So I’m thinking a bot like my school did at Elevation, where we (We = My robotics team fyi) had a maxed out length/width bot that had a huge neck that collected ~10 blocks, and then could fill up a goal in like 3 seconds.
But we shorten the neck to collect like 10 balls, and we also add a collection pool out of the vex parts where we can store the balls, and ziptie the treads like we did before so when the 30 second or so mark comes, we can have like 15-20 balls going over.
Other ideas we came up with were blockers, but to my knowledge, I don’t think you can intentionally block goals (18 in goals, or the small holes in the wall)
But not only that, but we were thinking of having a retractable wall, where if they come to dump a load of balls, we just crank the motor and raise the wall, and they lose 18 inches of space to shoot balls over. It might work, but it’s a long stretch.
I can’t wait to see other designs and see if anyone is thinking on the same wavelength.
crusha–actually, you can block anything, goals, the small holes in the wall, over the top of the wall, the only thing i could think of i you are not allowed to put a piece of metal inside the other teams goals, or in the holes, unless it styed connected to your robot.
Hm…Shorten the neck to collect 10 balls…something is wrong there. If each ball is 4" in diameter, your neck would have to be 40" long to collect 10 balls…Idk if I’m just not understanding ur design or what…
Oh wait, right. I keep forgetting that they aren’t like 2" in diameter. But you’re also forgetting that there could be a collection pool, and the 10 balls could be extra. I don’t know, I just wanted to get my ideas out into a thread for others to see.
Are you going to focus on just the small balls and try to score them? That is a pretty good idea but you can get in trouble if there are 2 robots that can block goals, you would then only be able to get 1 point for each of the small balls. Also you have to count how many balls can fit into the two 18’ goal because if its only a few then there is little point to making a robot specifically for the two goals.
It would be a good idea to be able to score in the goals as a secondary scoring option, but in my opinion the footballs are very key to winning the game.
When watching vidoes, I found that the small balls rarely ever…“mattered” when it came down to it. Of course you have those close matches, but I mean…in general, the team that could dominate the large balls could dominate the match. I mean…simply transferring 3 large balls is a 30 point change where as 10 of the small balls is only a 20 point change.
Isn’t there only 2 large balls? And it’s 3 points per small ball. So ~4 balls (3 scored in a goal, and 1 placed on the other side) = 1 large ball. 8 balls (same formula) = 2 large balls.
But hey, I was throwing my ideas down on the forum. I haven’t gotten around to actually looking much into it, as we’ve only had a week or so notice about it, and the competition is in December.
Woah…I have no idea where my numbers came from…I must’ve been super tired…anyways, my logic is this.
Also it’s only 1 point per small ball, unless it’s dropped into the triangles, then it’s 3 points a piece.
If you score 5 small balls into the triangles, that is 15 points? Yes? Likewise if you score 10 small balls into the triangles(5 in each) then that it is a total of 30 points. These 30 points equate to only 6 medium balls(which are 5 points a piece). A decent robot, such as Rangitoto, or ever not that strong, could easy transfer 6 medium balls faster than one could probably score the 10 small balls into the goals…
Well then instead of a design to host small balls, why not a design to host the medium balls, and defend against the opponents who try to aim for the goals with small balls. And I’m assuming that you only have to throw your large ball onto their side of the court (which is your scoring area). Which should be no problem imo.
Oh well, I’ll get to work starting a concept for my team
True True…But if the robot’s main goal is to score the small balls, then it might not be able to return more medium balls as efficiently.
Well we’re pitted in a debate that has no correct answer. I’m sure we’ll see a robot that can handle small balls in an efficient manner and it dominates the competition(to be honest, I think I’m looking at it right now :P) but I still think that it will always come in second to the bot that can efficiently handle the large balls.
Well last year, our robot was multi-functional. It was able to latch onto the large cube and flip it to our side, while being able to deposit cubes into the goals. We could easily do the same.
Have a panel before the arm extends out that would be a blocker so you could cover the goal and be able to deposit your balls, while also being able to “suck” the medium balls and dominate it, and drag the large ball over to the end of the wall and push it over. It would take all 3 balls and then with leftover motors, we could raise a back wall to block anyone trying to throw any kind of balls over.
True, however a robot that can manipulate one size just as well as the others is even better, no?
It hasn’t quite started for us… Metro Vancouver’s school-based teams won’t get a chance to start for another 2 weeks. Not to say our brainstorming has been dormant =)
:D. I’m currently working on a system that will allow me to do just that, the issue that I’m facing is that we’re increasing our inventory to almost 3 fold what we have now, and I’m not sure if I can order my “special” parts.
how come your schools get started so quickly?
our school, like TBA’s, wont start untill 2 weeks later
however, the team captains have already made designs and are eager to share with their teams
(maybe we should have a summer club where we meet and build robots when we’re free)
Our moderators were kind enough to let us build a little during summer break, but we won’t have any new parts until we receive our budget (after school starts).
Well our school started two weeks ago (we’re in our third week). Compared to the rest of the states, the south generally starts earlier, but then our Summer break also starts in May.
