Spine Arm Robot

FIRST General Forum
1

I was just curious if anyone could remember the team number of the team a couple years back that had a manipulator that had a rod that was made out of composite(I think) and had several discs with holes that acted as guides for wires that would apply tension to the top of the rod. I’m just curious because there is a group at my college researching that design and they were just curious to see this design on the robot.

Thanks

2

Quick search of the CD-Media gallery with the word “spine” revealed this:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/27108

Team 1875.

3

I believe Technokats also had an arm design one year.

4

Nice call. Kokomo TechnoKats

5

awesome that’s not the one I was thinking of but it’s essentially the same design

6

The real question I have for both teams, what are some benefits and drawbacks of this sort of system? In the thread under the picture 1875 makes reference to programming problems breaking it, what happened? How well did the arm hold up to the defense of that year?

This is, to me, a rather interesting solution to a problem and I would definitely appreciate hearing from teams who have experience that we can learn from.

7

While I am not on 1875, I was at the Florida regional when they were, did scouting on the, and were paired with them/ against them in two separate matches. I distinctly remember the arm wobbling a lot, which is not to be unexpected…but I remember that having issues with holding the tubes and moving.

It would hold the tube straight up in the air and whenever they drove it relatively quickly or got hit - the tube would do a lot of wobbling in the air and would have trouble placing on the rack. Also when they tried to pick up, it wasn’t particularly adept - while it was cool it definitely had wobble issues in the mechanical aspect of it. I distinctly remember they scored about 2 tubes in both matches we were on the field with them, if that helps you.

That’s not a whole lot of information, but it is some on their mechanics if it helps.

-Greg P.

8

I was on 1875 that year and helped develop the “spine” arm, the problems we ran into where finding appropriate materials for the rod and keeping it stable. In the south carolina regional we modified it by shortening it and the results where much better. If there are any specific questions let me know, I can refer you to someone who is far more knowledgeable than myself about this subject.