pic: 379's 2006 Robot Cat 7



The Robocat’s 2006 robot

I like that you slide the conveyor backing out of the way to release balls from your hopper. That’s an elegant solution. Typically, how tall is the robot so as to allow that functionality to work?

I was going to ask the same thing, but if that door it is sitting in front of is a standard 7-foot door, then it looks like they’re safely under the 5 foot limit.

But with their cage door open, its gotta be above 5 feet, in relation to the door it looks much taller with the cage door open. Please correct me if I am wrong, but with the cage up it looks like they are exceeding spec.

I was actually referring to the cage being up. It looking almost as tall as the door is just a trick of the perspective. If you look at the bottom, it appears that the robot is a foot or two past the floor. You have to take this into mind when comparing things in a photo. This being considered, it is definitely within spec (Plus, i’m sure they’ve thought of that.)

My initial thought was, “Too tall” as well. We can’t tell without a measurement, but I’m assuming the base is about 36-38". Just eyeballing, and using my fingers as calipers on the screen, that makes the top of the hopper slightly less than 3 feet off the ground - and the top of the gate about 5’6". Plus or minus 6" - hopefully for the team it is minus.

the base is longer than wide, so it’s approximately 38 inches.

Based off of that. The top of the conveyor belt is 60 inches.

They are way above the height limitation. Let’s hope it seems this way because of the camera angle.

if each ball is 7", you can use them as a reference to estimate the height. from the looks of things, the bot looks waaay over the limit when the gate is opened.

Looks like it is probably right at 5’ based on this very poor photoshopping I did.





Honestly, I think none of you are giving team 379 the credit they deserve.

Do you really all think that with an ENTIRE TEAM of FIRSTers, NOONE on 379 caught the fact that the robot can never exceed 5’ in height and corrected their design/design around that?

Seriously; I’d be very suprised if ANY FIRST team managed to miss that- i am confident this is a matter of perspective and assumption- good luck 379, your Robot looks solid, and as said above, thats a very elegant way to release the balls.

I’m sure you will do well this yes.

-Dillon Compton
team 1394

Strange, my initial thought was “How the heck are they using cat 7 cable on a robot…” But I guess im just geeky like that.

Just offering concern, I think its a really cool idea, and it makes an instant backboard for the HP to throw balls at. I like the idea, the picture just made me worry!

Do you really all think that with an ENTIRE TEAM of FIRSTers, NOONE on 379 caught the fact that the robot can never exceed 5’ in height and corrected their design/design around that?

I’m not trying to belittle Team 379 with what looks like a strong design but I too think it’s too high.
I was an inspector last year and you would be amazed what some teams think is legal or didn’t read the manual.
I made a copy of the picture and blew it up on my computer and took some measurements. I made one assumption and if I’m wrong I’ll admit it and shut up. I assumed the velcro on the crossbeam is 1" wide.
With the velcro blown up to measure .2 inches on my comp screen I measured the bot at 15.5" tall at the main vertical upright taking into account the setback of the wheels at the floor. 15.5 divided by .2 gives you a bot that is 77.5" tall.
I hope I’m wrong.

Just my $0.02.

For the love of god, isn’t there someone from team 379 here who can tell us the truth so we can end this ridiculousness?!?!

there also appears to be some space bellow the bottommost ball on your picture. and 9 balls x 7" inches is 63 inches. LOL somebody from team 379 please clarify! (what Chriszuma says) Is this some optical illusion?

Sorry for all the confusion!

Our final robot is 58" high with the gate open.

The photo was photoshoped at some point and is distorted, so that may be the problem.

The picture was stretched a bit but we must have taken it before we were 100% finished. We needed more space between the bottom of the hopper and the top of the gate, so we added a longer cylinder to do so. We needed to cut some gate down, just about below the top rod. We are now about 58 inches.