Yes, our robot has finally shipped!
For those of you who don't know what I've been up to for the past 6 weeks (99% of you, I'd imagine) JCH Robotics (my team) has finally shipped their FIRST robot. We've also submitted our website, animation, and Chairman's award. Since this is our first year of competition in FIRST, we're not expecting much, but simply getting this much done has been quite a task with only 11 people! Check out our site--feel free to drop us a line at the forums, check out the picture galleries and in general explore the site.
And yes, if you're wondering, I am the webmaster.
http://jchrobotics.com/images/first_pic ... 0_7313.jpg
http://jchrobotics.com/images/first_pic ... 0_7314.jpg
It's finally over...
Re: It's finally over...
I just want to say I'm IMPRESSED!.. I notice you have what looks like a camera on top. I see a lens.Stryker wrote:Yes, our robot has finally shipped!
For those of you who don't know what I've been up to for the past 6 weeks (99% of you, I'd imagine) JCH Robotics (my team) has finally shipped their FIRST robot. We've also submitted our website, animation, and Chairman's award. Since this is our first year of competition in FIRST, we're not expecting much, but simply getting this much done has been quite a task with only 11 people! Check out our site--feel free to drop us a line at the forums, check out the picture galleries and in general explore the site.
And yes, if you're wondering, I am the webmaster.
http://jchrobotics.com/images/first_pic ... 0_7313.jpg
http://jchrobotics.com/images/first_pic ... 0_7314.jpg
Good Luck.
Your friend Bettina
Cool, Grendel! I didn't know you were involved with FIRST. What hub is that team competing in? St. Louis by any chance?
Thanks, Bettina--and yes, that is a camera. The robot can find, track, and fire at a green light mounted above the highest-scoring target. It can perform this task completely autonomously, with no imput from the user--which is a definite plus, considering that the first 10 seconds of each \"round\" of the game must be performed completely autonomously. The robot is programmed in C.
Our robot is pretty neat, really--it performs perfectly in autonomous mode, and has an accuracy of about 95% when aiming for the top goal. It can hold at least 8 balls, pick up balls, fire at the top goal and two lower goals on the ground, and climb a ramp at the end of each round to score points. We're looking forward to competing with it. I'm trying out tonight for the position of team \"player\"--the \"player\" is the person that throws balls back onto the field after the robots have shot them into the goals. Hopefully I'll get the position--i used to have a pretty hot arm in baseball.
This FIRST competition is sure a heck of a lot different than BEST.
Thanks, Bettina--and yes, that is a camera. The robot can find, track, and fire at a green light mounted above the highest-scoring target. It can perform this task completely autonomously, with no imput from the user--which is a definite plus, considering that the first 10 seconds of each \"round\" of the game must be performed completely autonomously. The robot is programmed in C.
Our robot is pretty neat, really--it performs perfectly in autonomous mode, and has an accuracy of about 95% when aiming for the top goal. It can hold at least 8 balls, pick up balls, fire at the top goal and two lower goals on the ground, and climb a ramp at the end of each round to score points. We're looking forward to competing with it. I'm trying out tonight for the position of team \"player\"--the \"player\" is the person that throws balls back onto the field after the robots have shot them into the goals. Hopefully I'll get the position--i used to have a pretty hot arm in baseball.
This FIRST competition is sure a heck of a lot different than BEST.
Pacific Northwest -- Portland, a week earlier than you guys
The game is rather complex, but I'll describe it as best I can here.
Pretty much, there are two \"Alliances\" on the field. Each alliance consists of 3 teams, each with their own robot. The playing field is about 54' x 26', with goals and a ramp at either end of the 54' span. There is a goal in the center of the end wall, 8' from the floor, and two goals on the floor with very slight inclines leading up to them that then drop off at the goal entrance, so that balls stay in the goals without bouncing out.
3 points are scored by shooting the balls into the high goal, 1 point for getting them in either of the low goals on your opponents' side of the field.
The rounds are 2 minutes, 10 seconds long. First is a 10-second autonomous period in which the robots must operate without any user input, then, based on the scores of autonomous mode, one team takes offense or defense, and the teams can then take command of their robot via joystick/radio transmitter. For 40 seconds, the team on \"offense\" tries to score goals while the other team tries to stop them. After that 40 seconds, the roles switch. For the remaining 40 seconds, the 'bots can either score or defend at will. You can score points by getting onto your team's \"ramp\" next to your wall--if one robot in your alliance does this, you get 5 points; if 2 do it, 15 points; if all 3 are on the ramp by the end of the game, you get 25 points. Players can retreive balls from the goals and throw them back out onto the field at will.
