4886A Sack Attack Progress (VT Design)
 

Hello, we have decided to share our work so far on the new game in the interest of accelerating learning and progress for teams. I came up with most of this design on the flight home from California.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3ch0ge6zwvu14bl/8-bar.png
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3ch0ge6zwvu14bl/8-bar.png
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jchwjdpwhujd3dq/Roller.png
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jchwjdpwhujd3dq/Roller.png

The intake is made from leg wheels.
Features (hopefully)
-score all goals
-descore all goals
-extremely high capacity
-drive under trough

Here is a video of the various features of our robot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmNQ1YqUM1g

Feel free to use elements of our robot, but be sure to credit us.
Enjoy!

Re: 4886A Sack Attack Progress (VT Design)
 

Wow, I can't believe you guys released your design so early. It looks pretty cool and I'm sure will help some teams who were at a complete loss for ideas.
A few questions:
Do you have any ideas for a hopper yet / how many do you expect it to hold?
Did you go with H-drive over X or mecanum so you could use the planetaries?

Overall it looks like it will be an awesome robot.

Re: 4886A Sack Attack Progress (VT Design)
 

Yes, we are using H-dive so that we can take advantage of the planetaries. As for the hopper, we havn't tested that much, but I am thinking of some sort of ramp.

Re: 4886A Sack Attack Progress (VT Design)
 

Hmmm... I don't see any benefit of the 8 bar over a 6? A 6 bar just allows a longer arm, so I don't see how putting another extension on helps? Because you get maximum length with a 6 bar?

Re: 4886A Sack Attack Progress (VT Design)
 

The 8-bar allows us to reach the high goal, and still fit under 15 inches. With a 6 bar, you wouldn't be able to drive under the trough.

Re: 4886A Sack Attack Progress (VT Design)
 

Yes, but how? Its not like your arm can be any longer than a 6 bar?

Re: 4886A Sack Attack Progress (VT Design)
 

It is though. Because we have 2 extra linkages, we get more height. It's hard to explain, but once we get our field and stuff, we'll show you guys. After May 23rd we can actually start the real building of our robot. (We have to keep our gateway robot intact so we can get school credit from doing a robotics challenge course.) But the 8 bar lift does allow for the robot to be under 15 inches tall, but still reach about 34 inches.

Re: 4886A Sack Attack Progress (VT Design)
 

Wait... Let me think about it for a while and then either come back and explain why I'm right, or why I'm wrong and why I thought I was right :p

Re: 4886A Sack Attack Progress (VT Design)
 

It gets more height for the same reason that a six bar gets more height than a four bar. In a six bar, the top bar becomes the bottom bar, with another bar above that one. With the eight bar, the bottom bar becomes the top again, again creating another one on top to keep the end of the arm in alignment. Basically, every time the top becomes a bottom, the height you can reach rises by the distance between the bars.

Hope this helps, and sorry if it was hard to follow.

Re: 4886A Sack Attack Progress (VT Design)
 

Nice work but pretty standard thinking. I was hoping to see a crazy design from you guys! I know my team is currently planning to stay away from intake rollers because they simply don't allow the capacity we want to pass through.

How are you planning on scoring on high goals with that intake? It doesn't look very precise(I may be wrong)

Anyway, thanks for getting the ball rolling! :D