Posted by Travis Covington at 2/12/2001 2:48 AM EST
Student on team #115, MV ROBOTICS, from Monta Vista High School and Hitachi Data Systems - 3com - NASA Ames.
here is just a lil tid bit of more to come
Posted by Travis Covington at 2/12/2001 2:53 AM EST
Student on team #115, MV ROBOTICS, from Monta Vista High School and Hitachi Data Systems - 3com - NASA Ames.
In Reply to: Sneak Peak at Team 115, Monta Vista
Posted by Travis Covington on 2/12/2001 2:48 AM EST:
here is another neat one 
Posted by Chris Orimoto at 2/12/2001 3:35 AM EST
Student on team #368, Kika Mana, from McKinley High School and Nasa Ames/Hawaiian Electric/Weinberg Foundation.
In Reply to: Re: Sneak Peak at Team 115, Monta Vista (another one
Posted by Travis Covington on 2/12/2001 2:53 AM EST:
I can’t view your pictures…only the Xoom logo comes out. Dr. Joe’s “refresh” trick from Angelfire doesn’t work either.
Chris, #368
Posted by Travis Covington at 2/12/2001 1:30 PM EST
Student on team #115, MV ROBOTICS, from Monta Vista High School and Hitachi Data Systems - 3com - NASA Ames.
In Reply to: No pic here…
Posted by Chris Orimoto on 2/12/2001 3:35 AM EST:
try right clicking and pressing show picture or just hold down on macs and choose show picture
-TC
Posted by Travis Covington at 2/12/2001 1:30 PM EST
Student on team #115, MV ROBOTICS, from Monta Vista High School and Hitachi Data Systems - 3com - NASA Ames.
In Reply to: No pic here…
Posted by Chris Orimoto on 2/12/2001 3:35 AM EST:
try right clicking and pressing show picture or just hold down on macs and choose show picture
-TC
Posted by Joe Johnson at 2/12/2001 12:10 PM EST
Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.
In Reply to: Re: Sneak Peak at Team 115, Monta Vista (another one
Posted by Travis Covington on 2/12/2001 2:53 AM EST:
I had to copy image location and paste the URL to my browswer’s URL input line then hit enter a couple times to get to the pictures, but once I did, I was very impressed.
Nice creative flare by the photographer.
Excellent wiring technique (although I would use a bit of number tape to label the Victors and wires).
Finally, looks like you’re a shifter.
Enough teams are doing this now, that my fear of doing it must not be particularly well founded.
Perhaps Chief Delphi will have to play with a shifter design over the summer?
Joe J.
Posted by Travis Covington at 2/12/2001 1:36 PM EST
Student on team #115, MV ROBOTICS, from Monta Vista High School and Hitachi Data Systems - 3com - NASA Ames.
In Reply to: Shifty!
Posted by Joe Johnson on 2/12/2001 12:10 PM EST:
yeah thanks!
we did end up putting numbered heatshrink on the PWM cables corresponding to the pwm input on the rc. As well as numbering the ground and power cables.
it makes it extremely idiot proof
-TC
Posted by Ken Leung at 2/12/2001 9:40 PM EST
Student on team #192, Gunn Robotics Team, from Henry M. Gunn Senior High School.
In Reply to: Shifty!
Posted by Joe Johnson on 2/12/2001 12:10 PM EST:
: Finally, looks like you’re a shifter.
: Enough teams are doing this now, that my fear of doing it must not be particularly well founded.
: Perhaps Chief Delphi will have to play with a shifter design over the summer?
: Joe J.
Well, let just say that lots of teams have wanted a gear shifting mechanism for many years, but they never had the resources to develop it, never mind making it reliable…
And now that Andy’s design is out, every one is like a wanderer in the desert suddenly found a fresh pool of water. I bet most of them are willing to go ahead and “drink the water” without testing “the pH of the water” (I dunno what desert this is, but it’s sure full of engineers wandering around).
But seriously, I think people are willing to take a risk at shifting gears because it’s just so useful in this year’s competition. So I guess they just have to overlook really valuable advice coming from Joe J. It is always tempting to have a drive train that can be strong AND fast…
But one thing I know is that it is extremely hard to come up with a design yourself. We’ve been trying to make such device last year and failed. It took forever to test out prototypes, as well as manufacturing servo mounts using a 70 years old mill and lathe. It was a big pain trying to get it working (not mentioning making it work more then a few times), and we ended up dumping the idea.
Well, good thing we had a student who look into Andy’s blueprints and simplified it into just the gear shifting device and incorporate it into our own mount design. Maybe we will use it, maybe not… depends on how happy the people are about the test results.
Maybe people should look into shifting gears, maybe not. But they should all decide base on the competition and the need of their robot, not just because everyone is doing it. There are lots of trade off in this decision, and a good learning experience as well.
Posted by Matt Leese at 2/12/2001 10:22 PM EST
Other on team #73, Tigerbolt, from Edison Technical HS and Alstom & Fiber Technologies & RIT.
In Reply to: willing to take the risk!
Posted by Ken Leung on 2/12/2001 9:40 PM EST:
Well, I’m not really sure about the complexity of it but I know that Tigerbolt had a gear shifter way back in 1995 (not a typo). Supposedly it worked pretty well for them as they managed 3rd place at regionals and 5th place at Nationals. I’ve seen pictures (including closeups of the drive train area) and it seems a fairly simple design with just the servos moving the gear shifting lever. The servors are connected together too. I might be able to get a scanned copy if anyones really interested in looking. I think the solution they came up with is fairly simple and elegant.
Matt