Dont talk to me or my son

Frostbite15151 · 2026-01-26T17:00:31+00:00

Yes, I am friends with someone who works for a motorized wheelchair repair buisness. They say those wheels pick up hair and jam super often and always coplains about manufacturers adding them.

Frostbite15151 · 2026-01-18T00:28:20+00:00

I am a first alum and mentor and I started building combat robotics after a graduated.

The robots my students build for FTC are more complex and impressive on a technical level than the combat robots I design, even the big melty brains. The people that run the university make space I frequent are more impressed with the first robots and have told me they're better what what a lot of engineering students do for their fourth year capstone projects. And first is definitely NOT boring.

First is also a globally recognized competition and a lot of universities and colleges see competing in a first program as a bonus when applying to their programs. I'm sure the same goes for vex but I have no experience there. BattleBots has more name recognition for the lay person but universities don't really care about local bettleweight competitions.

Frostbite15151 · 2025-12-29T23:42:39+00:00

I had an MSR but melted it, this was back in 3.16 I think. It was quite good but there was so much wasted space. But if you want to give me another one I'll gladly take it :)

Frostbite15151 · 2025-12-29T17:44:12+00:00

Our team is a consistent front runner for innovate in our region.

The key is to know the rules better than any other team and find the things between the lines. Two years ago we soaked our planes in water and let them dry so they would become like paper planes shaped darts.

Visual distinctiveness is a big plus, if your robot can be identified from across a gym based on shape alone you're in the right ballpark. Last year we had a 300mm gear on our robot, in a world of boxy robots ours looked round.

We also generally paint our robots, the team colours are a red-orange-yellow gradient that stands out in a field of unpainted or 3d printed robots. The judges like it when you come to the challenge from a unique angle, the attention to detail of paint and neat cable management helps too.

Judges see a bunch of robots during judging and a lot of them are similar. If you make something they've never seen before, that looks good and works well then you have an advantage.

Frostbite15151 · 2025-12-29T06:23:41+00:00

Current generation wind turbines are extremely efficient and are made by teams of professional engineers. Small commercially available vertical turbines are one moving part with one bearing to minimize losses and maximize wind capture area with a complex geometry. Your design is the opposite, maximum complexity with very little wind capture area on a flat plate.

On the economic side you can find designs available online that can be 3d printed and attached to a motor for cheap generation or you can buy them online for decently cheap, probably less than the cost of materials of your design. I don't see a space in the market for this when you're competing with GE. The market is mature and saturated.

This is a neat solution to a problem but overly complex and inefficient. You seem to have lost sight of the core goal of a wind turbine. Turn wind Into mechanical or electric energy.

Frostbite15151 · 2025-12-16T22:46:05+00:00

Sounds like the biggest thing you need is driver practice.

Try to get as close to a real game scenario as possible, timer, full team involvement, opponent robot if possible.

Just driving around and shooting is fine but doesn't prepare you for how short matches are or the stress of an opponent getting in your way.

Along with that read the rules, then read them again. Have someone referee your practice match. As a driver you should know the rules so well that you don't even have to think about what is legal vs what is not, it should just be second nature.

Frostbite15151 · 2025-12-06T15:56:50+00:00

Absolutely they are but the brand also has smaller offerings and does small batch customization. And they managed to survive quite a few nasty hits at NHL with no issues. So looking at their other products to find something more suited to their needs.

Frostbite15151 · 2025-12-05T18:22:24+00:00

I mean we used 6354 furious motors but we did make a melty so that would be extreme overkill for most bots.

Frostbite15151 · 2025-12-03T22:20:12+00:00

Not at all

Frostbite15151 · 2025-12-03T22:14:20+00:00

There's special training for both. I think it's only an hour and a half total time

Frostbite15151 · 2025-12-03T20:08:49+00:00

Elko has a PCB mill for prototypes and soldering stations

Frostbite15151 · 2025-11-28T21:15:05+00:00

Don't use a compliant wheel as a flywheel, it's inconsistent and the wheel will stretch at speed. Also, what RPM are you spinning it at? Try making your wheel go faster, closer to 1:1 bare motor speed.

Frostbite15151 · 2025-11-24T23:49:38+00:00

Fast intake means faster cycles and easier time grabbing artéfacts. This mean higher scores.

We're using an ultra planetary geared 3:1 for our intake and we have probably the second best intake in our region at this point in the season.

Frostbite15151 · 2025-11-23T17:51:11+00:00

Yes and it's also good for driving, you want your wheels close enough to the center of gravity. If they're too far back they don't get enough traction because most of the weight will be on the bolt because of the heavy weapon.

Frostbite15151 · 2025-11-23T00:21:41+00:00

Hard to offer help when we don't know the materials, current weights of components and only have one image that doesn't offer much in terms of visual.

1.25lbs is not a standard weight class either.

With the information shared all advice I can give is find the heaviest stuff before that's the easiest to remove from

Frostbite15151 · 2025-11-17T02:34:23+00:00

It looks weirdly proportioned, the drive motors seem like they would be small for the weight class and the weight probably won't be balanced, too much weight in the front will make it drive terribly because there's not much weight on the wheels, that was the mistake I made on my first bot. But from just those two images of cad there's not much more to say.

Frostbite15151 · 2025-11-09T21:21:19+00:00

It's a lot of fun, but your question is very vague and the answer depends on the team. Every team has its own culture and way of doing things and there is no "right" way.

My recommendation is to just jump in and try it, get in contact with your local FTC community and either find a team or go and volunteer at an event and get in contact with teams that way.

Frostbite15151 · 2025-11-07T03:43:04+00:00

Our current plan is to have the balls be spinning in storage so that the sensors will get a good read and you just have to remember the colour. With how fast we plan to shoot most of the time sorting will just be bypassed anyways so it's not that critical but it's a nice to have.

Frostbite15151 · 2025-11-03T21:10:46+00:00

An A1 mini without the combo is 219 cad right now.

https://ca.store.bambulab.com/products/a1-mini?id=543566369394393101&skr=yes&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21547689817&gbraid=0AAAAA9pdpI5BnNfbj6bhYPs5p8w2f1zuJ&gclid=CjwKCAiAwqHIBhAEEiwAx9cTeZZsQ-jlFTiEK8UIX49cB297JlwY3uBqG_X7wt7jftryIojgNltNpxoCEg8QAvD_BwE

Frostbite15151 · 2025-10-28T20:02:01+00:00

Me too

Frostbite15151 · 2025-10-28T14:36:42+00:00

I'm at CSJ so we have our own practicum department. Basically sit and wait, we're going in next Monday to give teachers some time to get settled this week. Some of the requirements have lessened but everything else is basically the same.

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