Info: http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/default.aspx?id=966
Team website designed and created by me: www.dimondrobotics.com
Game animation:
Quicktime Movie Large (640x480) - 124MB
Quicktime Movie Medium (352x288) - 59MB
Quicktime Movie Small (160x120) - 23MB
Windows Media Large (640x480) - 120MB
Windows Media Medium (352x288) - 57MB
Windows Media Small (160x120) - 23MB
AVI Large (640x480) - 34MB
AVI Medium (352x288) - 32MB
AVI Small (160x120) - 18MB
What it is:
A robot designed for this year's "Rack 'N Roll" game. In the game, there is a rack in the center, 12' tall and 12' in dia. in the shape of an octogon with 6 "spiders." Each 'spider' is connected with only chains so it can move freely.
The game begins with a 15 second autonomous period in which the robot will attempt to score on it's own programming (C#), and use the on-board camera to 'hone' in on one of the green lights on top of the 'rack.' After that, the robots will be controlled by us, and we will attempt to make as many points as possible. To score, you have to make rows of 3 or more, kind of like tic tac toe, except you can't go diagonal. At the end of the game, the last 10 seconds are the end game where you must elevate the other robots on your team off of the ground. Each bot that is 12" or more off the ground gets you 30 bonus points.
Our bot is designed to get two for a total of 60 points.
The game is announced on Jan. 6th, and you also get your "Kit of Parts" on that same day, and you have up until Feb 20th to complete your robot. So on Monday, we crated it up, and shipped it out. A VERY hectic 6 weeks...
The robot:
Our robot has a 44" ramp, and a small platform that will fold out. It also has a two stage arm with a claw on it for grabbing onto the tubes. At the end of the match, we will unlatch the ramp, shake the bot, and the ramp will fall down. The first bot will drive up the ramp, park at the end of the platform. The second one will go up, stop on the ramp. We will then fire the pneumatic rams on the end of the ramp to lift the ramp up, earning us 60 points.
The drivetrain was a thing of beauty. It was going to be 4wd, 4 motors, 4 gearboxes. Each wheel would be mounted on a lazy suzan, off-center, so that when the motor spins, the wheel ends up spinning the whole assembly. To control rotation of each wheel assembly, a disc was mounted to it, then a bicycle disc brake was mounted around the disc to act as a braking system. To lock the brake, a small, short-throw pneumatic ram would activate the brake. To sense the rotation of the wheel assembly, a potentiometer (you know, those things in servos) was mounted to each assembly.
The whole system would be in the programming. You would just move the joystick where you want to go, and it would go in that direction.
BUT, ultimately, we had to get rid of two assemblies because we were 10 lbs overweight. So we just have casters where those two assemblies used to be. The remaining two assemblies are just locked into place, so the movement and control will be similar to that of a zero turn radius lawnmower.
Misc facts:
-2 ESC's
-On-board controller is programmed in C#
-6 pneumatic rams
-4 air tanks
-on-board compressor
-limited to 120 psi in the tanks, 60 psi to the rams
weight classes:
4' tall= 120 lbs max
5' tall= 110 lbs max
6' tall= 100 lbs max
-ours is the 5' class
-All money comes from fund raising and sponsors, which include, BP, SqareD, HDR, PDC, Anchorage Rotary Club, Dowland-Bach, Dowl engineers, "The world famous" Chilkoot Charlie's (Anyone in the lower 48 ever heard of them? They're a bar) AND, Zone's FAVORITE sponsor in the WORLD, the local walmart. :lol:
-Entry fee your first regional is $6000...$4000 for each additional regional
-Only 3 teams in all of AK, all in Anchorage.
We will be attending the 2007 Silicon Valley regional in San Jose CA, on March 14-17. Since we're in Alaska, we're getting to fly!
More pics:
Top half:
Bottom half:
Even more pics:
Anchorage moutainscape:
I'm not actually in any of the pics because no one else besides me wanted to get out the camera, lol.
FUEL CELL:
We have also been working on a fuel cell project.
The fuel cell we received is a 10-stack cell, capable of 2 amp peak output running at 1 psi.
In case you don't know what a fuel cell is, I'll give you a run-down. A fuel cell uses reverse electrolysis to combine H2 atoms with O atoms to produce electricity. A small amount of H2O is given off as an exhaust product.
For the challenge, we had to design and test the system by a certain date. We got our fuel cell two weeks later than other teams because it was shipped from Chicago to Washington state, then back, then back to WA, then finally up to AK. So they were kind enough to give us extensions on our deadlines.
Pics!:
off:
On:
System overview:
In the bot:
Last Year:
This is my second year participating in FIRST. Last year I was on a team in VA, and here was our bot:
Here is the bot from the team I'm on now:
Here's a thread about my experience last year:
https://www.rcnitrotalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38940
Ok, there will undoubtedly be questions, so let 'em fly!