Everyone is doing it, so why can't I?

FIRST General Forum
1

Posted by Erin.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]

Student on team #1, The Juggernauts, from Oakland Technical Center-Northeast Campus and 3-Dimensional Services.

Posted on 4/2/2000 10:22 PM MST

I hope Brandon, Mr. Martus and this gang don’t mind us using this space to advertise :slight_smile:

So if you do, this is my advance apology.

Here goes-
Basics: We can hang, 4x drive, turret (very versatile), arm lift, 2 gripper scoring system (always gets the job done) fast yet full of power, able to defend the pole and ourselves…as well as our alliance.

Juggy (formerly known as Juggernaut) Can easily pick up 2 balls and if consistently efficient in being able to get those balls right into the trough. We can easily slide on over to the opponent’s trough and drop some in (during seeding rounds only, of course!) We have a 4 wheel drive base which enables us to drive using not only a great amount of torque (not sure of ft./lbs.) but also with speed and agility. Our ‘U’ shaped drive base easily enables us to sit atop the ramp and defend (we also pull great offense–read, 2 Best Offensive Awards out of 2 regionals). The ‘U’ shape helps us stay atop the ramp and makes our opposition have a harder time pushing us ‘up and over’. Our drill motors drive our wheels; which, as everyone knows, makes one of the strongest drive systems. Sitting atop our base is our ‘ever-famous’ turret, which rotates 360 degrees and helps our arms in their easy manuverability. Our two arms are lifted by the FP motor (using lead-screw). This has proved to be very strong and is able to lift not only balls but other robots up (in many directions, as you may know). On the end of our arms is, what Royal Fusion named ‘The Most Unique Method of Collecting and Distributing Sperical Goal Units’. It is a gripper system, which holds two balls, one in each gripper (as I said, always gets the balls in!) These are operated by the window motors (I believe-this wasn’t my area). We hang by extended angeled aluminum hooks that stem off of our end-effector. We latch on and raise- which makes it 99% impossible to lift us off (we once had one lifted off- yet still successfully did our ‘chin-up’). One of our most impressive moves is when we latch on to the pole and rotate our turret so we can drive parallel to the peak of the ramp. This was extremely effective in keeping other robots off of the pole. We are also able to load from the human player station and right ourselves when needed. Our driving team consists of a previous driver (of National Championship fame) and a rookie driver on base (who, I must say, has LASTING skill and makes fast decisions.) Our human player can make 4 to 5 out of 10 and has been consistent in getting in the black ball. Our coaches as well, are veterans to the competition and make strong decisions. When we are picked, we do our best not to let our alliance down. When we run into problems, our team forms together fast and we get those problems solved in a fast, organized manner (which i am very proud of). For those of you that took the time to read this, THANK YOU! We also have many tricks up our sleeve… and if you are interested in more information, e-mail or contact me at [email protected] and I will be more than overjoyed to relay all kinds of information to you about our robot- or anything else you need help with.
Thanks!

-‘Do not just hang; but OWN the pole.’
-erin

2

Posted by Mike Kulibaba.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]

Student on team #88, TJ², from Bridgewater-Raynham Regional and Johnson and Johnson.

Posted on 4/2/2000 10:59 PM MST

In Reply to: Everyone is doing it, so why can’t I? posted by Erin on 4/2/2000 10:22 PM MST:

What some people are doing on this page is a thing most teams should do, if you know what your robot can do then post it on the web page. It will help you be noticed at the nationals. I like knowing that Team 1 can control the pole, that says to me if I need an alliance partner that controls the pole I know where to look. I know it’s kinda late with The Nationals coming up very soon but I think the more teams that say what they can do the better, a little public relation work never hurts. If we had more time maybe someone could of set up a section on the page devoting it to letting a person on the team write down what their robot could do. Word of mouth(or word to Eyes in this case) can only help your robot when it comes to being selected in the finals. Good luck to everyone

Kuli Team 88 TJ²

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Posted by Erin.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]

Student on team #1, The Juggernauts, from Oakland Technical Center-Northeast Campus and 3-Dimensional Services.

Posted on 4/3/2000 7:53 PM MST

In Reply to: Re: Everyone should post what there robot can do! posted by Mike Kulibaba on 4/2/2000 10:59 PM MST:

‘Nate.’ He is the key to all information. He has went out of his way to design a database (GMCIA) that will hold all assessment information and he is trying to get as many teams as possible linked up to it (and working very hard, i might add). I know that this gracious deed has not gone unrecognized on team one, and I hope that no one else overlooks it… they will be missing something great.

Just something for you to ponder. I hope it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside to think that someone cares this much. I have that ‘Touched By An Angel’ feeling coming, don’t you all too?

