Team 6081, the Digital Dislocators, is proud to present our offseason accomplishment, Project T.A.D.P.O.L.E. sponsored by Emerald Landscaping:
T.A.D.P.O.L.E. (Tiny Agile Droid Providing Outstanding Learning Experiences) Is a 13"x13" robot powered by dual 3:1 Neos on a tank style chassis granting a top speed of approximately 30 ft/s. The final weight of this beast caps out at a grand total of 28lbs, about the same weight of 57 ears of corn.
The articulation of the intake mechanism is chain driven by a 100:1 Neo while the rollers
are band driven by a single 3:1 Neo implementing an infinity belt.
Tadpole originally started as a side project by a handful of members from our CAD team around week 3 with some time to kill before our week 5 competition. This season was our first time ever implementing CAD in our robot’s design, so we saw this as an opportunity for them to put their new cadding skills to the test. Bored and inspired by Howdybot’s Shortstack, they took action. When they presented it, we all sort of laughed and set it off to the side, not thinking anything would actually happen with it.
After worlds, Tadpole resurfaced as an opportunity for new students to learn and gain robot experience during the offseason. With the support of a local business to provide the necessary materials and exactly one week of preparation, we quickly began building this robot in order to get it competition-ready for the Big Bang! off-season event hosted by team 280, TNT.
Tadpole blew up as a fan favorite amongst the arena adding another layer of enthusiasm on top of the already juiced up crowd. From upside down triple balances to self righting 3 times in one match, Tadpole served as the perfect rodeo clown.
After qualification matches, Tadpole was lucky enough to be invited to join the 2 ranked alliance extending his fun through the playoffs, missing the finals by a single match. Thank you to teams 7211, Hollywood, and 3175, Knight Vison, for making Tadpole’s first competition one to remember!
If you would like to pursue watching any matches of Tadpole in action, here is a hyperlink to the blue alliance page for Big Bang! Tadpole can be found under team number 9981.
We plan on creating Tadpole shirts with a design concept very close to this one. Further updates on the creation and method of acquiring them will be posted shortly. If you are interested please keep your eyes open here and we will push updates out as soon as possible.
