Finally, we’re able to test on the practice field! This week was a bit of a slow one for several reasons, one of which being Teacher’s Convention. So we used the days that we couldn’t build to take the robot out for a spin. It’s good that we started on the practice field when we did, as we’ve already begun to notice slight things that need a bit more refining, and have recognized difficulty firing with the current heavy shooter. Fortunately, that problem is one we noticed weeks back, so we may have the new one on as soon as Monday. This week, we finally got to test our pneumatic wheels, and are glad to report that they are working well! We have also mounted our bumpers. All teams out there, get to a practice field ASAP! We’ve learned a lot just from the last two days, and are excited to reveal the finished product one week from now!
Looks like you’re a bit lacking for power if you want to get to the high goal. Immediate and fairly easy ways I see to fix it (for your consideration, seems like this setup works perfectly for a low-goal-oriented bot):
Replace the BAG motors on the Versaplanetaries with 775pros. Easy upgrade in available power and the Versas can (theoretically, shortages allowing) be changed if the RPM ends up less usable. We’re using 775pro’s with a 3:1 reduction, though that method has gotten considerably harder now that Vex is out of the 3:1 stages.
Move the wheels closer together, such that there is more compression on the ball. We’re using a 2.5" compression on the ball, and yours looks looser than our does. A lot of teams appear to have gotten success with ~3" of compression.
2a) If your wheels are too rough to allow for more compression and you worry about damaging the ball, switch to a smoother wheel. We’re using Colsons and have had no problems at all with ball wear.
Interesting the design parity we’re seeing with this year’s game. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not, but none-the-less, you guys have done well your design.
That… would explain the lack of thumbnails. Thanks, will do in the future.
Our bad on that, yeah. The reason for the naming scheme basically has to do with last year’s video’s, which were much more timelapse-y. We entered this year expecting our videos to be generally similar, but they’ve ended up turning out more like, well, this. We’re keeping the name for consistency, but may change it slightly next year.
Thanks for the advise, we did end up moving the wheels closer together, but the issue in the video wasn’t the power behind the wheels, but the angle at which we were shooting. We didn’t have our encoder working yet so the operator had to hold the arms at the right angle to fire. We could never hold them in the right place for long enough to fire the ball out, so we never got footage of it working. The encoder is working now so all we need to do is fire of a few practice shots