I have read some threads about different designs, but they were all from earlier in the season and based on opinion. I would love to see some answers based on what has been observed throughout the year.
We have qualified for worlds and will be going But we also know that we don’t have a world championship competitive robot With this in mind we will be disassembling our robot after our competition on 3/9 and building a new one. We have 10 393’s plus a couple of spares, a decent amount of sensors, omni wheels, etc. We can’t spend more than another $300 or so and still be able to go to worlds.
So we are trying to decide what lift/intake/drive would be best, and if mecanum wheels are really worth the effort to code for? This is our first year competing so we do not have a lot of experience to go on.
Thanks in advance!
P.S., were not asking for anyones secret design, just ideas for an effective concept based on observations.
One of the most simple yet dangerously effective designs I have seen this year is the spatula-style robot used by 12A and some of the other ACME teams (you can see them in a lot of the videos of 24C’s matches). They have a tiny, light-weight chassis with 6-8 motors(haven’t seen them in a while, I think it changed) and a pneumatic spatula capable of scoring ridiculous amounts of sacks in the trough and performing one of the most beautiful yet terrifying de-scores I’ve seen this year. The only real fault in this design is that, as far as I know, they cannot score in the high goal - although it is questionable as to whether this is eve necessary. If you guys want some design inspiration, I would definitely watch some of those videos. Even if you don’t want to attempt something quite like 12A, there are many other great robots, including 24C, to see in them.
Here is a video of 12A/B competing: http://youtu.be/CYeTZqT_ziU
They have a great design! That would be one of my top 2 designs.
Another would be a top roller of some sort. Different versions include: 1 roller, chainsaw. Chainsaws are good for angled intakes with no conveyor, while rollers are good for intakes with either a flat angle hopper, or a hopper with a conveyor.
The 12A/B teams are identical to team 300 Enigma which we were very impressed with. We went into the finals with Enigma as our alliance in New Orleans, and they ended up being tournament champions in Galveston the following week. I think if we can afford the pneumatics that this is the path we will choose. After 6 competitions I think being able to de-score is even more effective than being able to score the high goals!
The other robot we have in mind had an intake roller and tray that moved independently of each other so they could raise the roller to de-score and have the sacks fall into their tray. But even with 10 motors and a couple of pneumatic cylinders I think this design would be difficult to make more effective than the better spatula bots.
I believe the best design is one that can empty a field in a match and descore almost a complete trough in under 5 seconds. Although I am a little partial, as that is what mine can do.
For my Senior Research class my teacher has me write up articles on different designs and such. They are pretty short so if you want feel free to give them a read.
You wouldn’t be able to score the whole field because other teams would have scored. If they take sacks away from you on the ground, and in your troughs, you had better descore.
But we also know that we don’t have a world championship competitive robot 
With this in mind we will be disassembling our robot after our competition on 3/9 and building a new one. We have 10 393’s plus a couple of spares, a decent amount of sensors, omni wheels, etc. We can’t spend more than another $300 or so and still be able to go to worlds.