1619, 1678, and Spindexers In General

FIRST Robot Showcase
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We’re spindexing and while we’re cutting it close to the wire on some other things, I’m pretty stoked about it. We have had a backup plan in place (gravity fed into a single location), but it’s not looking like we need it.

That being said, it has been a conscious effort to stay the course and early on I was extremely concerned over it despite really wanting it to work out. Once our prototypes started working, I felt much better, but ours isn’t bulletproof just yet (we need an agitator to avoid jams). We’ll likely have to roll with an agitator for our week 2, hoping to work out the required geometry to remove it for our week 4.

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Did someone say spindexer? :wink:

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I was really impressed with your robot at Sussex, looking forward to seeing what it looks like in Wisconsin.

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Spindexer? It’s a Wheel of Doom, just ask FRC217 about their 2006 robot.

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“Wheel of doom” is a fun name and all, but “spindexer” is too good not to use.

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Just hinge your entire robot. Worked great for us in '17.

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Yeah! Just look at our silly hairy climbing ramp in 2018! :laughing:

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I forgot about the hair

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It’s a trap. Don’t do it. Love/hate with ours.

-Ronnie

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Thanks! Hopefully it does a little more than it did at Sussex :wink:

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We went with one - not as well implemented as 1619 or 1678, but it works outside of competition. The main advantages are a very fast load time from the human player, it is moderatly easy to build (once the maths is worked out - assembly isn’t bad with CNC, but all the maths around hole size, positioning and the rest took a bit), and it makes good use of space. Which means we comfortably fit through the trench and our robot stays light (compared to other robots we’ve built). Main disadvantage for us is loading from the ground because of how it was implemented, but that wasn’t our core strategy as our goal is cycle time. I’m looking forward to seeing how functions in under pressure.

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There are lots of variations (some subtle, some not so much) between the various spindexers that have been revealed thus far. If you were to compare the way that 1678’s works versus 1690’s there are as many differences as there are similarities.

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I’m curious to see any “spindexers” on tall robots or that can shoot at that speed from the backcourt area.
I saw 16 and 1690 look like they can do it in reveal videos. But 1690 chose up close shots real time at ISR.
I.e. Can teams spit out balls and shoot 35+ ft away?

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Inb4 1678 does it at LAN tomorrow.

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Without much issue to speak of, yes it is definitely something that can and likely will be done.

It’ll take just a bit more tuning for us to land 5/5 from that distance with our robot.

Inner port is much harder obviously.


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The Bouce Shot! :flushed: :flushed: :flushed:

Does that consistency change if you don’t use wood for the goal?

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@Guy_With_Dog
Exactly the same question we asked, and…We hope not!!
This was an really happy discovery and not one we were looking for.
We will definitely be trying this on a full field soon, although it is not our “prefered” shot.

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I hope it stays as consistent as it is because this is awesome!

Is that referring to the shooting location or more of the arc and the shot itself? Regardless, I’m happy someone was able to do it.

We sarcastically talked about having this but didn’t think someone could really do it. :rofl:

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Backcourt is largely been abandoned save for a few teams with the right kind of intake geometry. For the large part most robots at LAN will be infielding.

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That is referring to field position. We intend to use protected zones as much as possible.
Now, if we are playing “clean-up bot” this may be our go to shot!

We love doing the difficult stuff! It just goes to show that our Pixie Dust Sponsor is legit!

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