Robot Arm C

[olympiaddict]

I think that despite the many varied interpretations of the rules regarding when the points are scored, Jdogg's arm still was within the rules and clarifications. The extensive discussions and clarifications that have been brought up in the past few months have logically led to these conclusions and while I myself did not feel absolutely 100% certain that this was within the spirit of the rules and so chose to take no risk and choose a different route, I applaud Jdogg's work and success, and feel that he did operate within the scope of the rules. Furthermore, I think that if the national event supervisor, who wrote the rules and therefore understands them on a fundamental and particular level, and who also was involved in clarifying and discussing these rules so as to provide assistance in understanding equally to all competing teams, feels this way, then it can be accepted as fair and completely genuine, whether or not one's individual original interpretation or final design was the same, despite my own team's height bonus not using this interpretation.

Also, I'll give permission to post Ward Melville's picture from this year.

[Jdogg]

Question. When was a tethered balloon ruled out? I can see putting a ball on the balloon, shoving the balloon towards the north zone, letting it cross in to score a point, and then just rising up till it reaches the tether height.

Well, I can think of two things. First the ballon starts with positive gauge pressure, second the ballon would have to score a point with it's buoyancy. You would be allowed to have the ballon raise the ping pong ball into the north zone, but then you would have to bring the pingpong back down and touch it to the floor inorder to do your height task. Otherwise the height task wouldn't be a final distinct action.

[iwonder]

Ahh, that makes sense... but hey, it was worth a shot

Also, did you happen to have some other rotation actuator in your base to allow you to pick up the final pencil and pvc? We never got around to it, but our servo just didn't have the range for it...

[Jdogg]

I think that despite the many varied interpretations of the rules regarding when the points are scored, Jdogg's arm still was within the rules and clarifications. The extensive discussions and clarifications that have been brought up in the past few months have logically led to these conclusions and while I myself did not feel absolutely 100% certain that this was within the spirit of the rules and so chose to take no risk and choose a different route, I applaud Jdogg's work and success, and feel that he did operate within the scope of the rules. Furthermore, I think that if the national event supervisor, who wrote the rules and therefore understands them on a fundamental and particular level, and who also was involved in clarifying and discussing these rules so as to provide assistance in understanding equally to all competing teams, feels this way, then it can be accepted as fair and completely genuine, whether or not one's individual original interpretation or final design was the same, despite my own team's height bonus not using this interpretation.

I seriously didn't want to start a argument. I just wanted others to see my robot arm, I felt the same way last year when I saw Ward Melville's arm. I just wanted to see their arm and how they constructed it. That's why I decided to share my robot arm's run online.
Thank you very much, I spent countless hours building every component. The tape measure device has been a work in progress since January and my arm was finished in December. So I got a lot of time to perfect my robot and get to know it really well. Sort of saved me at states, when my robot arm had a malfunction (my fault, I tripped on the connection cable) making my arm punch the ground and snap the front of the arm clean off. I was able to reattach it within the 3 minutes practice time and still get a perfect run off, even with a still half broken arm .

[Jdogg]

Ahh, that makes sense... but hey, it was worth a shot

Also, did you happen to have some other rotation actuator in your base to allow you to pick up the final pencil and pvc? We never got around to it, but our servo just didn't have the range for it...

I actually had a winch servo in the base of my robot. It allows me to rotate the arm 3.5 times (if my cables permitted me to). Plus I had a wrist rotate and a up down wrist rotate. This allowed me to get the claw perpendicular and also grab each of the corner objects very easily. Plus the video doesn't show it, but my partner just pulled a block out from the control box to the left, allowing it to push the tape measure device off the back of the robot (in rails, so it doesn't touch the ground). Otherwise I wouldn't have the space to rotate the arm.

[mrsteven]

Olympiadaddict's post is a very good conclusion to this conversation, I dont think bickering on this is good for anyone. It's Mr. Anderson's call and beyond that, its all speculation and post-event scrutiny.

Oh I started out with the same winch servo Jdogg's talking about, I traded it in for a 360 one my friend gave me that was wicked fast. It was a nice addition.

[plaid suit guy2]

The balloon wouldn't have been a problem, we would have counted it as an actuator, and it isn't a pneumatic, and keeping it down until the run is at the end is literally easier done than said.

[olympiaddict]

Yup, winch servo all the way that's how I did it.

[Jdogg]

The balloon wouldn't have been a problem, we would have counted it as an actuator, and it isn't a pneumatic, and keeping it down until the run is at the end is literally easier done than said.

But doesn't the ballon have positive gauge pressure? Maybe, I'm not clear on what is positive gauge pressure. But I thought it was something like a coke can, in which if you opened the can. The can would then want to equalize it's pressure with the atmosphere and releases it's gases into the atmosphere. I could be wrong though....
Yeah agreed, I think you could figure out a way of scoring a point with the ballon.

[mrsteven]

rules "Storage devices must not start with positive pressure"
Regardless what you call it, actuator, whatever, it still acts as a storage device as well, its not exclusive