This is more of a public service announcement than a showcase of our robot. We started off in autonomous, swung out of control (encoder failure), and smashed into the metal plate on the field - bending our omni wheel in the process.
So to all teams: watch out for the plates!
Woah… The aluminum plates arent supposed to be under the carpet? Ugh… that is going to mean trouble for omni wheels…
The plates are, in fact, supposed to be under the carpet.
Then why are they not? Is this the official field in the video?
Actually, with that shock we went and looked up the Q&A… it said that they are supposed to be on top of the main carpet but under another piece of carpet which is taped to that carpet… might still mean some trouble, but hopefully not as bad as we see there.
zim… any idea why there wasnt carpet on top of the metal plates on the field you were on?
This was at the Baltimore Polytechnic Play date with the NASA Goddard field. I believe they just update what they need to on this field from year to year, and the carpet remains unchanged. They simply may not have had spare carpeting to put over the plates.
I’m wondering too what they mean by carpet over the plates… Is it going to be cut to fit or with a little bit of excess so it actually shields the corners? If it’s cut to fit, then what happened in the video will still be possible…
Edit: Our mentor was able to bend our omni back in his machine shop.
The discussion of what the bumps in the field are supposed to look like has already been beaten to death.
Thanks!!! This pics help alot.
As one of the lead volunteers who set up the field, I can answer the question about the carpet and plates. Yes, there should have been carpet over the plates. Friday night was the first time we had an opportunity to set up the new field. We had planned to set up in the afternoon and evening, allowing us to run out and get any materials we needed. Well… due to scheduling error with the school, set up did not start until after 8 PM. We had a great crew willing to work through the night to get the job done. Seeing all the arena game components for the first time, it is difficult ot ensure you have everything on hand. Well… there isn’t anywhere to buy extra carpet easily at 1:30 AM. I apologize to 1727 for the problem.
I would like to point out to teams that the carpet used at the Regionals is typically fairly thin. It will help the situation some, but there will still a bit of an abrupt change at the edge of the plates even with the carpet on top. So please plan accordingly.
:eek:
It was fine really, messed us up for the rest of the play date but our mentor had it back to us pretty fast.
5:30 hours to setup, not bad. We used the Goddard field for Battle O’ Baltimore too (with Rack N Roll) but I don’t remember our setup time. The play date was nice, thanks for your effort!
Definitely be careful. It seems it is still possible to bang your wheels up from the side with a considerable amount of force with this year’s field. That 1/4" aluminum plate the robot hit in the video bent a 3/8" aluminum wheel about a quarter of an inch (or so).
As Andy Mark’s site says (for how long I’m not sure),
Zim,
We were there too in Baltimore. Our Omni’s got bent up pretty bad too. We were able to bend them back into shape, but I’m glad we have a spare set of wheels for going into competition. At Chesapeake Regional, we need to check out the carpet covering the plates.
-Chip Tucker
Team 1111
Hah, 1/4"? When Terry and I had that wheel on the lathe so it was actually square, it was about an inch difference between the lowest and highest points.
What were you useing for omni wheels???
I remember when this happened, I was the MC for the Play Date at Poly Technic, and as soon as I saw this happen, I was like in my mind…“OOHHH…that’s going to leave a mark”. When I saw this video right now…wow. But like Zim said, it was a load of fun and thanks for your efforts to make the field as accurate as possible.
i dont see the plates in the vid. im a little confused.