Portcullis/Sally port

FIRST General Forum
1

Hello CD! Does anyone have thoughts about the portcullis or the Sally port? Would being able to go through these defenses be beneficial?

Thanks, Drew

2

It’s a bit late to be contemplating this, but I suppose better now than at your first regional.
Those defenses are in two different groups, and this year, breaching the defenses are worth both a semi-substantial amount of points during Playoffs, as well as Ranking Points. Assuming you’ve already considered or conquered the other defenses, it simply adds to the abilities you bring to an alliance. The defenses, however, are not always there, so it’s a constant risk vs reward battle.

3

Sure, it would be helpful! we are planning on working with our alliance partners to cross the Sally Port, and we don’t really have a plan yet for the Portcullis (or the Frei…teeter totters).

4

LOL. Expect that BOTH will be in every match! So, yes, I think it would be beneficial. And don’t forget the Drawbridge.

5

Thanks for the input. As of now we can get over the defenses where you don’t have to lift,open,etc. We plan on getting through the portcullis, Sally port, and drawbridge, but haven’t made anything to do those defenses at the moment.

Thanks, Drew

6

It depends. Can you get through all of the other defenses (including the low bar)?

7

Excellent point. We were kind of ignoring the portcullis/teeter totters because we plan on going over/under all the other defenses. You can get by with not doing one pair.

8

The bottom of the portcullis is 5 inches off of the ground. If your robot can go under the low bar, adding a small ramp to fold down would allow the Portcullis to slide right over, provided ramp continues over the top of the robot. The sally port is much harder, but could be done with one robot going through from the enemy courtyard and holding it open for a second.

9

I personally see benefit in being able to breach every single defense, but especially important will be the ones that are harder to breach, because your opposition will be picking those every chance they can get.

10

It would be beneficial to breach each and every one of the defenses. The drawbridge and sally port are trivial if you have two rolling robots, so we’re not wasting skull work on fancy mechanisms. Five are drive train and geometry
issues; a lot of work went into our drive train design, and more to follow for build. We plan to multi-task our ball pickup to raise the portcullis and lower one plank of the Cheval de Frise.