Robot Arm C

[mrsteven]

I agree, plus the rules say that the point has to be scored previously to the action of raising, so using that bonus ping-pong ball is forfeit from it. The second you start raising that ball from the ground, the operation that got a point needed to have already been done

[mrsteven]

Sorry to double post, but if you glace at the image gallery you'll see pictures of my robot and controller (in different views, with some details in the description) that some might find interesting. Or not- guess its your call once you check it out

[harryk]

Sorry to double post, but if you glace at the image gallery you'll see pictures of my robot and controller (in different views, with some details in the description) that some might find interesting. Or not- guess its your call once you check it out

I just looked through the pictures in the gallery but I don't understand how your height bonus apparatus was used to previously score a point. From what I can tell, all you did was place the ping pong ball in a bag which was then lifted by a separate winch. Care to explain?

[mrsteven]

Sorry, i was going to elaborate more but there was a character limit :/
Anyway, if you look at the base rotation picture, you see a bunch of exposed #10 machine screws, I used those as hooks to attach fishing line to the base and is connected to that pulley/ bobbin on the motor. When the motor spins, it pulls the fishing line causing the robot arm to rotate. The extra motor helps with lateral motion, so what I do is pick up a pingpong ball (NOT the one Im raising, one I put in the west box) then press my magic red button to activate the motor. The arm swings into and other the north zone (and holding over the N zone is a scorable position) scoring the point. From there, the string is cut with a mounted xacto knife after it is pulled tight at an angle. Then the only string connected to the motors bobbin is the one strung into the height task which id free to rise.

Tada, scores a point and essentially infinite height if you can reduce friction(which obv metal sleeves and wooden sticks didnt make an attempt at friction reduction)- I didnt put much time into the actual wooden sticks themselves, more into the idea so I wasnt going for 'infinite height' just enough to win. I think I got it up to 3.5 meters at its best, but didnt perform that height at state other issues were afoot.

[jander14indoor]

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=0c9Lu2DwO-I

Has anyone seen this in person? It's hard to tell, did the part of the arm that raised the ball previously score at least one point? Impressive!

HELP! I've tried different ways, different computers, etc, can't get that video to open. Was it taken down? Is it in some 'special' area you need permission to access, special machine, better operator?

Thanks,

PS, I was going to comment on the 'harryk' comment on the 'mrsteven' lifting device, but 'mrsteven' gave the answer as I was typing. Seems like he explained pretty well how the device meets (opinion only of course) the rules and FAQs.

Jeff Anderson
Merkenich, Cologne, Germany
business trip, normally Livonia, MI

Not really important except maybe to say that while I'm not an SO alum (too old) my job as an engineer (SO tie in) is why I got to come to such a cool old city this week. So, not only do I get to have fun as an engineer, I get to travel to interesting places on someone else's bill. Oh, and I get to drive at unlimited speeds on the Autobahn. Well theoretically. The company paid rental is a cheap econo box and it's squirrely at 140 kph, not really interested in taking it to 200 kph, even if its engine could get it there. Next time I'll have to push for a better car...

[mrsteven]

The video is there, janderson, the link he posted is from a mobile device. When you copy (or click the link) delete the first two characters 'm.' Defining the device as a mobile one. It should then work.

I thought it was pretty straight forward, but I also have a list of clarifications as thick as my documentation to support everything im doing so that there is no room for issue with an event supervisor. Sorry chalker and anderson for sending in so many clarifications this year, I know I must have been a bit of a pest with lots of robot arm and maglev clarifcations.

Thats very cool! My dad dislikes business trips, new people, new environment, not really his deal. He likes consistency

[harryk]

Sorry, i was going to elaborate more but there was a character limit :/
Anyway, if you look at the base rotation picture, you see a bunch of exposed #10 machine screws, I used those as hooks to attach fishing line to the base and is connected to that pulley/ bobbin on the motor. When the motor spins, it pulls the fishing line causing the robot arm to rotate. The extra motor helps with lateral motion, so what I do is pick up a pingpong ball (NOT the one Im raising, one I put in the west box) then press my magic red button to activate the motor. The arm swings into and other the north zone (and holding over the N zone is a scorable position) scoring the point. From there, the string is cut with a mounted xacto knife after it is pulled tight at an angle. Then the only string connected to the motors bobbin is the one strung into the height task which id free to rise.

Tada, scores a point and essentially infinite height if you can reduce friction(which obv metal sleeves and wooden sticks didnt make an attempt at friction reduction)- I didnt put much time into the actual wooden sticks themselves, more into the idea so I wasnt going for 'infinite height' just enough to win. I think I got it up to 3.5 meters at its best, but didnt perform that height at state other issues were afoot.

Ok, I understand it now. Clever way to use the winch to score a point, I hadn't thought of that one yet.

[FawnOnyx]

I still don't quite understand how the lifting of the actual bag works. I would imagine it gets lifted on some sort of high-mounted pulley which the string goes through, but the height for that is limited to a meter. How can the theoretical height be infinite?

Edit: nevermind, my bad I didn't see the other pictures with the racketing extension thing, very nice!

[bugsrcool]

I am thoroughly confused with how you can score a point moving something into the north zone that does not stay in the north zone when it says clearly in the rules that those points are scored at the end of the run (7.e). I can see if the object is moved into the north zone and stays there that it could be counted but merely holding an object over the north zone and then place in one of the goal boxes later by the regular arm I don't see. Maybe someone on the rules committee could help me out because my team has proposed several ways to do just that and I tell them to come up with another, which they have. They made a whole second arm that legitimately places an object into one of the goal boxes before it takes hold of the final ping pong ball and raises it up. This I believe is in the spirit of the rules. Am I missing something here?

[mrsteven]

I have a clarification affirming that scoring a point does not explicitly mean that it has to be in the same scorable position at the end. It still scores a point

And the air space over the north zone is still the north zone