2007 what does your robot specialize in

[Travis210]

This thread is for all vex competing teams. what goal does your robot specialize in; does it specialize in putting the tennis balls in the high or low goals, in getting the atlas ball, in hanging from the platform, or in something else. You can also use this thread to brag about the speed, mobility, ball capacity, look, arm design, or anything else you can think of.

[ahrobotics]

Travis,

You should reread the rules for the challenge as the balls are not tennis balls. The balls for the challenge are 11" optic yellow softballs. Using a tennis ball for your design and building a robot for tennis balls would be a mistake as softballs are so much heavier.

Coach for Alma Heights Vex Robotics

[pacoliketaco]

the softball that i have isn't very heavy, the main difference is the size of softballs, which makes it hard to work with. i am going to try for the high goals, i just have to figure out how.

[NRTopping]

I wanted to do last years vex challenge but unfortunately I don't have a team. Some time soon though I'm going to try and form a team with my friends.
If I did Have a team my robot would specialize in the high goals to.
Pacoliketaco- you could use the tank treads to make a conveyer belt that picks up the balls and then drop them in. Or If you are really good at aiming you could make a catapult or cannon robot.

[pacoliketaco]

i made the tread idea, just as it was made last year for the racquet balls, but it just too big and heavy to be functional. mine is like 16" long, 10" wide, and like 5" tall. the opening fo rthe balls just has to be soo big...

[NRTopping]

you could make a series of intake rollers on a chanell driven by a motor and some chain

[Kyle Love]

Why not do it all?;)

[Rswsmay]

Keep in mind that the balls this year are significantly larger and heavier that last year. Not only would you need an very large intake conveyor with more motors to use tank treads, but consider that once you pick up 3 or 4 softballs and lever them high enough and far enough out to put into the goals, you may have Center of gravity or stability problems. Consider that the diameter of a softball is 68% larger than racquetballs, and has 360% more mass than a racquetball. You cannot assume that you can use the same strategy and design concept from last year, and adapt it to this years game. Prove it out by building it and refining.

[doukjin]

I wanted to do last years vex challenge but unfortunately I don't have a team. Some time soon though I'm going to try and form a team with my friends.
If I did Have a team my robot would specialize in the high goals to.
Pacoliketaco- you could use the tank treads to make a conveyer belt that picks up the balls and then drop them in. Or If you are really good at aiming you could make a catapult or cannon robot.


catapult/ cannon would be inventive, but very inaccurate in a game situation and the misses would far outnumber your hits on goal

[NRTopping]

true, just trying to come up with some outside the box ideas. :D

[Kyle Love]

catapult/ cannon would be inventive, but very inaccurate in a game situation and the misses would far outnumber your hits on goal

From past experience, (Ask anyone in FRC that knows of The TechnoKats) catapults are NOT worth the time and effot. It had some design flaws that came back and bit us. Sure, it looks cool and would be really fun to have. It is NOT the quickest way to score. Along with constructing the catapult, you have to design a somewhat complicated feeder system. By no means am I saying this would not work. I am just giving my past experience with catapults.

[NRTopping]

As I said before I was just trying to come up with some creative and different ideas. I didn't necisarily say that it was the best way to approach it, I just said it could be a fun way to do the challenge.

[kory1148]

it is also going to be extreamly hard to launch or throw anyball within the small goal space. unless you got in the perfect position everytime without any kind of flaw or anyone bumping you. and have a high enough arch to have it fall in there just perfectly. but like someone already said it would be hard and very time consuming. though it would be pretty awesome to witness in a match

[robokid87]

why not have an arm that on the end had some intake roller or small wheels at the end that pulled the balls onto the long arm then after the balls are on the arm it lifts up to the goal then had some kind of slide that pushed out behind the balls and pushed them out the arm and in to the goal yet i dont know how you are going to make a arm that reaches a 28 inch high goal when your robot must fitt in a 18 by 18 sizing box :confused:

[Kyle Love]

why not have an arm that on the end had some intake roller or small wheels at the end that pulled the balls onto the long arm then after the balls are on the arm it lifts up to the goal then had some kind of slide that pushed out behind the balls and pushed them out the arm and in to the goal yet i dont know how you are going to make a arm that reaches a 28 inch high goal when your robot must fitt in a 18 by 18 sizing box :confused:

Mount the arm on a geared lift.

[gblake]

catapult/ cannon would be inventive, but very inaccurate in a game situation and the misses would far outnumber your hits on goal Why do you aseert that catapults and cannons are inaccurate? With the exception of variations introduced by the softballs, the activities of the machinery and the resulting shots should be very consistent/repreatable.

