Scioly.org

Any idea what times for perfect scores there will be at nats?

I'd say first place with ~1:30. Top 6 or 7 will have perfect scores and maybe 3 of those hovering around the 2 min mark.

I agree with that. Do you guys have efficient ways of turning the dice to a 6 consistently. If so, what have you guys used?

So far the best ways I've seen are to simply flip it twice in the same direction. In other words a simple 180 flip.
- The obvious solution is an arm where the end gripper can rotate along its axis. Pick it up, rotate 180, set it down.
- I've seen one team with a simple solution that flipped it 90 degrees twice around the same axis that didn't tie up the gripper other than to pick up the die and set it in the device. Since I've been beat up (I don't think fairly, this is a public event, but I am willing to stipulate the other sides view during the competition season) I can't give more detail. But it worked pretty well.
- I haven't seen my favorite idea that flips them all at once. Put a fence beyond the dice, slide a blade under, put a top on it, flip entire assembly as a group. Dedicated manipulator that can operate while the general purpose arm takes care of the other items. Maybe its not as easy as I visualize it.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

Since I'm done with the season, here's my robot arm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIPpKp4DPOU

Chris_L wrote:Since I'm done with the season, here's my robot arm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIPpKp4DPOU

Nice Arm! Very fluid movements. Care to comment on how you achieved that?

windu34 wrote:

Chris_L wrote:Since I'm done with the season, here's my robot arm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIPpKp4DPOU

Nice Arm! Very fluid movements. Care to comment on how you achieved that?

That was probably due to super simplified code, and the BotBoarduino board, which was pretty effective. Other than that nothing special, just some practice and an effective spring counterweight.

Chris_L wrote:Since I'm done with the season, here's my robot arm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIPpKp4DPOU

I really like your approach on the ping pong balls and those back two pencils- they have been causing me grief in practice!

Some questions about specs, though: what material were you using on the upper part of your arm? We are having some trouble balancing weight on the arm, so it's still bouncy despite some added tension on the back. Also, was there any need for you to use a stepper motor in the base, or did you stick to an actuator?

samlan16 wrote:

Chris_L wrote:Since I'm done with the season, here's my robot arm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIPpKp4DPOU

I really like your approach on the ping pong balls and those back two pencils- they have been causing me grief in practice!

Some questions about specs, though: what material were you using on the upper part of your arm? We are having some trouble balancing weight on the arm, so it's still bouncy despite some added tension on the back. Also, was there any need for you to use a stepper motor in the base, or did you stick to an actuator?

Servo for the base, since i but it at the back of the board it only needed to be 180 degree rotation. The upper part is aluminum tubing (Lynxmotion), balancing is just springs from an electronic store. I think mine would've been less bouncy if I had done a longer connection from shoulder to elbow, that way its not as big of a motion for the elbow servo to move the upper part of the arm. Piano wire and tape pretty much did the job for the ping pong balls, and folded paper for the pencil part. Sometimes simple works pretty well.

Got 10th place in Washington state with a score of 28 (iirc?) it might have been lower than that haha