uber Stinktier...

Yup - you are correct. Although it is somewhat contidictory to the rule. We have a Parker cylinder but it's obviously not the same dimensions and will definitely NOT be the same part number. they appear to be stearing all use of pnuematics to Bimba parts. in any case, we need to do some redesign to make it work - bummer.