Team 980, 2003

The upper arm in the above picture is a telescoping arm, shown in its retracted position. When fully extended, it is over 13 feet long which enables us to knock over about 20 bins from our starting position.

Robot Data Sheet

Efficient Industrial Design

Our design incorporates three major elements enabling the robot to excel in all phases of the competition:

A rapidly-deployed, telescoping “saber” (made of aerospace-grade aluminum alloy) performs a quick pre-emptive strike on the stack before even the fastest robots can reach the top of ramp. In its stowed configuration, the saber can also topple defended opponent stacks with ease.
Dexterous “jaws” are able to grab bins in almost any orientation, then lift and place them to create stacks.
Our “on-the-fly”, pneumatically-shifted, two-speed drive train provides the speed to maneuver about the field and then power our robot to “king of the ramp” status at the end of the match.

Our robot was fabricated from “off-the-shelf” materials using common shop tools— drill press, lathe, mill (no CNC machining). Mass-efficient, bent, sheet metal designs of high-stiffness-to-weight 6061-T6 aluminum alloy, as well as extensively light-weighted sprockets and gears, permit all of these features to be robustly incorporated within the robot weight restriction.

Innovative use of Ultra-High Molecular Weight (UHMW) plastics simplifies design/ fabrication of the robot while eliminating the need for ball-bearings (except in motors) in our low-friction mechanisms.

Innovative Controls

Our controls sensors and software enhance the performance of our robot’s major functional elements:

Motion control of the saber is pre-programmed for autonomous mode operation to consistently strike the bins on the ramp and drive them into our scoring zone. A limit switch is used to ensure the saber does not extend beyond the field boundary during autonomous mode, and triggers automatic stowing of the saber after the initial stack attack
.
The “jaws” can be operated in a software-controlled “coordinated-motion” mode using feedback from the position-sensing potentiometers on the arms to simplify grabbing and releasing bins. In manual mode, independent arm operation is achieved to allow the robot to knock down or reposition stacks.
The rate gyro is used in autonomous driving to perform our initial maneuvers. The robot self-corrects for path disturbances due to other robots, bins or variable traction by integrating the actual motion against the planned path and then steering accordingly.

Movies
Here are some QuickTime movies of our robot.
(These files require Quicktime Player. If you don't have it, you can download it here:
QuickTime Player .)

*Arm in action*	*Charging the stack*	*Circling Arm*
Arm knocking down bins (1.25 M) Arm knocking down bins (4.4 M)	Stack Attack (1.44 M)	Circling Arm (1.84 M) Circling Arm (5.1 M)

8 wheels =
shifting gears on the fly

Carrying a stack

Chatsworth Scrimmage 2003 with our partners.

Shifting gears on the run (3.3 M)

Fun with the bins (3 M)

With our partners (1.8 M)

Some Competition Facts
These robots do not fight, but they do collide. Think of a football or basketball game played using robots. Then get rid of the balls for this year and substitute 49 plastic bins weighing 5 pounds each.

The competition is based on the idea of helping to make the world a better place through science and math. One of the guiding principles is that teams help other teams, and then they compete. It is quite amazing to see.

Robot Facts
Every robot is different. They are moving, mechanical sculptures, definitely an art form. Half the fun is walking around admiring all the different creations. But then we get to see these robots interact in 2 on 2 competitions. Each robot will compete at least 7 times. This year, the robots will be totally autonomous (controlling themselves) for the first 15 seconds. Then students will run the robots for the remaining minute and 45 seconds of each match.

Our robot weighs 130 pounds, has 4 wheel drive, and can shift gears while moving. It also has an arm that telescopes out to 13 feet in length to help achieve this year's objectives, and 2 other arms for grabbing and lifting the plastic bins.

Web Sites
The main web site for the FIRST Robotics Competition is at
http://www.usfirst.org/

An animation of this year's competition is posted on the NASA web site at
http://robotics.nasa.gov/archive/video.htm/

The main NASA Robotics site has additional information about FIRST at
http://robotics.nasa.gov/

The following companies are Team Players!
Without their inspiration, support, and frontline help, our robot would still be just a dream.
When you support these companies, you are supporting our team.

For help in making your idea become a reality,
talk to Steve Knight and Rocky Green. They have the machining tools
and the knowledge to make it materialize before your eyes!

Completed Concepts and their sister organization, Mercury Solar
http://www.completedconcepts.com/

For help with the design, fabrication and the installation of custom machinery,
talk to David Toyne. He has the engineering knowledge
and experience needed to design your solution!

Solutions for Automation
http://www.solutionsfor.com/

We would like to thank NASA for their support
of our team and the FIRST Robotics Competition.
It is our belief that they have shown incredible insight
and wisdom in devoting resources to our future,
namely the students of today who will be creating our tomorrow.

NASA/JPL
http://robotics.nasa.gov/

Additional Sponsors
The Computer Training Academy is an online computer school
run by George and Pat Morfopoulos. Both of their girls and
their nephews have attended our school over the years.
Arin Morfopoulos, currently attending UCLA and working at JPL,
is one of our Team 980 mentors.

Everyone can benefit from better computer skills.

Fast and easy skills improvement from “What is a mouse ?” and Computer Literacy,
to Microsoft Office Expert productivity training and Professional Certifications.

Get the knowledge you want and the skills you need, the fast and easy way and…
when you sign up through us, a portion of your training fee
is donated to the ThunderBots to fund our team.

Check out Computer Training Academy on the web, and if you like what you see
and sign up, please add “thunderbots” to the application.

Computer Training Academy
http://www.ctausaonline.com/

|| Contact Team 980, the "ThunderBots" ||