For anyone who saw the Einstein semi’s, did you see the wedge SPAM deployed to push WildStang across the field? A little background…
We only went to one regional (KSC, the first weekend) and based on watching other regionals and the powerful robots we would be up against, our lead engineer - James Jones (I bow in his presence) - decided that we could use a wedge to lift up on any team that was lifting up on the goal(s) and tranfer their downward force to us for improved traction. We had extra weight margin since we removed our second and third goal arms at the regional, so James came up with a design and plotted out templates. When we got to nationals thursday we began rebuilding the gearboxes to beef them up (first priority - the reason we missed our first two practice rounds) and then started building the ramp. About midday friday we laid out the lexan on the heat strip to bend it, and after it was bent we discoved we had bent it along the wrong axis! We proceeded on, keeping it narrower and longer than planned, attached it and had it inspected, bringing us up to 128#.
The match with WildStang was the first and only time we ever used it. It fit perfectly between the drive wheels and under the tank track - almost like it was made specifically for that robot. We’ve got some serious “Stang tracks” on the wedge as a reminder of that match.
Great season everyone. We’ve definitely all raised the bar for next year. And to Beatty-Hammond - we definitely felt like David to Goliath. You are awesome as always.
We taped all the feeds but I haven’t seen them yet. Sometime this summer we’ll get them digitized. Anybody know if soap108 will have them on the website for download?
We had a bunch of people either recording the webcast or videotaping the matches… I’m sure we’ll get a copy of that match and the rest our alliance’s run through the playoffs online soon.
It’d be nice if between all of the teams, we could get one copy of each match and host it in one centralized database for all to download… just a thought…
Yeah that was great, i see kurt set up to push them then the light reflects of the ramp as it was going down and that caught my eye so then i realize we had wildstang and were pushing them around very easily. To bad we didn’t get to use it on beatty although i doubt it would have worked.
Like I said in an earlier post, I don’t quite agree with 180’s use of a wedge. But as I also stated, i’m also probably extremely biased, because that what cause us to lose to them. I just don’t think you can justify it with gracious professionalism. Not only that this isn’t battle bots. And I don’t think you’re supposed to make major adjustments to your bot after it’s shipped.
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You guys did have a great bot, and i’m sure if i was on your side i would be totally with you, but i’m not, so I’ll admit it did tick me off a bit. However, according to judges it was completely legal and I congradulate you guys on your great robot and the win.
Using a wedge to transfer traction and gain an advantage is absolutely legal and within the spirit of the game. Using it to ram, damage, flip or disable is not and would be dq’d.
Hopefullly you’ve seen our posts this year about our team’s contact philosophy during a match: If a driver damages another robot he gets to go to their pit and help them fix it. (I guess we make an exception during elimination rounds - not enough time. Sorry Beatty).
Modifications - major, minor or otherwise - to the robot can be made as spelled out in the rules provided all fabrication takes place at the competition, which is why we didn’t get the ramp on until late Friday - we didn’t start building it until thursday afternoon. You could build a whole new robot if you want - but it’s not likely there is time or resources to do it.
Nice to have your team back - we really missed you last year.