DEWBOT VI Finger Lakes Regional
Downingtown Area Robotics Team 1640 participated in the Finger Lakes Regional at Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY) on March 4-6, 2010.
[Official Web Page for the event]
This was not such a great performance for us. We finished the competition ranked 37 of 44, winning only 2 matches, losing 7, and getting a tie (zero-zero) in 1. We found several control bugs that we're addressing, though we ran into very few major mechanical problems. We hope to fix many of these by the Philadelphia Regional at Drexel University on March 25-27, 2010 (See Improvement Plans).
Contents
Improvement Plans
Mechanical
- To do for Drexel - We need to readdress the possessor. On-field performance and pit research demonstrated a major correlation high-scoring robots and effective possessors--usually those with high linear (i.e. small diameter roller) and angular velocity . This is possible, but will need some work.
- Fixed on-site - The right front steering chain was loose (we knew this), causing steering problems. This chain needed be tensioned - Clem & Siri made a quick stop at Home Depot to pick up a PVC end cap and installed this as a chain tensioner before our first competition Friday morning. The fix was effective and shows very little wear. It ought to last through Drexel, though we'll bring spares and plan to make a permanent nylon fixture for the post-season.
- The latex tubing wears out occasionally. The pit checks routinely for signs of wear and replaces the tubing before any failure occurs. The 4-pass through tubes were replaced Friday morning before our first competition match. The 1-pass back tube was replaced Saturday...
- ...but late on Saturday all (5) latex tube passes failed simultaneously (or nearly so). Analysis of the sheared tube ends show apparent shock damage. Observation of the kicker cycle shows that cocking starts before a kick is completed. Review of the code confirms that the delay between firing the kicker and re-cocking is zero. We believe that the damage was caused by a code change which eliminated the delay between kicking and re-cocking (can we confirm this by comparing with older code?). The high-energy collision between kicker and cocking arms severely shocks the entire kicker/cocking system. The tubing has been replaced, but there is concern this abuse may have caused other yet-to-be-observed damage.
- Fixed on-site - We seem to occasionally bend the side-guard eye-bolts, probably from incorrect placement on the cart. They still worked and are easy enough to replace, but we should be careful. We replaced the bent eye-bolts.
- To do for Drexel/temporarily fixed on-site - The battery mount broke late in the qualification matches on Saturday. This did not impact the robot's performance during the match and a solid field repair was made using Aluminum angle before we needed to queue for the next match. Failure originated at an unradiused inside corner (a stress concentrator). We will re-form two (one spare) replacement mounts for Drexel with radiused corners (to avoid stress concentrators) and slightly looser fit.
- Possibly to do for Drexel - There's some driver concern about bungees as side-guard material. We may experiment with this for Drexel, though not to the determent of going over the bump. We only had two "ball infiltration" penalties at FLR, one on the side during our first competition due to human miscalculation, and the second at the robot front due to lack of robot control (St. Vitus' dance - a.k.a. the "happy dance" - continued from autonomous throughout teleop).
- Fixed on-site - We occasionally lose our patented kicker latch wire-ties. This is an easy fix, but they need to be check regularly, and we should probably expand who has this replacement skill.
- Fixed on-site - The centeror velcro needed replacement after match 62(?) in which we ran into some problems doing over the bump. This isn't difficult, though we didn't quite do it correctly (the back isn't on). We can fix that, though hopefully readdressing the posessor will make it unnecessary.
Programming
Likely Priorities: 1) Make the happy dance stop--all the time. 2) Either reinstate a less sensitive snake mode or create a reliable roll forward-shoot-score autonomous mode(s), if the new possessor makes snake unnecessary (by the time this priority decision is made). 3) Create reliable camera aiming code for real conditions in teleop. This does not need to be active, but rather could resemble DEWBOT V's "locked on target" display (though it may or may not be heads-up). 3) Augment (especially autonomous) with camera and/or IR sensing. This is not a major priority, considering both how little scoring/ball movement can happen in autonomous and how well correctly aligned and coded robots (without sensing) can and did preform in this area.
Field Team
- Practice counts. We didn't. It showed.
