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Subject: 
Re: Point new-guy to resources?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.org.us.smart
Date: 
Tue, 27 Mar 2001 00:21:43 GMT
Viewed: 
911 times
  
In lugnet.org.us.smart, Rob Deis writes:
On Fri, 23 Mar 2001, Gustav Jansson wrote:
David Schilling has told me about a robot built in rtlToronto which has the
gearbox you described.  You can find them at:
  http://news.lugnet.com/org/ca/rtltoronto/

I've seen the pictures there, actually, and they referred me to David as
the builder thereof.  I've got a couple ideas about how to do it, but
neither are particularly elegent, and I was hoping to learn from your
experience.

Sorry for not answering sooner, I've been out of town.

Actually, it was my brother, Phil Schilling who built the gear-shifting
robot for the RTL-Toronto sumo event.  (I only wrote the program it used.)
He won with it last year.  He also entered the robot, with some minor
modifications again this year, but the sumo event was very disorganized this
February, so no one's really sure who the winner was.  Phil also entered
another very interesting sumo robot this year - one with a ram that comes
out to push the competitor in the case where they are otherwise locked in a
stalemate.

To see pictures of both competions, look in the RTLToronto* folders under:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=1907

Anyway, the gear-shifting sumo uses only a single RCX, has one motor per
side for the wheels, and the third motor for shifting gears.  One of the
most interesting challenges in building a robot like this is to figure out
just how to do the gear shifting, so I'm not going to spoil your chance to
learn an incredible amount by just telling you.  Try it first.  If you have
any of the models LEGO puts out that have gear shifters in them, study them
a bit, and then try to figure out how you can put such a shifter under the
control of a motor (controlled by the RCX).

We're trying to skip ahead a few iterations to more advanced sumo
techniques in our earliest matches. (-:

I'm very interested in seeing what you come up with in your advanced sumo
competition.  While simple enough for beginning robot builders, just pushing
the other guy is pretty boring.  I think there are a ton of ideas that have
never been tried for more advanced robots.

Intermediate level sumo robots might include wedges or ramps that they try
to get under their competitor to make them loose their grip on the surface,
or use inertia to help them push.  I would classify the gear-shifter as an
intermediate robot as well.

Some Advanced level sumo robot ideas would be to watch the competitors from
a distance, and strike only when they are already near the edge; or a judo
strategy of using your opponent's force against them.  I would classify the
ram as advanced.

Of course as I mentioned, there are many other things you could try as well!
The main thing to remember is to keep your robot as simple as possible; the
more things you add to it, the more modes of failure it will exhibit.

I hope this is helpful.  And I wish you luck with your competition!

--
  David Schilling



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Point new-guy to resources?
 
(...) Now there's an interesting idea.. but I'm out of sensors. )-: (...) Aww.. (-: Actually, one of our guys is doing just that. I've had a couple of ideas, but they're kludgy. Our first match ruleset permits only peices from a single RIS (plus one (...) (23 years ago, 27-Mar-01, to lugnet.org.us.smart)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Point new-guy to resources?
 
(...) the builder thereof. I've got a couple ideas about how to do it, but neither are particularly elegent, and I was hoping to learn from your experience. We're trying to skip ahead a few iterations to more advanced sumo techniques in our earliest (...) (23 years ago, 23-Mar-01, to lugnet.org.us.smart)

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