Stay Signed In
Do you want to access your site more quickly on this computer? Check this box, and your username and password will be remembered for two weeks. Click logout to turn this off.
Stay Safe
Do not check this box if you are using a public computer. You don't want anyone seeing your personal info or messing with your site.
Deadline is our most complicated robot yet, and as such, we had some problems getting it completed on time. When it shipped, practice time had been minimal, with no time during which everything was mounted to the robot, and a few sensors weren't wired in. However, each part had undergone testing independent of the other elements, just not under software control in concert. This year also marked our first year using pneumatics on a robot since 2001, but they were used for a pretty simple task, actuating one cylinder in the gripper.
OCCAM VII: Deadline is an attempt to by 587 to break out of our defensive bias and go on the offense. It was designed from the start to grab ringers and place them on the goal quickly and reliably through the use of a single bar rotating arm that is equipped with a wrist, mounted on a two stage lift. The theoretical speed to the top spider is ~ 2-3 seconds.
Robot Functions
Scores ringers on all three levels
Picks up ringers from the floor, HP or wall
Speedily score ringers
Robot Strategy
NASA/VCU Regional
~14 out of 66~
For all of the practice rounds and six of our qualifiers our arm was completely inoperable due to either sensor issues or problems with the feedback code. In our last two matches our arm was enabled under human control, a rather dangerous method since it was easy to hyperextend the arm and damage it. Unfortunately, in the first of those two rounds we broke one of our wheels, causing one side of our robot to be immobile, and the hasty replacement job (only one spacer was on the axle) for the second match failed when defense started to be played against us after we scored a ringer. Overall, the drivebase preformed well, with the exception of breaking two AM kit wheels due to undetermined causes. And, when we did get our arm working it was smooth and quick, by far our best arm ever. It, along with our turret system for it, actually impressed our inspector to the point that after he was done, he came back to our pit to take pictures of the design.
