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(...) Wait no more! Well, except for the downloads! :-) (URL) has a discription of the Robothon 2004 Crate Contraption setup and links to various video clips. I put up a bunch of different overviews, but essentially they all show the same thing, (...) (20 years ago, 16-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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David, Thanks for the input. I think the goal for the Great Ball Contraption will be different from your Crate Contraption for a couple reasons. For example, I don't expect this to run constantly. I'm hoping we'll be able to make it work for (...) (20 years ago, 15-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Robothon 2004
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(...) Me too! ;-) (...) Actually we used one of the 3x7 melamine boards from Home Depot. These are easier to transport in a car, they have a pretty good surface for line tracking, and they are quite inexpensive. Using only one, however, was very (...) (20 years ago, 13-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Size
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(...) Usually we aim for around 30 balls per crate. That gives enough leeway that if a robot is out of commission for a few minutes (changing batteries, say) that a 'filling' robot still can run without being stopped. More than around 60 balls and (...) (20 years ago, 13-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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(...) I've been quite busy recently, and so haven't had a chance to participate in this discussion until now. Pardon the long post, but it'll answer many of the questions and give details about SMART's own quest for a module standard. As Mark said, (...) (20 years ago, 13-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Robothon 2004
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(...) ... (...) I'm looking forward to the video. From what I can see, the whole layout is on a white 4x8 board, right? Two stationary "Ball Lifting" robots, and two moble "transport" robots. One question. Does this robot: (URL) the "dump truck" by (...) (20 years ago, 13-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Size
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Here's a couple more questions for the SMART guys. First, how many balls are "normally" loaded into a crate? I'm guessing between 20 and 30. How would things be effected if the crates were a little shorter? It appears the crates could be one or two (...) (20 years ago, 13-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Robothon 2004
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In the "Better late than never" department, here are pictures from the second day of SMART's mini-crate contraption at Robothon 2004. (URL) display was VERY popular! We had several thousand people come by to take a look at our display during the two (...) (20 years ago, 13-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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(...) Which brings up a point about the standard. For a "simple" input, my methods (flip-up-able feeder ramp to temporarily hold incoming balls, or gravity-fed empty crates into newly vacated input zone) need very little height beyond the standard (...) (20 years ago, 13-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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(...) I'm sure many AFoLs will feed on each other's ideas. My thought was to make a "holding" bin/crate with a trap door at the bottom, that is opened when a removable crate is put underneath it, or, something else that's only "active" when the (...) (20 years ago, 13-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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(...) As long as the "Type 1" standard doesn't tightly constrain future expansion, I think both are achievable. (...) It seems a good one, but certainly not the only one. For instance, have a empty crates not filled directly, but instead via a (...) (20 years ago, 13-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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Steve clearly wants to keep this simple for the first go-around. But others, including myself, dream of more flexibility. I like Larry's idea of referring to versions. So rather than having to reject some features as too difficult, we can ear mark (...) (20 years ago, 12-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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(...) I had in mind something a bit like the moonbase concept except where they have level passage-ways between modules, a GBC module would have either one or two two ins which include a slight down slope to encourgage balls to enter and either one (...) (20 years ago, 11-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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(...) Yes, I think more people will participate in a "ball contraption" than a "crate contraption". It's my intent to create a ball contraption standard. People can use crates to move balls within there own module, if they choose. When balls are (...) (20 years ago, 11-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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(...) I guess I am confused then. A crate is a thing that balls go in. A crate contraption would need to be able to handle crates, yes? Else it would be a ball contraption? The thing is, I think the problems of actaully building a mechanism which (...) (20 years ago, 8-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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(...) This is really along the same lines as what I was thinking, except, I'd start with two ports (1 in, 1 out) on opposite sides of the module. Each module would have 1 input "crate" in a specified location, and would be responsable for moving (...) (20 years ago, 8-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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I have been pondering on the subject of a modular "thing" for next year's BrickFest Mindstorms room. I have been working on an idea similar to the moonbase idea where a module can have four ports. West and North are ins, East and South are outs. My (...) (20 years ago, 8-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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Are the SMARTies going to be showing anything off at NWBrickCon? (...) Alternatively, if you restrict the depth of a module somewhat, you COULD devise a standard way for a sorter to branch, and a combiner to merge (sorter has two outputs that are (...) (20 years ago, 7-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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(...) I suspect it will be somewhere between very difficult and impossible to define and interface that is truly flexable enough to do everything you (we) will be interested in doing. However, the goal is to define an interface, so anyone can build (...) (20 years ago, 7-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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| | Re: Crate Contraption Standard
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(...) Steve - We've discussed this a few times too. What keeps blocking us is trying to define an interface that is flexible enough. Here are some of the issues we saw: Different interface types: Balls Crates (e.g., drop & pick up) Lines (e.g., (...) (20 years ago, 7-Oct-04, to lugnet.org.us.smart)
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