[Kyle Love]

Why do you aseert that catapults and cannons are inaccurate? With the exception of variations introduced by the softballs, the activities of the machinery and the resulting shots should be very consistent/repreatable.

In theory they should be consistent. After helping to test the big catapult, I found that it was less accurate then anticipated, but we did have a turret on it. It would be really cool to see this, but most likely not in the game.

[1086VEX]

my teams bot this year is ging to be a hanger and do 1 pointers
i made a really cool design to bring ball into our bot so we can carry them around.....
should be cool

[robokid87]

i dont have a team but with just a starter kit ,gear kit ,and a omini wheel kit i made a bot that can hang on the bar im going to get some more parts and probaly make a better drive train and it will score in low goals and maby after i do some work on it it will score in the high goals my main goal is to try and make a bot that can do every thing:eek: my bot can also fit in a 18by18by18 box

[kory1148]

Why do you aseert that catapults and cannons are inaccurate? With the exception of variations introduced by the softballs, the activities of the machinery and the resulting shots should be very consistent/repreatable.

well lets say that you have very good accuracy. you still have to find a way to load it up and fire it without getting hit by another robot. the chances of that are really low and the recoil time on it would be extreamly slow.

[kirtar]

Other variables could include how the softballs settle into the said catapult (which will probably affect the trajectory in some way). There is also the problem of getting hit by another robot, which should always be considered a threat.

I do know of the TechnoKats (from the Indiana First Robotics Conference), and I somewhat know what you mean by the catapult (because they told us).

Anyways, we want our robot to be able to score in both high and low goals, be able to push the atlas ball around (which virtually any robot should be able to do), and be able to push people off of the platform.

[jgraber]

Look for inspiration in real world prototypes that lift things,
you can use google images with these keyword:
bucket loader, cherry picker, bucket elevator, grain auger,
forklift, bowling ball return, pitching machine, catapult, crane.
An official 11" softball should weigh ~6oz or ~170grams.
A 30" stick will fit in a 18x18x18" cube.
A 60 degree slope 27" long will reach 24" high.
Google for 3bar.cdy to see an interactive 3-4 bar linkage simulator.

[theotherguy]

why not have an arm that on the end had some intake roller or small wheels at the end that pulled the balls onto the long arm then after the balls are on the arm it lifts up to the goal then had some kind of slide that pushed out behind the balls and pushed them out the arm and in to the goal yet i dont know how you are going to make a arm that reaches a 28 inch high goal when your robot must fitt in a 18 by 18 sizing box :confused:

If any teams here on the forum are going to the Arizona regional, you'll most likely see a robot that works kinda like that :D If you want to imagine what our robot will look like, think of a table...

and as for the size restraints, our robot fits inside the box so far with just one dimension just barely under 18". The rest of it fits in pretty well.

[gblake]

well lets say that you have very good accuracy. you still have to find a way to load it up and fire it without getting hit by another robot. the chances of that are really low and the recoil time on it would be extreamly slow.
Just about any machine being struck repeatedly by another of noticable size will have a hard time accomplishing its purpose. That doesn't mean the first machine started out "inaccurate".

Blake

[gblake]

In theory they should be consistent. After helping to test the big catapult, I found that it was less accurate then anticipated, but we did have a turret on it. It would be really cool to see this, but most likely not in the game.
In theory AND in practice; if you control the variations in the shooting process that can affect accuracy. That you haven't seen an accuarate one yet doesn't mean that they don't exist and/or can't be built using reasonably inexpensive components and labor.

Blake

[MuT7]

a catapult is not effective, because you forgot to include non-technical problems. Are a match or two, if you have a catapult, which requires more torque for a throw, a clutch for the servos would wear away easily, i had this problem and i had an arm, not a catapult...also an arm can load up faster than a catapult, even if you could shoot on the spot, i doubt its effective

An arm with rollers.....many, very many....but also very slow, except for this one i saw.....very effective, six balls all at once for 3 points each, which totals around 18 points every 20 or so seconds.....our robot which had 3 points/5 seconds lost to it. Also, it's a massive robot, capable of moving and traping the atlas ball AND lifting itself up.....it scored around 120 points in one round, our record was 70 or so, this robot is going to Atlanta for the big comp...this is just a friendly warning for those of you who participate, so you won't lose so bad
Their name-Simbotics (or something like that), good luck in defeating it, cause we didn't

[gblake]

a catapult is not effective
Ahhhh! - "effective" is a different word than "accurate" - I think I agree that it would be hard to make an effective H-A-R catapult.