Pretty much, there are two \"Alliances\" on the field. Each alliance consists of 3 teams, each with their own robot. The playing field is about 54' x 26', with goals and a ramp at either end of the 54' span. There is a goal in the center of the end wall, 8' from the floor, and two goals on the floor with very slight inclines leading up to them that then drop off at the goal entrance, so that balls stay in the goals without bouncing out.
3 points are scored by shooting the balls into the high goal, 1 point for getting them in either of the low goals on your opponents' side of the field.
The rounds are 2 minutes, 10 seconds long. First is a 10-second autonomous period in which the robots must operate without any user input, then, based on the scores of autonomous mode, one team takes offense or defense, and the teams can then take command of their robot via joystick/radio transmitter. For 40 seconds, the team on \"offense\" tries to score goals while the other team tries to stop them. After that 40 seconds, the roles switch. For the remaining 40 seconds, the 'bots can either score or defend at will. You can score points by getting onto your team's \"ramp\" next to your wall--if one robot in your alliance does this, you get 5 points; if 2 do it, 15 points; if all 3 are on the ramp by the end of the game, you get 25 points. Players can retreive balls from the goals and throw them back out onto the field at will.
It's somewhat discouraged. 
The way the competition works, a robot on the opposing team might actually be on YOUR team during the next round. So, it's usually in your best interests to keep most of the robots healthy.
On the other hand, that robot can do some SERIOUS damage to whatever it hits...
As evinced by the hole in the wall of the shed.
The way the competition works, a robot on the opposing team might actually be on YOUR team during the next round. So, it's usually in your best interests to keep most of the robots healthy.
On the other hand, that robot can do some SERIOUS damage to whatever it hits...
As evinced by the hole in the wall of the shed.
Yeah Snoopy, we used a big ol' 12V DC 18 amp-hour Exide deep cycle battery.
Some of the motors were provided by FIRST--we ended up using more motors than they gave us, but they had to be of the same type as those provided.
The motor you can see attached to the brush wheel is actually made by Fisher Price--go figure; it's straight out of one of those powered kiddie cars. They're pretty danged hard to attach anything to, however--they're made to fit tightly into compartments on those kiddie cars. They don't have any nice threaded holes to screw into or anything. Zip ties become your friend very quickly when dealing with those things.
The larger motors for the launcher wheel and drive motors are pretty much the same thing you'd see in your car acting as the starter--they're HUGE, incredibly powerful, and eat a lot of juice. That 18 amp-hour battery lasts about 10 minutes on a full charge during moderate use.
There are two of those motors on EACH of the two drive wheels--the combined power of all 4 going full forward at the start of the match in autonomous mode is enough to make that 120 pound robot pop a decent wheelie, despite the fact that it's front-heavy.
There's also one more motor up on the top for raising/lowering the cannon. It's fairly small, and runs slowly, but it has a LOT of torque--and it needs it. That shooter mechanism weighs in at a pretty incredible 20 pounds.
Some of the motors were provided by FIRST--we ended up using more motors than they gave us, but they had to be of the same type as those provided.
The motor you can see attached to the brush wheel is actually made by Fisher Price--go figure; it's straight out of one of those powered kiddie cars. They're pretty danged hard to attach anything to, however--they're made to fit tightly into compartments on those kiddie cars. They don't have any nice threaded holes to screw into or anything. Zip ties become your friend very quickly when dealing with those things.
The larger motors for the launcher wheel and drive motors are pretty much the same thing you'd see in your car acting as the starter--they're HUGE, incredibly powerful, and eat a lot of juice. That 18 amp-hour battery lasts about 10 minutes on a full charge during moderate use.
There are two of those motors on EACH of the two drive wheels--the combined power of all 4 going full forward at the start of the match in autonomous mode is enough to make that 120 pound robot pop a decent wheelie, despite the fact that it's front-heavy.
There's also one more motor up on the top for raising/lowering the cannon. It's fairly small, and runs slowly, but it has a LOT of torque--and it needs it. That shooter mechanism weighs in at a pretty incredible 20 pounds.