Given the limitations of a young team, middlin' resources and six weeks to pull it off, our mantra for this build season was "Hard to Break. Easy to Fix. Made with parts we have." I report with mild surprise that we actually pulled it off. Many frustrations and distractions aside the final product - Robot Hank - is the most resilient robot we have ever built. After a few tweaks based on the Thursday practice matches we fired it up and ran through seven matches without a hiccup or a repair of any significance.
It is a somewhat limited design. The trade off for building a tank and having a bit of time to practice drive it is that there are some high level functions you can't build in. In fact this robot is able to go out and score approximately 17 points tops. And you know, it did it. Basically in every match. We have a simple but effective autonomous routine. 100% success. We can climb low or medium bar as the demands of our alliance require. Also, 100% success. In between we take some shots where we an get them, and got good enough that teams started specifically targeting us for defense from time to time. With some dramatic near tips ensuing!
Really good work by drivers, pit crew, programmers. And because this does not happen all by itself, credit also to the media/pr crew who helped us secure funding. We've even got some artistic talent turning up.
A few robot pix.
Lots of robots have fragile, delicate hooks for the climbing phase of the match. Hank has a massive riveted together system that pops up pneumatically....then grabs the bar and pulls up, eventually securing it to the top of the robot with about 140 pounds of grip strength. Lots of robots falling off their climbs today. You could demolish the building and you'd find Hank still holding on like a determined pit bull.
Casual shot of some pit crew, drive team and others posing with Hank.
The playing field from way up in the top rows of the stands.
Time to rest now. Robotics events are tiring on many levels.
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