About the Team:
The Heart Beeps are back again. The team was dissolved (think nuclear fission) after the 2011-12 gateway season due growth of the program amongst other things. I founded 1935E Maximum Distortion while Kevin–the second core member–founded Team 1935B Bravo Bots which later turned into 8308A Skynet. I had way too much time on my hands and went overboard on robot design (like 10 hours a week) unlike 1935B/8308 who went really low key. this summer found me with less time on my hands and them wanting to step up their game so we combined again once more into 1935A this season.
Both Kevin and I are 5 year veterans Seniors with four seasons under our belt. Our third member Brian is a 3 year veteran junior.
Our robot:
This robot is our second iteration; each iteration has competed once with limited success mainly due to lack of preparation (We should know better… Right?). We intend to stay with our current design for the rest of the season so that we can score high in programming skills (shooting for 38 by the end of the season)
Hunn. Using tiny hole c channels to conserve space for bearing blocks. Why did I not think of that?
Kina disappointed to see a short intake… usually people relate successful robots to long skyrise intake so that robots can use minimum motion to score skyrise. But I have no idea what alien you guys are gonna build…
It all depends on how you play the game. I usually tend to take the path less traveled. Will I do this when someone is paying me so solve a problem? No! But since we are doing this for fun, why not take the scenic route; I’am in no hurry.
In this particular case it also has to do with living within our means. I don’t have the time anymore to make something more complected than everyone else. And if four seasons had taught me anything, it’s that getting that balance right matters more than any other factor in how well a team does.
so a passive skyrise grabber and passive cube hook with a motor powered actuation?
Which then leaves 8 motors for a lift and drive. Since you guys are going for some fun, im assuming it’s holonomic, but it would be pretty fun to build a shifting x drive. rd4bs, linear lifts, and scissor lifts are too mainstream, and arms as well as 8 bar linkages aren’t fun to build, so I’m guessing an rd6b
Following the first picture my first thought was a passive Skyrise manipulator with some sort of chain bar system. However after the second photo I see that my chain bar guess is probably wrong.
I’m not sure what to think of using a passive claw for a high programing skills run, I wouldn’t think it would be as reliable as a powered claw, but I’m ready to be convinced otherwise / corrected.
Can’t wait to see more of this fun robot revealed…
Not really a fan or reverse bars or scissors for programing, they flop around too much. I think they lend themselves better to driver mode. Also my RD4B in gateway, my Rd6B in gateway and my Rd3.5B from sack attack were all nightmares to maintain.
We thought about a chain bar, but decided that a wrist was invaluable to this design.
I agree with you that a passive skirise claw by itself would be a blunt tool for programing skills; but I have worked that out (doubt I will be revealing that)
It looks like, based on your picture, some device like the one the Rd6b has on their robot (the swivel) in this video. It could be some sort of skyrise swivel? Also is that a thumbscrew in the motor?
Ok so it’s definitely a holonomic since you didn’t comment on that. If it’s not a reverse bar, or scissor, that leads to the normal linkage, linear lift, or arms. Your last photo looks like a scissor, and it doesn’t look like a linear lift cause it’s too open, so my next guess is a 8 bar or 12 bar linkage for the lift
Nah. It’s totally unnecessary since a rd4b can reach the top
I’ve seen one, maybe two, rd4b’s that can build the seventh skyrise but none that can effectively score on it. And those that can build it are more complicated and less stable.
It’s extremely easy to build and score the seventh section. You just have to build it right. Our first robot could easily build and score the seventh section.
At our last competition there were two robots with double reverse 4 bars that were extremely stable, and could build a full skyrise easily. They planned on picking each other for eliminations. One ended up winning the tournament and the other one lost in the quarterfinals. I believe that Double reverse 4 could unfortunately be the cookie cutter design.
Back on topic I think the lift is similar to 1935’s v-3 from last year.
1935A- perhaps the only teams who has been shouting out to vex community that you don’t have to use a big gear to power a bar lift since forever ago! Rack and pinion lift all the way!
Only since sack attack. I tend to use them in extreme cases where I want the lift to ether go really fast or really slow. The best part is no twisted axles!
More pictures:
These are more recent and reflect some changes that have been made after getting some experience with this machine.
