To be a COTS item, the COMPONENT or MECHANISM must be in an unaltered, unmodified state (with the exception of installation or modification of any software).
Does this imply that field reset will not be counting out fifty balls for each hopper container? Or is this just acknowledgement of the fact that humans counting to 50 will occasionally mess up?
Seems to me like they could at least use some type of container that can only hold a certain amount of balls and is obvious when it holds less. Could have a lid on it or something or heck you could just run a bar across the top like magicians assistants do when they’re showing off what’s on stage!
Personally I’d be red in the face if the opposing team got to kick from 5 yards further up the field than mine for no good reason except the boys in stripes couldn’t count yards. Looks like a similar situation to me here!
I’m just looking for clarification. I personally would be very happy if the field reset crew just filled the hoppers up to a line or something instead of counting out balls individually.
We have the specified McMaster spring from two different batches. (one was part if the back order and one wasn’t. Neither of them are particularly droopy. If you snatch the gear up, it will fall off, but not if you lift smoothly. It is whoever possible to break the 1/4 bolt holding the spring to the lift. It happened at our week 0 event by a robot side swiping the peg.
The field only went through about 20 or so matches at Week Zero so we didn’t run into an issue where the springs got too droopy at Week Zero. As someone who has way too many droopy springs back at the shop st home I was watching closely at Week Zero for this to happen. It’s probably going to be noticed at Week 1 and a solution or official statement for Week 2 or 3.
As a team placing gears at the official week zero, I can confirm they do droop. It will be a problem at all events unless there is a change.
Our first match was qual match 5 and we had to put a gear on the lift multiple times because it kept falling off when pilot was lifting - despite pushing it towards the back. Other springs on the ship were fine. After that out pilot would inspect the springs and notify the FTA if something looked wrong. Do not be afraid to alert the FTA or field supervisor of spring issues.
After seeing how they behave week 0, I think the lift peg should have been 1/4" lexan profile on a two way door hinge (needs the flexibility side to side, not so much up and down).
When I read the update, I noticed a discrepancy between the dimension given for the davit fingers in rule 3.7 and the dimensions in the field component drawings. The rule simply says the fingers are 1.25" apart. The drawings define an opening that is 1.00" wide by 1.375" high. I’m guessing the drawings are correct, but I think we’ll bring a back-up rope with a bigger knot in case our primary rope pulls through the opening.
For reference, the SW Hub event featured 2 exact replica airships with LED’s and everything.
I have a picture of this spring from midway through the day as well. I had no idea the droop got this bad. The middle spring seemed to take the most abuse due to most teams running wild in autonomous.
I could see this situation turning out like the low bar flaps last year. We’ll have to come up with a solution on the fly… might as well start brainstorming now!