[gblake]

An arm with rollers.....many, very many....but also very slow, except for this one i saw.....very effective, six balls all at once for 3 points each, which totals around 18 points every 20 or so seconds.....our robot which had 3 points/5 seconds lost to it. Also, it's a massive robot, capable of moving and traping the atlas ball AND lifting itself up.....it scored around 120 points in one round, our record was 70 or so, this robot is going to Atlanta for the big comp...this is just a friendly warning for those of you who participate, so you won't lose so bad
Their name-Simbotics (or something like that), good luck in defeating it, cause we didn't
Well of course everyone is interested in seeing pictures....

I am also curious what you think would happen to this bot's performance if a an agile little square bot (plus a contraption or two to help it take up space and to help it stay put) stayed between this big lumbering guy and the high goals for the entire match?

Or what if that little pest robot kept pushing balls away from the intake of the big bot?

How much would their score decrease????

Blake

[1086VEX]

An arm with rollers.....many, very many....but also very slow, except for this one i saw.....very effective, six balls all at once for 3 points each, which totals around 18 points every 20 or so seconds.....our robot which had 3 points/5 seconds lost to it. Also, it's a massive robot, capable of moving and traping the atlas ball AND lifting itself up.....it scored around 120 points in one round, our record was 70 or so, this robot is going to Atlanta for the big comp...this is just a friendly warning for those of you who participate, so you won't lose so bad
Their name-Simbotics (or something like that), good luck in defeating it, cause we didn't

that is amazing!!!!
i hope we make it to nationals so i can see it...

[thefro526]

An arm with rollers.....many, very many....but also very slow, except for this one i saw.....very effective, six balls all at once for 3 points each, which totals around 18 points every 20 or so seconds.....our robot which had 3 points/5 seconds lost to it. Also, it's a massive robot, capable of moving and traping the atlas ball AND lifting itself up.....it scored around 120 points in one round, our record was 70 or so, this robot is going to Atlanta for the big comp...this is just a friendly warning for those of you who participate, so you won't lose so bad
Their name-Simbotics (or something like that), good luck in defeating it, cause we didn't

Simbotics!?!?! I believe they one the delaware regional last year Did you notices any obvious weeknesses. Oh a by the way our robot Hangs and scores in the high goal

[mister_t]

I have serval designs that all hold 40+ balls and score in the high goal and hang but our team has gotten a late start and we will have to build fast to be able to compete.

[MuT7]

I'm not sure of the rules in the nationals, but if they stay with the same partner from the previous comp, small robots won't do anything because their partner is from our school....its basically a big bot with lots of torque that does the defending, plus the bot's arm has rollers in it to trap any balls it gets, the only known strategy against it would be to make a fast bot with a strong arm that can actually stop the arm from going up and scoring (this happened in the final match, but the defending arm wasn't strong enough)

if you got a bot capable of 40+, then i wish you luck

[doukjin]

a catapult is not effective, because you forgot to include non-technical problems. Are a match or two, if you have a catapult, which requires more torque for a throw, a clutch for the servos would wear away easily, i had this problem and i had an arm, not a catapult...also an arm can load up faster than a catapult, even if you could shoot on the spot, i doubt its effective

An arm with rollers.....many, very many....but also very slow, except for this one i saw.....very effective, six balls all at once for 3 points each, which totals around 18 points every 20 or so seconds.....our robot which had 3 points/5 seconds lost to it. Also, it's a massive robot, capable of moving and traping the atlas ball AND lifting itself up.....it scored around 120 points in one round, our record was 70 or so, this robot is going to Atlanta for the big comp...this is just a friendly warning for those of you who participate, so you won't lose so bad
Their name-Simbotics (or something like that), good luck in defeating it, cause we didn't

Simbotics... hmmm....

HA! (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/img/23a/23abdf43152ded431a5963b8e8bcca95_l.jpg)
i thought that sounded familiar. [we nicknamed this bot canada bot (we also faced it and have much respect for Simbotics)]

Chief Dephi has a few photos uploaded already from competitions
so if you're scouting other robots,
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/?
is where to be

[gblake]

I'm not sure of the rules in the nationals, but if they stay with the same partner from the previous comp, small robots won't do anything because their partner is from our school....its basically a big bot with lots of torque that does the defending,
And while your robot is stopping one of the robots that is attempting to interfere with the unstoppable scoring machine.... Who/what is stopping the other robot on the opposing alliance from interfering successfully? I doubt your wingman bot can be two places at once.

Am I overlooking something?

[mister_t]

any got pictures of the regional last weekend? specifially the bot that won?

[Dogma]

do all the parts have to be vex standard, or can you add in a camera or airsopft gun, or stronger motors, ext?

