We’ve got a very strong gripper, AndyMark SuperShifters,and the van door motor to lift the arm. Gaining possession of Trackballs is what our game is about…
Classic Thunderbot machine! Is the arm turreted?
See you in L.A.!
Even though we had the mass available for a turreted arm, we opted out. We were concerned about robot stability and the extra complexity for marginal benefit. Closing distance on the ball when it’s not in front of the robot would require some sort of swerve/omni/crab drive, which we don’t have.
Enjoying winter?
Is the circular “palm” of the gripper a touch sensor? Or is it an elaborate device for something more specific?
No, it’s just a fiberglass “dish” that a student wanted to make to cradle the ball. We might mount an ultrasonic range finder in it, since high-power radar is not an option…
One of the parents wants to paint a yellow smiley face on it :).
When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail… No, wait, that’s not right. I mean: we looked at several different designs, and prototyped two of them – an arm and a launcher. In the end, we decided to go with our strengths, and use a design we’ve proven works and that we can build. 980 has been mentoring 2404 this year, and 2404 decided to go with the launcher design, so in the end we got to build both.
No, we didn’t feel there was a need for a turreted arm this year. In the past, we’ve had as many as four degrees of motion on an arm, but that gets completed to control (both from a software and from a player’s perspective).
We’re looking forward to it! We’ll be competing in San Diego and in LA. If things go well enough, we’ll also be in Atlanta.
Yep…Though the Minnesota folks around here think it’s not cold enough! (We had blowing snow all morning and early afternoon, and it’s currently +20 F…)
Do it! I like robots with character. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. 
Again, can’t wait to see it.
Haha, it’s +3 F here at the University of Minnesota, but I would trade it for +20 in a heartbeat!
On topic, it looks like you guys built a solid robot that should be able to consistently perform.
The last two nights it’s been in the negative double digits and my house. Tuesday night was -16F and last night was -12F. I love winter! I just wish we had more snow for the snowmobiles.