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Chop Top
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Hello! I am Chop Top, the 2010 robot. I am the smallest robot team 701 has built so far. I may be tiny but I sure am mighty.
This year, I was prototyped to drive with four wheels and eight wheels. The team decided that I should have eight wheels after weeks of discussion. The plan was to use timing belt, something no other team we have seen has used before. But, the idea soon changed when one of my timing belts snapped while driving over the bump...and I was sentenced to chains...well, the driving kind. My kicker is simple: motor, to sprocket, to chain, to sproket of kicker. I was given enough room so the kicker could spin 180 deg. if need be. The curvature of the kicker is CNC'd. I also have a ball roller atop the kicker that continuously spins to act as a "ball magnet". My team was debating on whether or not I should use a window or mabuchi motor...either way, it spins relatively the same speed. They finally decided on neither! They had me use a fisher price motor instead. All in all, it still spins the same speed. For lifiting myself up, I had a winch in the back that was connected to a carbon fiber arm (strong but light). I hoped I'd be able to reach new heights and score points for 701 with this attachment. It turned out that at the Fembots scrimage while attempting to go over the bump there was too much weight on the back so I tipped over and landed on the arm which, sadly, broke. Which is how I got my name, Chop-Top. With the arm gone I was still just too tall to go in the tunnel, so the night before I was shipped to Washington D.C., for my first competition, the team decided to chop off my top so I could go under the tunnel. As for my Electronics, I have a simple 2 sided panel of lexan in the back. This year the team invested in new speed controllers, Jaguars. With the Jaguars I only needed the PWM cables to hook up to the motors. To connect to each Jaguar we used a system call CAN. It made life so much easier for the Electronics team. Since the team was planning on having me go over the bumps I needed something to absorb the shock when I landed, because another team already had broken one of their Jaguars. They decided to put little pieces of surgical tubing between the Jaguars and lexan. It worked very well! None of my electronics broke! I only had 2 touch sensors for the kicker this year. The team did plan on using encoders for drive but they had some problems with autonomous mode, and decided not to use them. I also had a camera which was originally going to be used to see the target to the goals so the drive team could shoot easier, but instead, since my top was chopped off, was used to see if there was a ball in my ball magnet. Part of the Programming team had fun this year. They got to program Nintendo DS's for scouting. They tested out Team 100's program at 2009 CalGames and decided they liked it so much and they thought of so much they could improve, they decided to make a program of their own. It turned out to be quite useful! It made scouting so much easier. I attended the Washington D.C. Regional, getting into quarter finals, as well as the Silicon Valley Regional in San Jose, getting into semi finals. In San Jose the team brought home, well Mr. Green brought home, the Woodie Flowers Award. The Woodie Flowers Award celebrates effective communication in the art and science of engineering and design and is presented to an outstanding engineer or teacher participating in the robotics competition who best demonstrates excellence in teaching |
Upcoming Events February 21, 2012 Ship Day! This is the last day we can work on our robot. We have to bag it up at 3 pm ready for Davis. March 15-17, 2012 Sacramento regional. The RoboVikes 1st competition! Come and support us at the UC Davis Pavillion! What else are we doing? Check out our Google Calendar.
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This year, FIRST released a game called Breakaway. It features an arena covered in carpet and two bumps divide the arena into thirds. Robots must score goals with soccer balls by going over the bumps, kicking, shooting, or a combination. At the last 20 seconds of the match, robots are expected to lift themselves onto a 7 foot tower for bonus points and even more bonus points are awarded if a robot hangs off you!
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