DEWBOT VIII Bridge Manipulation

1640's Bridge manipulation requirements for Rebound Rumble are:

• Wide chassis orientation to facilitate triple balancing
• Center of mass low enough to prevent robot tipping on inclined and dynamic bridge with robot in the wide orientation
• Pivot "brake" to prevent movement on bridge after achieving balance
• Ability to quickly and certainly lower the bridge to enable mounting from a robot wide side
• The original bridge manipulation mechanism was integrated into the top loading ball hopper

Additional nice to haves were identified after gaining some competition experience:

• Bridge arm can be used to influence center of mass and therefore balance
• There is value in being able to push the bridge up as well as down
• A hook could be employed to link robots to enable hanging off the bridge edge in triple balancing

DEWBOT VIII's bridge manipulation approach & mechanisms witnessed the greatest changes of any functional area during the competition season. Also the greatest improvement.

From a game-play standpoint, the Bridge is HUGE. Both in qualifications (where the coopertition bridge is critical for Qualification Score) and in eliminations (where triple balancing makes an alliance tough to beat), being able to control the bridge and balancing is a critical aspect for success in Rebound Rumble. We ended up being a pretty competent bridge robot (but not best in class).