VEX Ball Contraption Models

VEX Ball Contraption modules collection...

Dinosaur

Author: Philo SnapCAD model Building notes: Needs two transparent plastic sheets. For material, I used a laminating pouch, laminated on a overhead transparencies. Holes done with a hole punch. Link to YouTube video  Reliability: excellent. Two copies of this model worked flawlessly during VEX Worlds 2016. Sometimes 4 or 5 balls make an arch at the back of input bin, but they generally get bumped when new ball arrive.

Ball Pump

Author: Andreas Dreier SnapCAD model Building notes: Needs two transparent plastic sheets. For material, I used a laminating pouch, laminated on a overhead transparencies. Holes done with an office hole punch. Link to YouTube video

Wave

Author: Philo SnapCAD model Building notes: Two transparent sheets (done from laminating pouch) are useful to get a smooth surface and avoid stuck balls. But not mandatory, as new arriving balls bump them and get them moving again. Link to YouTube video  Reliability: Excellent. Performed perfectly during VEX Worlds 2016.

Belt conveyor

Author: Philo SnapCAD model Link to YouTube video  Reliability: Excellent. Performed perfectly during VEX Worlds 2016. If an excessive number of balls is put in the input bin, the beam above belt can break.

Bridge

This module allows VBC servants to enter the middle area, bridging the opening in tables ring. Could be made a bit higher to avoid the need of leaning to enter!
 

Author: Philo and John Hansen SnapCAD model Building notes: Take care to correctly tighten the belt (adjust the number of links). Otherwise the ball picking bars are leaning and don't take balls correctly. Link to YouTube video  Reliability: Very good. Performed well during VEX Worlds 2016, after minor tweaks. The output ramp sometimes drops a ball, but no fix was found.

Ball Counter

This module is a modified HEXBUG Screwlift ball machine. It is raised with 6 1x4 beams to get the output above 8 inches. A light barrier, made of a light sensor in front of a touch-LED, allows to counts balls as they go through the output. Note that the LED of the light sensor must be covered with black tape to get the light barrier work properly.


Robot-C program is here. The program displays the number of balls that went through the module since starting it, as well as the average number of balls/second. Ball rate during the last 60 seconds is also displayed.



The unused outputs of the brain can be used to drive motors of other simple modules.
 

Author: Philo SnapCAD model Building notes: the light of light sensor must be covered with black tape. Link to YouTube video  Reliability: Very good. Performed well during VEX Worlds 2016. Output sometimes jam when many balls are placed in the bin at the same time, several balls entering the same "cell" of screwlift. The optional "serializer" contraption is supposed to improve this but was not mounted during the event.

Last updated 2016-05-11