pic: Xbot vs. Cheesy Poofs, Round 2.

FIRST Robot Showcase
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#1

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Here’s a fantastic photo grabbed from http://www.pnwfirst.org/html/2006_pictures.html showing QF 2-2 at the 2006 Pacific Northwest Regional in Portland, OR.

As part of the chaos, both 1887 and 1839 tipped while, at the opposite side of the field, 753 tipped and, as a result, incapacitated 956. That left 488 (XBot) and 254 (Cheesy Poofs) to fight it out on the ramp. We managed, it seemed, to hold the Poofs off from getting into scoring position, but they managed to fire off a scary volley of balls in the last few seconds, ultimately winning the match and eliminating our alliance.

(By the way, take a look at the referee :wink: )

#2

I remember watching this, as it was the match before we went against the poofs. The robots flipping everywhere made driving on the field insane, but both teams still active were able to pull it off quite well.

The struggle at the end had the whole audience on it’s toes, and you could hear and even feel the roar as the poofs finally fought their way into scoring postition. I think I have a movie of this match somewhere, I’ll try and dig it up.

#3

Is that Akshay taking a picture? hahaha!

#4

I think everyone on our team would be thrilled to have this match on video. This represents the culmination of a fantastic event for them and is a great demonstration for parents and sponsors alike of the enormous success we’ve had with our program this season.

Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you to make the video available.

#5

Indeed

#6

Who says nothing exciting happened in Portland? I’d also like to get pics of the match where four out of six robots flipped, and another of the match where 1294 and 1318 are sitting on the platform next to each other, with 1318 pretty much sitting on its rear with its front propped up on the Lexan. You could almost see flames and smoke at the end of both of these matches…

The X-Bot (488) had a slick chassis this year. I want to know where Madison found those tiny omniwheels.

#7

The wheels are a sandwich of aluminum and delrin plastic that I designed, while the rollers are 1.25" diameter EPDM rubber available for $.25 ea. from AndyMark. They roll on 1/8" diameter steel pins.

We cut the aluminum “bread” on a Haas 3-axis CNC mill and the delrin “meat” on our carbon-dioxide laser cutter.

There was no fantastic reason for us to build our own wheels aside from deciding to use an odd diameter for the wheels – 5.75". I prefer to take the tread on the Skyway wheels down to a flat, ‘slick’ profile and, as a result, they’re smaller than the nominal 6" original diameter.

Also, Akshay – can you upload the pictures you took? :slight_smile:

#8

We have a poor quality video shot from the stands of that match on our website …

That was an exciting match to watch.

#9

Actually the video was excellent. Four more reasons not to have a high COG.

#10

Three, actually. 956 didn’t tip so much as they were beached on the ramp. Their drivetrain was a single pair of wheels in the middle and four posts on the corners. I believe they got into a situation wherein neither of their wheels was on the ground.

The video is excellent! Thank you.

#11

Not a problem. Thanks for the clarification. Even with three, it’s still a heckuva match to see and navigate through. I just can’t imagine what kind of hilarious matches we’ll see from Chesapeakes. If there are any interesting matches from the first two days, I’ll get it up as soon as I can.

#12

So, what do you sell them for? Can I trade some 8-inch Skyways for a set?

#13

There’s probably a handful of sticky ethical and legal issues surrounding the potential sale of things I make on the Microsoft campus. :slight_smile:

In any case, the delrin hub is really an absurd design choice. The rods for each of the EPDM rollers are only 1/8" diameter pins as I mentioned and milling a slot for those on the milling machine just makes me nervous. It’s not impossible, I know, but I can only guess how many endmills I’d break while trying to do it. By using delrin, we’re able to use a reasonably strong alternative to aluminum, but to do so much more quickly and easily by using the laser cutter. The downside is that delrin is far more expensive. So, even if it’s more prone to breaking, we can replace the delrin parts in a heartbeat. It’s not a bad compromise, I guess.

#14

The pictures are up, check them out here

#15

if you use the right feed rate and a lot of cutting fluid
it also helps to make more then one pass and if you uses double sided sticky tape to tape the aluminum sheet to some ply wood it would get ride of the bowing

#16

That was an amazing match to watch.

#17

I remember that match, I’m the driver for team 1839.I was so ticked when we tipped. Thanks for the video. We were filming also, but our cameraman got too excited and pulled the camera away for a second and when he paned back we were tipped.