[mister_t]

do all the parts have to be vex standard, or can you add in a camera or airsopft gun, or stronger motors, ext?

nope, read the rules. http://www.usfirst.org/vex/

[GUI]

We just got back from the arizona regional which we won. Our bot can score 2 balls per load in the high goals and hang, but it'll need work if we want to do well in Atlanta (our highest score was 60).

[mister_t]

We just got back from the arizona regional which we won. Our bot can score 2 balls per load in the high goals and hang, but it'll need work if we want to do well in Atlanta (our highest score was 60).

were you the robot capable of scoring the most balls per load? also were there alot of bots that hang?

[GUI]

Well, this was the first year of the Arizona regional, so there weren't very many teams (about eight), we were the only one that score high goals and the only team to successfully hang. We can only get two balls at a time, and we can get pushed around like crazy.

[theotherguy]

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/972/robotoc5.th.jpg (http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=robotoc5.jpg)
pic of team 3495's robot. Our high score was 60, we scored high goals and hanged. A movie resides here (http://www.selectric.org) (scroll down to bottom of page)

[1086VEX]

that looks really nice!!!
its similar to what we are building.
ours is a little more complex.
what gear ratio did u use for the arm??

[MuT7]

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/972/robotoc5.th.jpg (http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=robotoc5.jpg)
pic of team 3495's robot. Our high score was 60, we scored high goals and hanged. A movie resides here (http://www.selectric.org) (scroll down to bottom of page)

no offense, but our robot can beat yours(but they very alike)....our record was 64 in a 2v1 match (us being alone)...but it was mostly driver skill but our robot can't hang so our driver was 1337, even so, simbotics would beat yours....quite badly

[1086VEX]

from what i hear simbotics would beat most bots out there this year.

[theotherguy]

no offense, but our robot can beat yours(but they very alike)....our record was 64 in a 2v1 match (us being alone)...but it was mostly driver skill but our robot can't hang so our driver was 1337, even so, simbotics would beat yours....quite badly

the thing is we built our robot several days before the match, which didn't give us much time to make it any better than that. We actually weren't expecting it to work as well as it did (we got 4 of the 6 awards) Now we have 7 months to perfect it or completely redesign it (if we want to, and we do) ;)

(by the way, do you have a pic of your robot?)

[BHS_STopping]

the thing is we built our robot several days before the match, which didn't give us much time to make it any better than that. We actually weren't expecting it to work as well as it did (we got 4 of the 6 awards) Now we have 7 months to perfect it or completely redesign it (if we want to, and we do) ;)

(by the way, do you have a pic of your robot?)
Well, we (Team 3495, same as GUI and theotherguy) went through many different design changes, and I just suppose that this is the one that stuck and helped us the most. It's simple and reliable, and very helpful when with a strong alliance partner. And I'm also pretty sure that this bot's going to completely change or just get a whole lot better within the long period of time that we have to work with. Oh, and the gearing on the arm is 1:35 with two motors, but we might just add two more motors in the future as well as more gears to lower the stresses on the teeth when we are hanging (We broke the teeth on 3 gears and snapped a gear into pieces during our competition yesterday).

[theotherguy]

If you would like to see a pic of the bot hanging, click here (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/img/bbf/bbfa5d62ea2588eeaa1a9bdfd249a505_l.jpg).

[mister_t]

why do you not have any traction on any of the wheels?

[robokid87]

i saw a video of that bot on google i think it said arizona qalifiing rounds or somthing like that its a good bot it could score like 8 balls per round and hang awsome:D

[mister_t]

i saw those videos too, just wondering why there is no traction, they got pushed around like crazy.

[robokid87]

ya they did it looked like in some videos they couldent stay on the platform because people where pushing them off but still a very kool bot:p

[GUI]

We found that with the treads on the wheels, we could not get on the platform. This is one of the main issues we plan to fix before nationals, along with making getting balls easier and more efficient.

[mister_t]

well obviously that wasn't too much of a problem to keep you from winning, by the way I love that robot that was your partner for the finals. its so small yet in one of those matches it was able to keep you and another robot off the platform at once. they may want to add at least a chin-up arm for nationals though.

[GUI]

Yeah, that's why we chose them for our alliance. We pretty much wanted the best pushing team, and their bot was great all around.

[BHS_STopping]

The treads on the wheels didn't help us too much on the foam surface. Since our wheelbase was slightly longer than it was wide (or about the same in both dimensions), the bot would have difficulties turning on the field. We'll probably revamp our design in the future though, so we'll most likely have a much better bot by the time we go to Atlanta.

[doukjin]

so, just curious,

about how many points do the winning teams get?
i remember last year the better teams got around 80ish?