- The robot is not fragile. We can be more aggressive.
- We have not developed clear tactics. Poorer opponents with clearer tactics have beaten us.
- Decision to abandon snake - was this wise? (Note: we hope to address this before Drexel; the original snake mode was sensitive to the point of irrelevancy for the drivers in competition--who subsequently did not use it at all. The command became an on-the-spot wheel zeroing function, which was used to at least some good effect.)
- How will we score via kicking without vision assist (so far, we do not)
What worked
- We were the first robot passing inspection
- Pivot drive operated well in Crab Mode after the chain tensioner was installed and control lag reduced except for during "happy dance" incidents
- We go through the tunnel
- We go over the bump
- We don't tip over (thus far)
- Breakdowns were quite limited. The broken battery box was the largest mechanical failure. Had to replace the passive centeror velcro. We wear out elastic tubes and kicker latch wire ties. Side-guard eye-bolts were bent. No electrical issues excluding the sudden loss of communications in match 41.
- We attracted a great deal of attention for our design. Unfortunately, our performance did not impress anyone.
Match and Standing Results
Match 4 - Rough start, we left 0 to 9 getting a "ball infiltration" penalty for allow a soccer ball more than 3" into our frame
Match 7 - 0 to 0 tie, partially for penalties on both sides -- this happen to a lot of people
Match 21 - Won 2 to 1 with 610 and 3015, beating 217, 3181, and 316
Match 26 - Lost 3 to 8
Match 31 - Lost in a painful 1 to 2
Match 41 - We lost communication to the robot early in teleop, but our allies 217 and 1591 pulled out a 9 to 0 victory
Match 49 - Lost in a painful 2 to 3
Match 54 - Killed 0 to 3
Match 62 - Lost with a close 1 to 2
Match 69 - Lost 1 to 3
Seeding Score: 51.00 (highest was 118.00)
Coopertition Bonus: 6.00 (highest 52.00)
Hanging Bonus: unsurprisingly, 0.00 (highest 22.00)
See Seeding Points Description for Details
We scored twice, both times by herding balls into the goal. We kicked a number of times (autonomously and teleop), but did not score by kicking.
Crew
- Julie Bachman - Mentor - Wed Late
- Clem McKown - Mentor - Thurs PM - Driving Clem, Siri
- Siri Maley - Mentor - Thurs PM
- Faith McKown - Mentor - Wed - Driving Faith, Ben W. Dhananjay, Matt, Micheal
- David Moyer - Mentor - Thursday - Driving David
- Mike Rizzo - Mentor - Wed late - Driving Mike, Julie, Jennifer, Beth
- Elizabeth Murphy - Mentor - Wed late
- Foster Schucker - Mentor Wed - Driving parts boxes
- Rita Wall - Mentor - Wed. leaving Fri.- Driving Rita, Andrew, Sasha, Nicole
- Moyer Family dropping off Wed. - Carly, Paul, Doug, Cole, Amanda, Brianna, Ben W.
- Carly M
- Amanda F
- Brianna E
- Jenifer S
- Sasha W (leave Fri. night)
- Nicole W (leave Fri. night)
- Paul K
- Matt K
- Cole R
- Douglas M
- Ben W
- Michael B
- Andrew W (leave Fri. night)
- Ben R
- Dhananjay
Finger Lakes Regional Photo Gallery
Ben W & Douglas scouting
David Moyer
Bumper change
Michael talking with Carly
Rita Wall & Clem McKown
Mike Rizzo
Matt & Clem McKown working in the pit
Ready to queue
Coming off the field
autonomous kick
autonomous kick
- DB6 RIT Andre Sasha 100305 csm.jpg
Andrew & Sasha
Screwdriver envy
Jen & 1640's screwdriver
1640's cheering section
DEWBOT VI on the mini-cart
Carly speaking with Judges
Ready to climb the ramp...
...but we need more traction!
Tunnel passage
Carly & Siri
Foster Schucker
Carly & Matt placing the robot
Video Jen
Amanda & Brianna
Pivot Display
practice session
Ben R & Paul working the bugs out
- DB6 RIT 100306 csm.jpg