-erin

p.s. A great thanks to Brandon Martus and Chief Delphi as well as Anton Abaya of the RAMBOTS and those at M.I.T. who run SHARINGfirst… you have all done great things for us; we who need an outlet for all of our love of FIRST when we aren’t able to be with our teams or be at competition. I feel like I am going to cry! Seriously, though, guys and girls, thank you.

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Posted by Nate Smith.

Other on team #66, GM Powertrain/Willow Run HS, from Eastern Michigan University and GM Powertrain.

Posted on 4/3/2000 9:47 PM MST

In Reply to: Nate- EVEN BETTER than Santa’s Little Helper posted by Erin on 4/3/2000 7:53 PM MST:

: ‘Nate.’ He is the key to all information. He has went out of his way to design a database (GMCIA) that will hold all assessment information and he is trying to get as many teams as possible linked up to it (and working very hard, i might add). I know that this gracious deed has not gone unrecognized on team one, and I hope that no one else overlooks it… they will be missing something great.

Thanks for the comments Erin…I have been working quite a bit on this project the past couple of weeks, and just about everything seems to be falling into place nicely. I’m not sure what it is about this year, but I seem to be ‘into’ the competition a lot more than I have in the past…because of that, I’ve put a lot of effort into projects that I’ve released into the FIRST community…the dashboard, the GMCIA, and all the little comments that I’ve thrown in here and there…and from the comments that I’ve recieved back, the help that I have been able to give has been well recieved. I also appreciate the help that others have given as I have run across problems that I needed help to solve.

I went into a school’s team that knew little to nothing about me other than what team I was coming from, and was quickly adopted in as a member of the group. On two separate occasions with two different teams, I was welcomed to a team meeting of another team, helping me to get a feel for how things were run on teams outside of my own. Upon arriving at the regional competitions, the people who I had talked back and forth with so much, quite often on this forum, worked to track me down, allowing me to put faces with the names that I had seen so often here, a job that I can only remember a couple people undertaking last year…

In short, even though I’m not a high school student in this program any more, I still think that this has been the best year that I’ve been with FIRST…I can’t definitely say it’s something with the new team, as I have some great memories from my old team as well…maybe it’s just something in the Ypsilanti air, but whatever it is, has made this year the best that I’ve had yet…

Nate

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Posted by Nate Smith.

Other on team #66, GM Powertrain/Willow Run HS, from Eastern Michigan University and GM Powertrain.

Posted on 4/4/2000 1:01 PM MST

In Reply to: Nate- EVEN BETTER than Santa’s Little Helper posted by Erin on 4/3/2000 7:53 PM MST:

: ‘Nate.’ He is the key to all information. He has went out of his way to design a database (GMCIA) that will hold all assessment information and he is trying to get as many teams as possible linked up to it (and working very hard, i might add). I know that this gracious deed has not gone unrecognized on team one, and I hope that no one else overlooks it… they will be missing something great.

While I have done a large amount of work in preparing the network system and recruiting teams to take part in this scouting effort, there are some others who have played a large role in the project:

  • Team 65, GM Powertrain & Pontiac Northern High School, for all their help in testing and refining the system in Chicago. Also, they are giving a VERY large amount of regional data from both the Great Lakes and Midwest regionals to the network.

  • Teams 45,67,74,and 365, for offering to bring network hubs down to Florida for setting up the network.

  • Team 1, for being willing to donate the extra space that has been next to their pit area in the past for a setup location for this project.

  • ALL the teams taking part in this project in Florida, for the time that your scouts are giving in order to gather data for this project.

As you can see, while I have played a role in preparing this project for action, I am by no means the only one who should be taking credit for making the GMCIA network what it is.

Nate

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Posted by Michael Martus.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]

Coach on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central H.S. and Delphi Automotives Systems.

Posted on 4/3/2000 7:00 PM MST

In Reply to: Everyone is doing it, so why can’t I? posted by Erin on 4/2/2000 10:22 PM MST:

Good idea, a little publicity can’t hurt.

Chief Delphi 5

Scores fast and sure 6 balls at a time.
Swerve version 3 is our drive system that gives us a mobile unit unlike any other.

Add to this the unique tube construction frame and you have one fast strong scoring machine.

Now for the great part… we can remove balls as easily as they are put in and have proven it by winning 2 regionals ( great alliances) and placing third in another.

We have an experienced drive team. Three regionals.

Also note… we have surprises we have saved just for the Nationals. Come watch us during the practice or pit 47 where we have materials and demonstrations for all to see.

We keep NO secrets! We have always shared our technology to the betterment of the FIRST family.