Robogames Wrap-up

We're back now with our gold medal and beat-up robot. Now for another year of procrastination and at least a month break from robots. In retrospect our robot had a very clear vulnerability: once it was flipped it was like a turtle on its back. Most of the other robots had that vulnerability, and it would have been fun to get in the ring with a few more robots with spinners. But we'll have to do that another time.

Next we'll refocus on finishing Zippy (the golf cart) and investigating this new "ROS" Robot Operating System that seems to be replacing Player.

Robogames day two

Here's where we won at battlebots:




Here's where we won at autonomous turrets:



Here's another video where we won at autonomous turrets:



And here's where we went wee wee wee all the way home:

Robogames Day One

First we got ready in the pits -







We were up third. We started strong and everything was good until... We died.



Autopsy revealed that none of the wires were properly duct taped. Our battery came disconnected directly at the terminal. We promptly used a complete roll of duct tape securing every last connection in the bot. Duct tape fixes stuff.




Here's Daniel explaining what happened:






For most of the rest of the day we prepared the gun for the gun fight tomorrow. Since we hadn't used it in a few months it needed some work. We did get it working and it should be ready to go for tomorrow.




Later in the day, they called us back up for a 6:33 time. Then they kicked us out. Apparently they screwed up a bunch of times. It took us a while to figure out what happened but I was pretty sure we didn't lose. Unfortunately we didn't win either. Tomorrow!




I also caught a few other fights:

Last rights v maximus


Last rights v sj



Cool thing:

Off to Robogames

We secured the Desmolisher to the roof with shrink wrap on a pallet and tie downs. And a few bungee cords. It held up. Then we drove to San Mateo for Robogames.





After driving 8 hours, we showed up at the event center at 7pm.





Apparently our scale at home isn't as accurate as the scale here because we ended being 5 lbs over the limit. We spent a few hours chopping metal off to get under the limit (120 lbs) so we could pass inspection.

Here's Scott cutting off 5 lbs of metal:





Also it turns out we registered as "Test" so Desmolisher will be called Test this year in the ring. We thought we'd just drop it off but it ended up taking 3 hours. And we passed inspection! Then we left and ate pizza.

Trish joined the team:

It's ALIVE!

Behold Desmolisher! It's Alive!



Here she is wedging under and pushing pallets around:



Here, Scott drives the robot with Daniel on top:







And here's Daniel driving and riding:

Desmolisher mechanical work