High School Student Built Robot - - - Pics

[sk8er_guy03]

Hi,

I am a senior team member of my high schools robotics class/team and we have finished production of a robot that we will use to compete in a competition known as the F.I.R.S.T. National Championships in Orlando, FL. We are known as Team 207 Metal Crafters. I happen to be one of the drivers of the robot that you guys are about to see. I thought that since this robot resembles an R/C car that you guys might like to check it out. Let me know what you guys think of our robot. If you guys have any questions about the robot or what the competition is about ask away, I'll be happy to answer all your questions.

Here are a few pics of our Student Built robot:

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1207236&a=8907204&p=41003998&Sequence=0&res=high

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1207236&a=8907204&p=41003992&Sequence=0&res=high

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1207236&a=8907204&p=41003989&Sequence=0&res=high

Our Team Web page is:
http://www.team207.com

The F.I.R.S.T. Competition Web page is:
http://www.usfirst.org

[Gokou]

Very nice machine work on that =) That is a very impressive piece of work, even more impressive that it's coming out at a high school level. Many of my M.E. classmates here at college would be hard pressed to come up with something even half as nice as that. Congrats!

[SpeeDFX]

hey Sk8ter guy, thats a real nice bot! I was wondering if it had trouble going over bumps or something like that because I was looking at the wheels and they are not...notched, their smooth. Is it that there is a lot of tension on the belt that it doesn't come off? or do you drive it really slow so it doesn't? I'm just wondering...

[TB01 2NR]

What is the competition? What must the robot do? Also it looks nice, but I must agree what do you do about the tooth less drive wheels?

[J mAn]

wow! looks awsome! what can the robot do? yah, don't the treds come off the wheels?

[R_C_MAN]

What radio do you use to control it?

[NitroDrew]

Very nice bot!
Ever think of taking it on Battle Bots? http://www.rccaraction.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[SteveP]

Looks VERY cool!

[sk8er_guy03]

hey guys, Im glad to hear all the positive feedback. What might impress you guys even more is that e are given a 6 week time period to design and build this robot before it is shipped to the holding grounds.

About the belts, they dont slip off the wheels, what we have done is put enough tension to keep the belts on the wheels, we later added some small guids before our test run yesturday. The belts didnt come loose at all. We still have to test the robots ability to climb things, but i am confident that it will do the job.

About the game and what the competition is about. FIRST = For Recognition Of Science and Technology, it is a non profit organization and we will compete in the nation championships in Disney World Orlando, FL. Im not sure of the date off the top of my head, but we leave for FL April 3rd, if im not mistaken it kicks off April 5th.

This years game has a 2min limit per round just as the years before. There will be 4 robots on the field at once and they will all be working together. We are radomly paired up from a list of 300+ teams. To score points there are 2 goals on the field that somewhat resemble basketball hopes. You get the points by putting balls in the baskets, either a human player on the sideline can shoot em in, or the robot can insert them. There is also a titer totter in the middle of the field, if before the 2mins you balance the robot with the two goals on it, you get extra points. There are also a few more aspects to the game. You may be able to better understand it if you visit the FIRST web page at www.usfirst.org (http://www.usfirst.org) and look up the robotics comp.

Our robot is designed the grab the goals and move them around so that the human players can access them easier, as well as to balance on the titter totter type ramp with a gyro that we have on the robot. I will be in camand of the robot along with one of my team mates as co-driver.

About the radio system that we use, it is not something that you pick up at a hobby store. Im not sure what type it exacally is, but it is programed with a computer. I can find this information out and post here at a later date. Today we will be doing more test driving before a practice round on sunday with some local teams.

steveP---

Do you think there may be a possibility we can submit this robot as one of the homebuilt projects for RCCA? http://www.rccaraction.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

I hope i answered all your guys questions

[Andrew the RC man]

maybe i am just an A hole. but to me it just looks like a suped up RC tank and nutin more. i mean for HS students it is ok but if u can assemble and disassemble an RC tank then u could probably do sumin similar

[Nairb]

Well, of course you are, Andrew. LOL! http://www.rccaraction.com/ubb/wink.gif

It does look pretty simple in a way, but it is still a great achievement, especially for a bunch of high schoolers. Keep in mind, dude, it's totally from scratch and it has lifting parts, besides the tracks.

[sk8er_guy03]

Andrew---

You may know about R/C cars, but a lot of work goes into machining parts for anything, especially such as this robot which was completly fabricated from the ground up. All of the parts made had their own individual program to tel the machine what to do to the part. It always isnt a walk in the park, that takes time. You have to make EXACT measurments, then input them into the computer, which is the hardest part. Then you have to set machines up to run the programs and then execute the program. After you have everything running, some parts take more than a few hours to fabricate as well since the work that goes into them is time consuming, not because of lack of skill but because you can only run certain RPMS when doing certian procedures. By the way, this is not a 1/10 scale R/C car we made, it is roughly 30x36x12 inches so it is even bigger and heavier than 1/4th scale r/c cars.

I just finished a program to mill out my own shock towers for my NXT and soon for other cars if any friends want any parts, but the shock tower took me a good 5+ hours to write the program for. Each hole and operation is one step and there is a total of 44 steps.

In a way it is a complement that you say our design looks simple, it tells us that is is well constructed. There is a lot of detail though that is not seen because of the electronics mounted.

[sk8er_guy03]

To make my shock towers i was just using A.G.E. 2 but you also need access to a cnc verticle mill to make the part. If your in high school their metal shop might have a cnc mill. Without one though the part wouldnt come out professional, not impossible, but not looking so hot.

[Andrew the RC man]

ya i see what u mean if u go from sctratch and make most of the parts it is a pretty big deal.

PS: what program r u using to make your own shock towers????

[rc10gt_bb]

Are those hydrolics moving those arm/clamp thingies?

[Racer2racer]

Thats nothing like a tank. Look at all the machined parts on it??? By the way, it looks real kool. What kind of power supply does it run off of.

[sk8er_guy03]

thanks, we use a 12V battery pack on it, but im not too sure on the amps. It can run for a good 30mins before you notice the battery weaken, the matches are only 2 mins long though.

[Neo]

is that orange thing a light? if it is where the heck did you get it or how did you make it i want to put on on my snowplowing r/c truck

[sk8er_guy03]

Yeah, thats a light. We got it with an initial box of spare parts. Im not sure where you can buy one, but i would try checking out hardware or construction stores. On a side note, that light is pretty big, it might not fit an R/C car. The robot is roughly 36x32 inches. I think the diameter of the light is like 6-8"

[pmpnep]

That is the coolest thing I have ever saw.Anyway what kind of metal did you make it out of??Aluminum,18-8 Stainless???

[SubaruTiburon]

Maybe you will be competing against our HS's robot. We are big in the FIRST program...maybe the name CHUCK sounds familiar..we got 2nd a few years back. Im not that up to date on it but i will be next year when i join up for that. Our area's is www.team84.org (http://www.team84.org) Check it out..it is this years page.

[This message has been edited by SubaruTiburon (edited 02-24-2001).]

[This message has been edited by SubaruTiburon (edited 02-25-2001).]