Team Brain Damage

[zacodonnell]

I spent the whole day in the shop today. I finished up the flipper assembly this morning and did some testing with the new flipper on the old base to make sure it would self right and to see how the flip power is. The self righting is solid, but the flip power is tough to gauge without cleats.  After I made sure everything was holding up ok and I didn't introduce any new rope snags or the like I started in on one of the new side frame rails.

Pictures:
https://imgur.com/a/SoVCA1z?

Video:
480 FPS flipping a target with no cleats - https://youtu.be/4aY1Bi5ZdrA
480 FPS Full power self right test (still uploading) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHwjCM8ATbE
real time flip and self right test (still uploading) - https://youtu.be/2DQZ1DQi4SY

Tomorrow will be wrapping up the frame sides and new top plates. I might also replace the rear frame piece since it is the only remaining one, and I realized today it has taken a fair bit of damage so some of the screws no longer work on the corners. Should be no big deal.

-Zac

[zacodonnell]

I spent the whole day in the shop again today. I didn't *quite* make it to doing another flip with the cleats installed, but I did get the frame replaced and both drive sides set up. I haven't tested them under power yet but they're buttery smooth on the bench. I need to add the corner gussets and cleats to the frame, and install the top plates then it's back to the test box to see what breaks. Gonna be close on weight, but I think it's manageable. I might have an hour or so to work tomorrow and Wednesday, and maybe three hours on Thursday. I'll have to pack too

Pictures:
https://imgur.com/a/SoVCA1z?

-Zac

[rcjunky]

Have you considered doing long wide outriggers like I use on Llama Sheen to make it more stable on flips?

[zacodonnell]

More progress tonight. I did a little more testing and I'm pretty sure there's a loose wire somewhere. When the flywheel gets going and the vibration is high, I can hear one of the controllers disconnecting and reconnecting. Until tonight I wasn't sure which one, but now I'm sure it is one of the drive controllers, likely the flywheel side which is flaking out on me. When recalibrating the controllers to make sure that wasn't the issue I noticed that the power connector on that one looked like it had been unplugged a bit. I'm not sure if it was already that way or if I did it while messing with it, but the former would explain the symptoms.

I'm going to do some testing with the flywheel spinning the other direction too. I think the robot rearing up is mostly caused by the rotational momentum in the flywheel transferring to the robot after the flipper arm hits the stops. Rotating "downward" toward the front should stop the rearing up, but might cause it to tumble forward more. I'm hoping the cleats will prevent issues there.  I did bend one of them sideways slamming things around in the test box so I might trim them back a bit just to leave a little more support. That would save me some much needed weight too.

I'm leaving Friday after work to make the 3+ hour trip to King of Prussia, so I have tomorrow evening and I may end up taking Friday off of work to make sure I'm ready. Cutting this one close!

Too lazy to get the pictures this late so you'll have to wait. I did take some though

-Zac

[zacodonnell]

Back from Franklin. I had a lot of fun and enjoyed hanging out with everybody again. I even got to help out a couple of teams and did a hilarious demo against Wumbo.  The robot didn't do very well, drawing two lifter bots that pretty much controlled me the whole time. 2 minutes against a lifter bot is just not very long. I'll need a better solution in the future.  The extra wheels worked well, and the bot remained fairly mobile. The weapon clutch worked ok, though it failed to fire a few times. I think the problem has to do with wear on the ti shaft that the flywheel rides on, but I'm not sure. It is a couple day and $100 project to replace that part so I didn't do it for this build.  I do need to improve my testing procedure though - in real combat with turning and accelerating the systems aren't as reliable as they are in my test box (big surprise). Of course I finished it around 5:00 on Friday so not a lot of testing happened



Updated build report with the last wrap up and weight reduction steps:
https://imgur.com/a/SoVCA1z?

Video Jasmine captured from the livestream of my fights:
Heracross, loss by decision: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1aGFZE4xS-e7Rg7GgPZ3hZm7s-NKsMjXO
BEEEES??!, loss by decision: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1fmeg1yaRU-fIDF2EFwDQkF6Iz5iRR7Io
Sportsman rumble, win by enjoyment: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_wnMBE8IkfoskB6eCNH4avfxzpEqeEV7

If anybody has the video of the Wumbo demo I'd love to see it. It was not planned so I didn't get a recording. I haven't had time to clip it from the live stream yet.

-Zac

[zacodonnell]

I should also mention that the live stream and fight list seemed to go well this year. What did you guys think about it? Jon worked really hard on it, and I pitched in here and there. I think it makes it way easier to stay connected with friends and family who can't come. I know I had a handful of people from home watching now and then.

There are a lot of folks that work hard behind the scenes to pull these events off. If you get the chance, thank one of them sometime. This event seemed to run very smoothly, with pretty much non-stop action. I am impressed that everybody was able to keep their bots running with no postponements and no test box. Kudos to the builders for making it happen too

-Zac