A History of Robots
Team 2102 started building robots in 2006, competing our premiere year in The FIRST Tech Challenge or FTC. After getting a taste of FIRST™ , Team 2102 switched competitions to only compete in FIRST Robotics Competition or FRC. Here is our FRC history.
2007 Robot "Mr. Fritz"
Game Strategy:
In our initial design, we stressed the ability to reach all three levels of racks, and high maneuverability. In the end, we accomplished this, but did not take into effect how important speed would be in the final game. Another thing we failed to think about was that although the higher legs are harder to get to, they are still worth the same amount of points, making them really not worth the effort.
Performance:
The performance in the competition was exactly as we had expected, the four drive wheels arranged around the mast gave us huge maneuverability, and made us a formidable defensive robot. However, the carriage moved up and down the mast painfully slow, and the casters made it easy to push us around. The mast also made us top heavy, and easy to knock over.
2008 Robot "Beasley"
Game Strategy:
We spent much longer this year on game strategy than last year, and decided that with three robots and two balls per team, there would be no consistency in what our robot had to do. So, we went for a design that allowed us to hurdle, carry, herd, and place/remove the ball.
Performance:
As it turns out, our hurdling device was incurring huge penalties during competition, so we had to remove it. Even without the ability to hurdle, it performed amazingly. We were one of the top lapbots, making it around the track up to 8 times per match. The transmissions had a few issues, but other than that the performance was golden.
2009 Robot "Buttercup & Bettercup"
Game Strategy:
Our game strategy emphasized maneuverability utilizing a modified swerve "skid" drive-train. The drive-train had front and back steering, with left and right drive. The driver had the option of several different control methods to best fit the current match situation. With a rotating turret and vertical holding chute, this robot was designed to get the "moon rocks" quickly from the ground to the opponents.
Performance:
This robot performed admirably, and as a team we were conservatively pleased with its functionality. However with that said, this robot contained completely too many disposable parts; the orange bands, the turret Velcro™, the friction drive to mention a few.
2010 Robot "Dr. Hipster"
Game Strategy:
This was the lets do everything and beat everyone robot. Our game strategy was naïve and over-ambitious. We designed a robot that could suck in the soccer balls, maneuver freely using Mecanum drive wheels, kick the soccer balls the distance of the field, and raise up onto the alliance tower.
Performance:
As it turns out, it is very difficult to accomplish everything. Nothing on this robot went unchanged from San Diego to Atlanta. We learned our lesson, simplicity is important.
2011 Robot "Terrence"
Game Strategy:
Following Buttercup's faults, Terrence was designed with simplicity at heart. We still sought to accomplish all of the tasks at hand, but with much simpler mechanisms.
Performance:
Terrence performed very admirably. All team members were surprised by the lack of activity in the pits. No drive train was replaced, the tower did not crack into two, and with the exception of the occasional lost nut, the robot held together. We still lack slightly in speed of tube delivery, but make up for it in maneuverability.
2011 Minibot "Rinzler"
Game Strategy: Rinzler is the second component of the main robot, a mini-robot designed and built to play
LOGOMOTION. The mini-bot has to deploy in the final ten seconds of the match, climb a ten foot pole, and
trigger a pressure plate. The strategy in its design was that reliability in deployment was just as important
as the speed of climbing the tower.
Performance: Between its considerable speed and reliable deployment system, Rinzler was able to make more
first place runs in the qualifying rounds than any mini-bot at the competition. With the exception of a few
minor bumps and scratches there were no complications with the performance.