I was wondering if we could use an electromagnet to pick up the tetra?
Considering that they will be made out of PVC, you would not be able to pick them up with an electromagnet. And I think that it would be somewhat pointless to use an electromagnet just for the four corner pieces.
They all have bolts at the corners to attach them together.
- the magnet mite mess up
the controls of all the bots
Having read the now-decrypted chunks of the manual roughly twice each, I don’t see anything in there about an electromagnet.
But I would definitely post on the FIRST Q&A before I invested much time or effort into it.
This is true. Whether you would be able to actually grasp them by the bolts is an issue that your team would have to work out. As far as legality, I would suggest using the flow chart in section 5 of the manual to see if this (or any other part) is legal on your robot.
i have heard they fixed that problem but maybe not. I couldn’t find a rule against it anywhere in the robot section of the manual.
Interesting, a giant crane-like configuration could be quite good.
Just please don’t turn on your magnet anywhere near my controller.
Didn’t the construction manual show them being made out of a sort of plastic material?
The models at our area were made out of metal though…
Maybe I’m mistaken?
As far as practicality, keep in mind that electromagnets tend to draw a lot of juice…but on the flipside, it would be easy to turn and rotate a tetra by a corner…
Sam, I think you’re probably thinking of the stationary goal stations. I believe the scoring tetras are made of PVC.
Would PVC make it weigh 8.5 lbs?
I’m sitting here thinking … maybe we should build a scoring tetra before anything else, heh. It wouldn’t take too long …
The manual said the vision tetras weighted in at aprox. 12.5…
So that’s another challenge to overcome if you’re working for a good autonomous mode.
Wouldn’t a strong electromagnet crash robot controllers / field controlling computers?
Probably not field-controlling computers, distance is a large factor, but nearby robots could suffer some damage depending on the strength of the magnet.
I’m guessing they wont allow it because it’s accidental damage waiting to happen…
The main thing adding weight to the tetras are the steel brackets at the corners. I was lucky enough to be assembling pieces at a remote kickoff.
Actually, an electromagnet probably wouldn’t adversly affect the robot controller. The controller is designed entirely using solid state devices (no magnetic storage), so it should be immune to any magnetic field that could be generated by a FIRST robot.
I’m pretty sure Dan is correct… An electromagnet wouldn’t hurt the controller… think about all your motors… CIM’s in particular… they generate a HUGE EMF field (we were messing about with a compass one year and they messed it up)… but they dont hurt the controller, even when placed side by side. I’m pretty sure magnets are harmless to the controller.
Per the 2005 Part Use Flow Chart, from page 14 of Section 5 The Robot, electromagnets are not allowed.
Wetzel
even if the magnets are completely harmless, the only metal on the tetras are the bolts. an electro magnet would use power, and a regular magnet would present the problem of getting stuck to other robots. there is definitely a possibility of a megnet being used (if legal), but just make sure you design the mechanism good
I think an electromagnet on the arm may be able to be pulled off(providing its legal) but its just not practical.