Incremental Improvements… So look where you are now… Beating Opponents and Taking Names…
I am not informed enough to make that determination, one way or the other…
The Claw would seem limited in Speed and Capacity, but I don’t have one, so I can not state that it would be impossible to improve on it operation.
For the benefit of Future Vexers, how different or how many changes would be need to be performed on the “Clawbot” and it is now, to consider it no longer a Clawbot? Removal of the Claw, would suffice, but could anything be added that would diminish the Clawbot moniker?
I don’t know about stopping it from being a clawbot, but increasing the height of the arm, making it heavier, and adding more motors to the drive are all things that would made it more competitive.
The Clawbot is a great starter robot for a first year robotics program. I am working with a group of home schoolers who have never built a robot before. As soon as the Clawbot was put together we realized it is incapable of competing in the Sack Attack game. The balance is completely wrong causing it to tip over very easily. What was good about this is it gave the students the opportunity to change the design. We have made some minor alterations to the robot and it now works pretty well. We’ve watched YouTube videos of “real” Sack Attack robots. There is no way the Clawbot can expect to win against these amazing designs. However, the Clawbot has taught the students many lessons that we will put to use in next year’s competition.
You Post confirms what I was surmising in Post #20.
What age range are your Home Schooled Students and how many are participating?? Do you have all Boys, or are there any Girls that are interested in Robotics?
I am a Vex Hobbyist and I have 4 Girls and 1 Boy in my Family, but only the Youngest Girl and the Boy found an Interest in Robotics. They are both leaning towards Mechanical Engineering areas in College.
Our team has 4 boys and 2 girls ranging in age from 13 to 16. One of the girls is very interested in programming so I’m looking forward to her learning more about controlling the robot in autonomous mode (once we figure out how to do that).
The robotics class is sponsored by a private school for home schoolers that is operated by a licensed teacher. Students can take one, or all, of their classes through this school. This year she decided to offer some new courses and one of them was an elective robotics class.
She did not know anyone who had ever built a robot so I purchased the Clawbot starter kit about a month ago and put it together with my 16 year old son. I wanted to learn as much as possible so when students built their own robot I could provide some guidance and instruction. The school purchased a second Clawbot starter kit and the students are now putting it together. Our first competition is December 1st.
The Clawbot is an excellent learning tool. Without it we would be floundering and hopelessly lost.
It is rewarding to see these students learning new skills. Two of them are visually impaired. Even though they have limited ability to see they are very involved with the construction of the second Clawbot. My son was working with them during the last class as they assembled the chassis. All the students are learning the basics of how something is built, from righty tighty lefty loosy to following step by step instructions, and working together as a team.
The plan for the rest of this year is to introduce them to more advanced components, and compete in 3 to 5 VEX competitions.