Top Vault Bot By Region - Whos the best Vault Bot?

FIRST General Forum
#39

Correct, we were VERY much inspired by the Spectrum build blog. While we tried a lot (~15) of intake iterations, we kept coming back to this concept.

Our intake uses similar geometry, but we operate it differently. We seem to have used intake actuation more so than others. Our preference is to acquire with the intake open (which can handle the long cube diagonal with a little bit of compression) and closing the intake when the cube is contained. Short-sided cubes can be acquired in this manner as well. This actuation was all manual, based on direct or camera visual feedback. Perhaps we will automate it moving forward.

We liked the idea of being able to drop cubes rather than shoot them for a bit more precision in switch placement, and to avoid costly overshooting. In competition, our drivers used both functions, depending on the switch fill.

#40

As for Indiana District I would like to nominate 3487. They competed at Plainfield with 500 vault points for qualifications. They are very consistent and fast when filling the vault. They had the vault full most of the time in under a minute. They then competed at Tippecanoe where they again got 500 vault points. They averaged 8.3 cubes a match at both Plainfield and Tippecanoe.

Overall they are a very fast and consistent bot and probably one of the best vault bots in Indiana.

#41

New York: unquestionably 1493. They seeded second at Tech Valley and captained an alliance to the win. They had a very reliable two cubes center switch auto and could reliably play all parts of the game besides the scale.

MAR: the top two that comes to mind are 747 and 2016. I don’t understand how they slipped so far at CNY and MAR CMP. At CNY, they were #2 on our list of switch/exchange bots, behind 340 (who was our first pick). I don’t understand why many of the alliances at Lehigh opted for scale-optimized second picks who were considerably less impressive at the switch and exchange than 2016.

#42

Having competed with your team and 7225, you are both excellent vault bots. At both events you both shined and stood out. I am interested to see how the game will change at MSC… I do expect to see it evolve drastically when the best in the state face off on the scale and the strategy on the rest of the field determines W/L.

#43

For the districts, I’ve calculated district-wide Vault Power Rankings (like OPR, but only calculating the vault points). It should be relatively good at predicting since this is a linear scoring task.

Chesapeake:


5945	21.22742336
1413	18.77723409
1629	17.64208841
1731	17.09521513
6194	16.64367674

Michigan:


7225	27.83268186
7056	27.00487749
7174	23.14275656
5224	22.88477203
7211	22.39694211

Israel:


2679	20.68897904
5654	18.01022653
5614	16.90288798
1574	15.7964347
5987	14.44535014

Mid-Atlantic:


5181	23.64834084
747	19.37395238
2016	18.84210421
25	18.76350421
222	17.75933748

North Carolina:


6334	19.11494574
2655	18.71965842
2059	18.61324425
6003	17.91449639
4795	17.76443225

New England:


5846	27.67398422
4557	23.73846169
5563	22.60441371
3146	20.54635267
6933	20.41055885

Ontario:


5036	21.80257912
4903	21.27971082
33	18.63922411
6878	18.43197774
1241	18.22044473

Peachtree:


4941	27.45596797
4240	18.75442872
829	18.38099144
4730	16.94266878
6829	16.91668185

Pacific Northwest:


4450	22.7802899
6343	19.22929941
2046	17.95079288
2910	16.58466148
5085	16.27714052

These are only the top 5 for each district. If you want to see your team’s specific ranking, I’d be happy to look it up for you, as well :slight_smile: .

#44

Indiana is people too…

#45

Ah yes, I knew I was missing one of the districts :slight_smile: . Sorry 'bout that.

Indiana:


3487	19.57791382
226	18.02347933
2171	17.12049655
5484	16.97986064
3936	16.88612893

Note: this will include teams that aren’t necessarily in that district but played in that district (e.g. 226).

#46

6334 is from the CHS district but played at the NC Pitt County event

#47

Edited my post above to make that note.

#48

While they also have other capabilities, 3284 from Missouri is an amazing vault-bot. Their over the shoulder arm design lets them clear the pile very quickly without having to turn around, and they can take cubes without making a mess of the stack. Their stats may not show it because in some matches they spent a fair amount of time trying to work the scale, with somewhat less success.

#49

I think 3750 could fit in somewhere on the list! :slight_smile:
We did not do vault very much, choosing to always maintain ownership of the scale but when we did these were the outcomes!

Sometimes getting as many as 3 in 10 seconds.

#50

The key word from my post was “Switch/Vault dedicated”. Y’all are much too good at the Scale to qualify :wink:

Of course I’m sure I missed many other fantastic MN teams from my short list. As a region MN has grown so much this year and we have so many teams that have taken a giant step forward. It won’t be long before we can get into arguments with California and Ontario about why we’re better :rolleyes:

#51

1011 is the best vault bot in Arizona. The fact that they can do all their vault duties and still put a ton of cubes on either of the switches every match makes that pretty clear.

#52

6502 actually does the same intake actuation as you do when intaking cubes, but the way they release is actually really unique, as they let go of the cube for a second by opening their arms and then hammer it with their pistons (this is why they named their robot Dropkick). You can see in action in this video: https://youtu.be/DWvzIKzL2CM.

#53

For New England I’d like to put my vote in for 4557 as the best vault bot. Their vault cycles are incredibly quick and consistent and once they’re done with that (sometimes within the first 45 seconds of a match) they can maintain their switch or go take their opponents. Definitely a very smart and up and coming team to look out for.

#54

While they usually spend their time doing other things I absolutely love 610’s vault abilities. They use their shooter to slide the cube across the ground and into the the vault with ease. Combined with some great driving, they make it look effortless.

#55

I’m going to vote for Team 1836 for Southern California. I watches 2 of their regionals and they were insanely quick to the vault (all 9 in 35 seconds or so??) and great at the switch too.

For my CHS district, I will vote Team 888, we picked them at the Southern Maryland district for their quickness with the vault and solid climbing ability

#56

Here is a video in which you can clearly see our exchange mech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLyt_y6EtJw

Notice how the cube goes all the way through the exchange. There is no need to use the rollers which actually speeds up the vault time considerably as the human player doesn’t have to come back and kick the rollers.

#57

This is cool. Might have to incorporate a puncher into an offseason iteration. Are the solenoids anything special like the McMaster high flow model, or are they typical?

#58

There are four cylinders total, each 3/4" bore 8" stroke. Each one is plumbed to a NITRA single solenoid valve (0.78cv, from Automation Direct, looks identical to bimba high flow ones) and each valve has its own dedicated post-reg 60psi tank right before it. For switch/vault we only use one of the four cylinders.

Originally when we were only a switch/vault bot, we just had two 5.5" (iirc) 3/4" bore cylinders and that worked fine too.

Edit: we also automated the whole clamping/lifting process with a Sharp IR tucked underneath the shooter