would you say that a more simplistic robot would be better for a second year team rather an going all out and running in to numerous errors? My team has a lot of good, creative ideas but we basically ruled out complication. Can I get some opinions on this?
well, you cant ever foget the rule.
K.I.S.S.
Keep It Simple <U>Fill In Your Word here</U>
Our team has had many simple desings, and they worked wonderfully. Try to keep it simple, while still maintaining a high level of effectiveness. I know this year is quite different form anything before, and kind of difficult as well, but think. You can always stay up until 3 in the morning building, if ur that nutz. Lol. So think it out.
3am is nuts? What’s 6am, then? 
The last weekend of build season last year, I didn’t go home for 3 days (or more…shrug).
A K.I.S.S. robot for MOST teams means
more time for fun and less time
repairing.
I have seen complex machines
die in the middle of competition and
unable to return for the next game.
so Keep It Simple and Strong!
:eek: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW :eek: Thats what I call dedication. I think I would go through a good supply of caffine pills for that stretch, lol. Umm, dont scare the rookies though, lol. theyll be like 72 hours? AHHHHHH, this is insane, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!! Hats off to you sah’
*Originally posted by evulish *
**3am is nuts? What’s 6am, then?The last weekend of build season last year, I didn’t go home for 3 days (or more…shrug). **
6am! Ouch!
Can you said the same for school work?
(not)
wow. i acutally wouldn’t mind working on the robot that long as long as it doens’t get too frustrating, except i get cranky when i don’t get enough sleep lol or i might mess something up seeing as when i’m really tired i can’t focus as well.
Schoolwork and homework is for school Hehe.
One of those late nights…(or rather early mornings)…I made the mistake of jokingly saying ‘I thought you said we’d have the bot running a few hours ago.’ Not a good idea
kiss is the best, our team always makes a “simple robot” but in the end it turns out to be so complicated, this year we are changing that. our bot will look wicked complicated but if you look at the vital components, it will be simplistic. i really cant give out our idea at this time, but i want to say if we can get it to perform, you better watch out for 151! hehe
Lata,
Bad
1st and 2nd year teams need to make sure they have a robust drive-train before anything else.
ALWAYS remember that no mater how complicated or how simple your manipulation and special functions are for your robot, having your robot stuck at the starting line or doing circles because of a dropped chain makes it all worthless.
So please, new teams to FIRST get a chassis and drive-train working by the end of next week and keep running it for the next few weeks until ship to find out what will break and how to efficiently fix it (as well as redesign to make it stronger).
SIMPLE!
I always like to show this as an example:
http://www.team639.org/pics/2002_goal_grabber_10.jpg
How many moving parts did everyone’s goal gripper have last year (and if it ever let go without you wanting it to, it doesn’t count)?
If you can do one thing and do it well, YOU will do well. Best to focus your energy on one thing and have it work, then have 5 amazing sub-systems that break down every match (this is my opinion). Some of the larger teams can pull it off, some teams even build more then one sub system and make their robot modular (I personally don’t think this should be allowed by FIRST, but I understand why it is).
K-I-S-S ME!
Greg
last year, well, all we had was a drive train. then again, it was probably one of the more complex drive trains in FIRST. i found it simple, but most people got confused when i tried to explain it :p. but yeah, this year we’re going out for a bit more complexity (by a bit, i mean a lot), and hell, if it doesn’t work we’ll have our drive train, and slap a nice big scoop on it, and blend in with the other 600 robots that all do the same thing :).
I would agree!
Keepiong it simple is a great idea.
Comcpets always look more smiple on paper than they are to actually build!
2 years ago we had two design’s that the team could not decide on so we did both in one. Both ideas were great and alone each would have been very efective.
When done they sort of worked together, infact we stunned the whole arena at practice when we started the practice by opening up our machine that was a full 19’6" (Ninteen feet six inches) long that started well within the foot print.
It worked and it didnt work so during the 3 days between the regionals and shipping for the Nationals we cut the bot down to 3 feet and came up with an amazing design that did much better.
It was not a total failure because we learnt from our errors, recognized what they were and as a team we made the changes. Nothing is lost if we learn from our mistakes.
The following year remembering the prior year they went on to make an amazing machine and will do the same this year.
mm mai team mad ea final decision towards the strategy and type of robot so that’s good. I can’t reallie tell you guys about it right now but i’m crossing my fingers that it’ll all come together.
While I agree simplicity is important, I don’t think you should underestimate your own abilities. If you are confident that you can accomplish something, you shouldn’t limit yourself. You may have an idea that would be somewhat complex, but at the same time is an incredible idea, you should go for it. Don’t aim too low to where your robot doesn’t challenge you and teach you something, but think practical.
i think that as long as a team has something more simple to fall back on (in case other parts fail) then they’ll be okay.
SIMPLE!
I always like to show this as an example:
http://www.team639.org/pics/2002_goal_grabber_10.jpg
How many moving parts did everyone’s goal gripper have last year (and if it ever let go without you wanting it to, it doesn’t count)?
If you can do one thing and do it well, YOU will do well. Best to focus your energy on one thing and have it work, then have 5 amazing sub-systems that break down every match (this is my opinion). Some of the larger teams can pull it off, some teams even build more then one sub system and make their robot modular (I personally don’t think this should be allowed by FIRST, but I understand why it is).
Bah. Our gripper last year had only one moving part (well three if you count the pneumatic cylinder and the cylinder’s rod… but that doesn’t count) and would automatically channel the bars of the goal into the gripper so no matter how you hit the goal, the gripper would work. Just drive forward and forget. It never failed. It seems like it took approximately the same amount of work as that thing. and… I don’t have a picture. we never put one up. Heck, we’ve never put any pictures up. Heck, we don’t have a website. Heck, I quit the team about 2-3 days ago and am not affiliated with first anymore. Heck, I shouldn’t bother coming here.
A robot can be simple but still usefull. The trick is to find a special niche to fit into. I remember in the 2001 game there was a robot that acted a ramp. Very simple robot but it was just about the most usefull robot there. (helped balance the bridge also)
This year you could build a robot that your friend could drive on so that you take up less room on the bridge and still get the points. Just an extremely large set of wings would be usefull to any team. Also if you are keeping your robot simple i would recomend trying to keep it able to go under the bar. If the robot is simple it shouldn’t be that hard and it gives you a lot more flexibility in terms of what you can do on the playing field.
*note: i don’t know if those ideas specifically will be usefull in this years competition. If you think really hard though you can probably think of something that nobody or very few people have thought of.
*Originally posted by Ianworld *
**A robot can be simple but still usefull. The trick is to find a special niche to fit into. I remember in the 2001 game there was a robot that acted a ramp. Very simple robot but it was just about the most usefull robot there. (helped balance the bridge also)
**
I like how you call wildstang simple