Philip, in blue, working with Tao on the robot
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Design Ideas Seen at Boston University
-Back stabilizer wheels that start underneath the robot and spring out on rubber bands
-Green Egg
-a transmission that engages the drive motors to the lift to increase lifting strength. this robot also used a rachet to hold the robot at the end of the match.
-big-ball throwing secondary arm that also serves as hanging hook
-Very prevalent duel-roller intake shafts
-Green Egg
-a transmission that engages the drive motors to the lift to increase lifting strength. this robot also used a rachet to hold the robot at the end of the match.
-big-ball throwing secondary arm that also serves as hanging hook
-Very prevalent duel-roller intake shafts
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Universal Vex Design Criteria
#1 Resilience. Lasting damage should be avoided at all costs.
#2 Reliability. If it works "sometimes" it probably won't work at the competition.
#3 Strength. Competitions always put unexpected loads on your robot.
#4 Speed. Get as much done with your time as you can.
#5 Ease. Need for precise driving or programming is to be avoided.
#6 Simplicity. The more complex it is, to more likely it is that something will go wrong.
#? Versatility. Even though you can choose allies to complement your strategy, you still need to adapt.
#? Plan Your Time. You want to be productive throughout the match, so make sure your robot has something to do at the beginning, the middle, and the end. Don't plan to do two things at once, only have the ability to do them both.
#2 Reliability. If it works "sometimes" it probably won't work at the competition.
#3 Strength. Competitions always put unexpected loads on your robot.
#4 Speed. Get as much done with your time as you can.
#5 Ease. Need for precise driving or programming is to be avoided.
#6 Simplicity. The more complex it is, to more likely it is that something will go wrong.
#? Versatility. Even though you can choose allies to complement your strategy, you still need to adapt.
#? Plan Your Time. You want to be productive throughout the match, so make sure your robot has something to do at the beginning, the middle, and the end. Don't plan to do two things at once, only have the ability to do them both.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Robot Musts for Toss Up
#1 Three buckyball carrying capacity
#2 Quick scoring of buckyballs in the goals
#3 Fast and strong drive
#4 Ability to lift big balls over the barrier, even better if you throw them
#5 Speed is the key. Everything should be fast.
#6 Placing big balls on goals.
#7 If you got this far, you need to high hang with a ball.
That's all for now, but there should be more to come!
#2 Quick scoring of buckyballs in the goals
#3 Fast and strong drive
#4 Ability to lift big balls over the barrier, even better if you throw them
#5 Speed is the key. Everything should be fast.
#6 Placing big balls on goals.
#7 If you got this far, you need to high hang with a ball.
That's all for now, but there should be more to come!
Thursday, January 2, 2014
New Robot
after using my first design at a scrimmage tournament, I designed and built a new design based on what I
learned. This uses a scissor lift to score balls in goals and high hang. It also uses Mecanum wheels like the one below to achieve complete maneuverability.
Mecanum wheel
learned. This uses a scissor lift to score balls in goals and high hang. It also uses Mecanum wheels like the one below to achieve complete maneuverability.
Mecanum wheel
Here are some photos of the finished product:
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
QCC Competition Report
Report for my first tournament
On November 16th I competed in the QCC Vex Robotics scrimmage competition, and was honored with the Excellence award, the highest award in the tournament. This qualified me for the All-New England
tournament.
How the day went
start - to - end
When we arrived, I started immediately setting up my pit area and charging my batteries. At 9:00 I went to the auditorium for the opening ceremony. After that I went to have my robot approved before my first match, which I thought was in thirty minutes. Then I looked at my match schedule, and found out that I was in the first round of competition! I rushed over, and made it in time. My alliance won the match, due to the fact that the opposing alliance did not arrive in time for the game.
In the seeding matches, I was played with Western Technical Vocational High School and the Bancroft Robodogs #2, both of which were friendly and valuable allies. My favorite qualification mach of the day was the sixth match in which one team in my alliance and one team in the opposing alliance could not compete. This match was The Dreaming Robot V. the Tech-Know Commandos, who had won the world championship last year. I won this match due to their robot malfunctioning.
