Hey guys,
So, we are a rookie team and I would like to know at what stage we should be at right now. We are driving and have our hatch mechanism finished. Tomorrow we will be able to finish out cargo mechanism. At this point should my team split into drive team (so that they can practice the hatch, and then the cargo) and the other half work on some sort of a habitat climbing mechanism? Would this be a good plan, or should we not worry about the habitat climb at this point of the season? Thanks for the help!
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What week are you guys competing?
Edit: just checked. Youāve got a month, so working on a climb mechanism isnāt a bad idea. Iād give as much time to your drivers and programmers as possible. Make sure they know how to navigate the field as quickly and smoothly as possible.
I would have the drive team practice and the rest of the team watch the practice to see how the existing mechanisms can be improved. Level 2 is a trap. If you have a working Cargo/Hatch mechanism you will probably be a strong team at your event.
Drive, drive, drive. Drive on carpet, drive in loud conditions, drive far away from your robot, drive with a mentor attacking it with a push cart (or more safely, using another teamās robot). Stop it every 5-9 minutes for a cool down with fans pointed at the motors, at which point the team working on the cargo system can work on that. Once the cans of the motors are cooled down to about ambient temperature, fire it back up and drive some more. Repeat.
(Note that the outside of a CIM can be cool while the rotor is still pretty hot, so this is imperfect advice as youāll be starting off down on power due to heat. But testing it shows that a good fan blowing on the motors can make an impact, so itās better than nothing.)
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Agreed that Habitat 2 isnāt very useful because you have to hope that an alliance member has at least a habitat 2 or greater climber. BUTā¦ if we have a fairly easy way to mount a habitat 2 climber? or what are the thoughts of a habitat 2 ramp?
Haha I feel we are in a good spot!! When we tested our robot today I saw some things we must do to make it better. Your chassis looks familiar. I think I saw it on YouTube today?
For a rookie team you seem to be in an alright position but make shure you get as much driver practice as you can
See this thread for why level 2 is probably not worth your time.
As a rookie, I significantly underestimated the need for testing.
Given the level of difficulty in integrating āeverythingā this year, teams should feel behind with great hope of finishing by the end of the weekend. It should feel like organized chaos, at best.
Youāre alot farther than we areā¦ stupid winter!
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Ignore the HAB. If you come up with an idea after bag day, work on it then. (your allowed 30 lbs outside the bag)
DRIVE, clean up lose wires, DRIVE, tweak the frame and other components as necessary, DRIVE, figure out strategies and tricks. I probably donāt have enough āDRIVEā in there but I hope you get the idea.
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Agreed. We are in the center of Minnesota so we know the struggle lol
The two things I would work on is your sandstorm strategies (autonomous or driver) and getting your cycle time as low as possible. The climber mechanism can wait after bag day and be put on and tested later. You can watch week 0,1 and 2 events to copy a climb mechanism.
Try to set up your practice area as close as you can to the actual field. Practice from each driver station location. Practice going to both sides of the cargo ship. Practice going to both rockets. When you practice, time yourself. Record it. Review it. See what can be done to lower your cycle times. Sometimes itās better driving (more practice), sometimes itās slow mechanisms (speed them up, make them more accurate).
The two things that will separate teams is cycle time and climbing, you have 4 weeks to practice climbing, you only have a few days to practice on your cycle time.
I guess we should have used this approach, rather than spending all 6 weeks designing, building, and improving ours. as well as having it kind of dictate where a lot of other stuff on the robot has to go.
and you are not a rookie team, so you know what they donāt know. Iām sure next year they will use their experiences from this year to change their build process.
Repeating a bit, but in the week before bag, you should be focusing on drive practice and getting your manipulators working efficiently and reliably (and quickly if possible). Teams with a one-or-two-function robot which works and an experienced driver do much better than teams with three-or-four functions which sort of work and the driver is figuring those out on the field.
You should also go through an in-house robot inspection to identify any items you need to take care of. Itās a lot easier to fix things before bag, or at least know that you need to figure out the methods while the robot is in the bag, than to find out on the first day of your first event.
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