Posted by Kyle Fenton at 1/10/2001 2:34 PM EST
Student on team #121, The Islanders, from Middletown High School, Middleton RI and NUWC.
Hey from Team 121,
A couple of people have voiced opinions and
one from our engineers said why doesn’t all the
robots have special hooks in the front of the robot
so it can be towed without a stretcher coupon. With
one robot towing, all of us as a 4 team alliance can
get the most amount of points for us. And since
this is all competitive, no one would dare to use
the hooks in a wrongful manner. This hook and
grabber would have to be universal, so everyone
will work. Right now the most simplest option is
that every robot has a pole in the front and a hook
in the back.
One strategy that my team thought of is: for a robot
who can’t get itself to the end-zone, is to
immediately shut down by pressing the red button,
and towing that robot across the bridge into the
end-zone by another functional robot. This strategy
is one example for all of gaining points, for that just
in case situation.
Posted by Michael Ciavaglia at 1/10/2001 2:59 PM EST
Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Interior Systems.
In Reply to: Why do we need a strecher?
Posted by Kyle Fenton on 1/10/2001 2:34 PM EST:
Kyle,
Each team has 3 stretcher coupons. I am not sure how many qualifying matches there will be, but there is an advantage to using your stretcher coupons.
If the stretcher is pulled into the endzone, then the alliance would receive 10 points. If the stretcher with a machine on it is pulled into the endzone, then the alliance would receive 20 points.
Not only does this give your alliance 10 extra points, but these points are then multiplied by the number of goals on the ramp and leftover time to give the overall qualification points. Potentially the extra 10 points from the stretcher could be multiplied by 12 (two goals on the ramp and doing this within 30 seconds) to give an extra 120 qualification points.
However, if a machine fails during the match then having a towbar would be useful.
There is no advantage for teams that don’t use their stretcher coupons.
Mike C.
Posted by Kyle Fenton at 1/10/2001 8:23 PM EST
Student on team #121, The Islanders, from Middletown High School, Middleton RI and NUWC.
In Reply to: 10 Extra Base Score Points
Posted by Michael Ciavaglia on 1/10/2001 2:59 PM EST:
Mike C.
With the stretcher coupon, you can double your
points. But just suppose that you have 2 robots that
are not operational, or its gyro is messed up, or its
motors are out of alignment. These are all
common problems with robots. Since you have a
4
person alliance, you want to make sure that any
disable robots can do as best of a job as they can.
They can be the bridge changer or maybe put the
big balls up in the score tower.
From first glance, in my opinion, I wouldn’t take the
stretcher over the bridge in the first place. If you
watch the kick-off, I saw that the stretcher was too
large and bulkily. Even people who were pushing
had an extremely hard time getting it over. That
would cause a big block-up and really waste time.
If you are pulling it, I see the potential that stretcher
might get cause it to stall right in the middle of the
bridge, since it only has two wheels and it is really
long, if you can get what I am saying. Also if you are
towing, there might have the potential of falling off
the stretcher, and loosing big points in the
process. Also with the stretcher, I could see the
potential of the wheel getting clogged with junk on
the floor, causing the wheel not to rotate right, and
move all over the place. Like a hard to pull grocery
cart. Also it is only made of PVC piping, which
cracks a lot if a lot of stress on the sides.
It would be just be easier for the robots own
wheels to be turning, than this stretcher. You see
this stretcher thing seems a little too easy, and I
think FIRST wanted to overlook this as a sure
guarantee. However, testing it on a field is the only
sure way of how effective it is.
Posted by Michael Ciavaglia at 1/11/2001 6:31 AM EST
Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Interior Systems.
In Reply to: Re: Strecher may have issues.
Posted by Kyle Fenton on 1/10/2001 8:23 PM EST:
Kyle,
Having 2 robots that are not functional changes the strategy altogether.
I agree the stretcher may be difficult to move over the ramp. However, each team must know it’s limitations and not try to do more than they can.
Mike C.
Posted by Nate Smith at 1/11/2001 12:37 PM EST
Other on team #66, GM Powertrain/Willow Run HS, from Eastern Michigan University and GM Powertrain.
In Reply to: Re: Strecher may have issues.
Posted by Kyle Fenton on 1/10/2001 8:23 PM EST:
: Mike C.
: With the stretcher coupon, you can double your
: points. But just suppose that you have 2 robots that
: are not operational, or its gyro is messed up, or its
: motors are out of alignment. These are all
: common problems with robots. Since you have a
: 4
: person alliance, you want to make sure that any
: disable robots can do as best of a job as they can.
: They can be the bridge changer or maybe put the
: big balls up in the score tower.
: From first glance, in my opinion, I wouldn’t take the
: stretcher over the bridge in the first place. If you
: watch the kick-off, I saw that the stretcher was too
: large and bulkily. Even people who were pushing
: had an extremely hard time getting it over. That
: would cause a big block-up and really waste time.
: If you are pulling it, I see the potential that stretcher
: might get cause it to stall right in the middle of the
: bridge, since it only has two wheels and it is really
: long, if you can get what I am saying. Also if you are
: towing, there might have the potential of falling off
: the stretcher, and loosing big points in the
: process. Also with the stretcher, I could see the
: potential of the wheel getting clogged with junk on
: the floor, causing the wheel not to rotate right, and
: move all over the place. Like a hard to pull grocery
: cart. Also it is only made of PVC piping, which
: cracks a lot if a lot of stress on the sides.
: It would be just be easier for the robots own
: wheels to be turning, than this stretcher. You see
: this stretcher thing seems a little too easy, and I
: think FIRST wanted to overlook this as a sure
: guarantee. However, testing it on a field is the only
: sure way of how effective it is.
Just as clarification, according to the field BOM and blueprint, the stretcher has 4 casters, one in each corner, and the piping along the outside is 1 1/4" diameter Schedule 40 Aluminum, not PVC. The only place where the PVC is used is in the main structure of the goal…
Nate