Who was there?
There were about 50 teams in the tournament. I met many of them, including Sullivan Middle School and Claremont Academy.
How
I felt good at the competition, well prepared, and even though my performance had issues, I did well.
I was very lacking in the scouting department, but that wasn't too bad for a first-year team.
I felt very honored when the judge awarded me the Excellence Award, the highest award in the tournament.
Lessons Learned
I learned a lot from this competition, especially since it is my first.
Person to person lessons learned.
-Making friends matters. The unique ally system in vex demands that a team must have good relations with its
peers.
-Always being on the lookout for potential allies is important. I lacked in this aspect, but I will try to improve.
Game lessons learned.
-Vex toss up is a very fast game. There are lots of available points, and no complex mechanisms required to get them. This places a heavy emphasis on speed, and I felt that my robot was not fast enough.
-There are lots of different ways to get points, so it is a good idea to have a versatile robot that can adjust to
the strategies of your opponents and allies.
-The robots in Toss Up need to be precise even when visibility isn't great. This means that your robot can't
need precise programmed or remote controlled movement.
Robot lessons learned.
-The robot needs to be easily portable. Easy transportation makes the tournament flow more smoothly and
makes you punctual. Mine wasn't, so I made modifications in-tournament.
-A Toss Up match is chaotic, so your robot needs to be stable. My robot was not stable enough, so it fell over in two of the qualifying rounds.
Video of the competition
On November 16th I competed in the QCC Vex Robotics scrimmage competition, and was honored with the Excellence award, the highest award in the tournament. This qualified me for the All-New England
tournament.
How the day went
start - to - end
When we arrived, I started immediately setting up my pit area and charging my batteries. At 9:00 I went to the auditorium for the opening ceremony. After that I went to have my robot approved before my first match, which I thought was in thirty minutes. Then I looked at my match schedule, and found out that I was in the first round of competition! I rushed over, and made it in time. My alliance won the match, due to the fact that the opposing alliance did not arrive in time for the game.
In the seeding matches, I was played with Western Technical Vocational High School and the Bancroft Robodogs #2, both of which were friendly and valuable allies. My favorite qualification mach of the day was the sixth match in which one team in my alliance and one team in the opposing alliance could not compete. This match was The Dreaming Robot V. the Tech-Know Commandos, who had won the world championship last year. I won this match due to their robot malfunctioning.
Who was there?
There were about 50 teams in the tournament. I met many of them, including Sullivan Middle School and Claremont Academy.
How
I felt good at the competition, well prepared, and even though my performance had issues, I did well.
I was very lacking in the scouting department, but that wasn't too bad for a first-year team.
I felt very honored when the judge awarded me the Excellence Award, the highest award in the tournament.
Lessons Learned
I learned a lot from this competition, especially since it is my first.
Person to person lessons learned.
-Making friends matters. The unique ally system in vex demands that a team must have good relations with its
peers.
-Always being on the lookout for potential allies is important. I lacked in this aspect, but I will try to improve.
Game lessons learned.
-Vex toss up is a very fast game. There are lots of available points, and no complex mechanisms required to get them. This places a heavy emphasis on speed, and I felt that my robot was not fast enough.
-There are lots of different ways to get points, so it is a good idea to have a versatile robot that can adjust to
the strategies of your opponents and allies.
-The robots in Toss Up need to be precise even when visibility isn't great. This means that your robot can't
need precise programmed or remote controlled movement.
Robot lessons learned.
-The robot needs to be easily portable. Easy transportation makes the tournament flow more smoothly and
makes you punctual. Mine wasn't, so I made modifications in-tournament.
-A Toss Up match is chaotic, so your robot needs to be stable. My robot was not stable enough, so it fell over in two of the qualifying rounds.
Video of the competition
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