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Which kit should my partner and I use to build the robot? Most kits are really expensive, and the cheaper kits can't do certain tasks. Does anyone know a good robot kit, preferably <$150, that can also get the bonus points? We'll also be making a modification.

couragecat wrote:Which kit should my partner and I use to build the robot? Most kits are really expensive, and the cheaper kits can't do certain tasks. Does anyone know a good robot kit, preferably <$150, that can also get the bonus points? We'll also be making a modification.

You most likely will not find a kit under 150 dollars. The two most used kits are Lynxmotion and Vex Robotics, both of which are around three hundred dollars.

Olympus1701 wrote:Any ideas on how to set the bonus jug upright?

We just have our robot flip it up with a scoop, seems to work well enough.

Olympus1701 wrote:Any ideas on how to set the bonus jug upright?

We are just using of scoop.

Just got finished running Robo-Cross at the Wright State Invitational and have the following observations I hope you find useful. Note, none of these are based on specific robots nor did any specific robot I watched resolve all these issues, so I don't think I'm giving away any secrets.

Practice. A number of teams had robots that could have done better, but the students didn't know how to get the best out of them. Example, they might have a shovel blade but tried to pick up something against the wall while at an angle. Not going to happen. Or a team wouldn't be watching the time and leave the robot in zone A. Make a field and practice.

- Claws could pick up all the objects, but were slow since you had to deal with each individual item. I saw a few well handled ones get many of the objects, but they used the full time.
- Bulldozer blades could get everything in zone C and some in zone D, but nothing in the bonus jug.
- Shovel/bucket blades could quickly pick up multiple objects and transfer them to the bonus jug, except most struggled with the Legos. I saw one variation do it consistently though so it CAN be done. I think this will ultimately be the smart solution. The best bucket got almost all the objects into the bonus jug in zone C in a very short time.
- The easiest way to pick up objects with the bucket is to trap them against the outer wall, BUT, this risked launching the object over the wall out of play (happened multiple times). Consider dropping a guard over the bucket when you get ready to roll it up.
- You need a bucket the full width of your vehicle, otherwise objects can be in the corner where you can't reach them to scoop them up.
- A wide bucket will need a smart way to funnel the objects into the bonus jug.
- Flipping the bonus jug upright wasn't much of a challenge.
- Faster robots are good, but only to a point. The fastest risked jumping over the outer wall, one or two did which of course stopped the time. Consider a guard which will stop you climbing the wall, but allow you to climb the molding in zone D.
- I don't think money/expensive robots are critical, an RC dump truck with an arm mounted in the back did pretty well.
- Tethers. Be careful about the length. Several robots had short tethers that the students couldn’t avoid tugging the robots around and stopping time.

Hmm, that’s everything from my notes and memory, hope it gives you some ideas of things to try.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

Thanks so much for the tips. These will he'll a lot.

The Robo-Cross wiki page says that there will be two goal boxes in Zones C and D. The rule book makes no mention of such a thing. Will there or will there not be goal boxes?

That is old. I will edit that as soon as I get a chance.

Thanks for the report Mr. Anderson. I was wondering if you'd be willing to share what the top scores were. Just curious if perfect 183 scores were needed to break into the top ten. And if so what were times to beat?

Gotta have something to shoot for

No perfect scores, but early in the season. Winning scores were in the 160s. The best attempt didn't win because it missed getting the tennis ball in the goal box and left one lego behind. But it did that in under two minutes. The top score got more points, but used almost the whole three minutes.

I think several of the teams can get perfect scores with more practice and possible a few tweaks to their robots.

Oh, forgot one other thing. Stiffness. Some concepts were good ideas, but execution was so-so in that the components were WAY to flopping so it didn't work as intended. Make sure your components are stiff and don't flex under the task (unless of course you specifically mean them to, but that will be rare).

Regards,

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI