Team 5854: Updates & Reveals

VEX V5 General Discussion VEX Robot Showcase
#1

Hello Vex Forum,
Team 5854, Absolute Uncertainty, presents our second iteration: Finite.
Our video reveal can be viewed here, or at our website. Pictures will be posted soon!

Quick Specs:
6 motor, 1.6:1 drive, 6 wheel with drop-down, chain driven
2 motor, 1:5 lift, custom 8 bar design
2 motor, flip down intake with passive locking mechanism, bucky ball/big ball capable

Having only competed in 3 competitions this year:
2x Excellence Recipients
2x Tournament Finalists
1x Tournament Semifinalist
Lost a mere 10 matches (scrimmages, qualifiers, and eliminations)

Also, Team 5854, Absolute Uncertainty, presents: team5854.com.
We apologize as the website is still heavily under construction. In the coming weeks we plan to add new sections including: a full CAD library, picture galleries, a scouting database, a funding page and many others. Check in with us to see whats new!

We spent a few months optimizing this robot, but now we are taking what we learned from this robot and creating our 3rd iteration. We are completing our CAD and will begin building this week.

We are only a 2nd year team, and we know we have a long way to go until we rival the best in VEX. Please help us become a better team by leaving comments below or by connecting with us through [EMAIL=“5854vexteams@gmail.com”]email, twitter, or youtube! We are continuously working to improve, and will be posting here frequently to keep everyone updated!

On behalf of the entire 5854: Absolute Uncertainty team,
THANK YOU for your support and good luck in competition.

#2

Great robot, but what about the hanging zone autonomous?:smiley:

#3

We have multiple other autons, including a few for the hanging zone; however, since they take 15 seconds each we decide to only include 1 in the video reveal. When we get our photo and video galleries up on our website we will make sure we post videos videos of all of our autons. :slight_smile:

#4

I’m a bit curious about the pasive lock mechanism for the intake. Could you explain it a bit further, a picture would be awesome aswell.

#5

Everything looks great, you seem like a very solid team with a real chance this year. Any plans to hang?

#6

Your intake flap pattern seems to work quite well. I’m impressed with how you don’t have to chase buckyballs while intaking them.

#7

Looks nice! It seems like you got your intake very well tuned. Does the 8-bar give you enough heught to hang? Or would you need an added mechanism? Also, do the two lift motors have any trouble with a lack of power? We’re used to building 4 motor lifts.

#8

Tomorrow I can get some good pictures but, for the mean time ill try to expound upon it. When the intake flips down an elastic powered hook locks onto the intake. This prevents the intake from popping up, which we found greatly improves the efficiency of our intake.

Thank you! Yes, the next big thing to focus on for us is hanging. It will be a priority of ours to line up and hang in under 5 seconds.

Thank you! We spent many afternoons tinkering with the intake, and I’m sure many more will be spent trying to improve it further!

Thank you! the 8-bar is just shy of hanging height but we have accounted for this in our next iteration. We have never had issues with our lift motors, we found that two motors at 1:5 with rubber band assist is more than enough to power our lift. Of course, we will need a little more power to hang;)

I know that all most of you want to see is pictures, and I promise that I will get several loaded onto the forum tomorrow. As well, I hope to have the photo gallery section of our website up tomorrow!

#9

Chiringa_PR, Here are a few pictures of the passive hook design. It is machined out of poly-carbonate and is elastically powered. There is a small piece of steel bar behind the hook that is used as a hard stop, but the hook is still able to hinge backward when the intake drops down. Once the intake has dropped the only way to release the hook is manually lifting it after the match. What makes sense to me might not be very clear to you, so please ask if you still have questions!:slight_smile:

The photo gallery on our website is now up with many more photos on the way!

#10

http://i.imgur.com/yuVgoAC.jpg?1 http://i.imgur.com/bAfvZ1M.jpg?1 http://i.imgur.com/C92mw7x.jpg?1
More photos, and higher resolutions, can be found at team5854.com

#11

This wasn’t clearly shown in the vid, but can your robot pick up large balls without having to run into a wall? Both times you pick up a large ball, you push into something, so I was wondering if this was just a coincidence, or robot feature.

#12

Most if not all robots with side intakes can pick up big balls without driving into a wall

#13

Not true. Many, many robots with side intakes I have seen need to drive into something to pick up a large ball. Do they have the capability? Yes. Can they actually? No.

#14

I agree. I have only seen a select few that can actually intake them without using a solid object. It’s very useful to intake them in the open field.

#15

Sorry, it was total coincidence both shots we pushed against the wall. We can pick up large balls without pushing against a wall or the barrier; however, it takes a second or two to grab it. Since you are never more than a few feet from the wall it has generally been quicker to just bump into something. In our next reveal video we will try to do a better job of demonstrating all of our skills; someone already pointed out that we ought to show more auton runs.

#16

now try to tweak it so there is no “lag” :wink:

I think thats what everyones talking about

#17

Well, the whole robot is coming apart in the next few days to make way for the new one, but we will definitely get the big ball intake optimized better on the next robot!
Thanks you guys for the criticisms as well as the compliments! We greatly appreciate your feedback:)

#18

Quick Update:
We posted new pictures, several CAD renderings and a time lapse to our website!
Here is the time lapse of us tearing down Finite: http://i.imgur.com/tSQpZsR.jpg?3

#19

Not bad, would want to see what else is there to come! :wink:

#20

My team and I attended the TSA FLC Vex tournament with you at the beginning of this year and even allianced for the elimination rounds. One of your teammates mentioned you used EasyC to program your LCD Display, so I was wondering if you could help us with our LCD programming. We tried to program the display off of a tutorial found by our advisor but we never got anything to display. If you could post an example of your code or explain to us how you did the programming, that would be much appreciated.

Also, much luck to your team as you embark on your next build. I saw your video and Finite looked considerably better than the FLC Tournament. I hope you continue to make improvements and look forward to seeing you at the Georgia State Competition.

-Team 383V (Lowndes High School)