Aren Hill ‘simply’ explains how his BattleBot Blip really works

Dear Internet, you’re wrong… Aren Hill explains how Blip ACTUALLY works…
He sees people confidently explain how the Battlebot Blip works on the internet all the time, but they always get it wrong. So here’s the man himself explaining it to another builder at NHRL’s March event.
Strap yourself in to experience the technical brilliance that is the mind of an engineering genius.
#nhrl #engineering #battlebots

[@heartofdawnlight]

i have even less understanding now on blip than what i thought i did xD

[@NHRL]

Everything is a spring.

[@ryzenryne8747]

"brain requires understanding of engineering"

[@zeruzio1345]

Am I a spring?

[@androidphone1901]

​@@zeruzio1345 yes

[@drewmartinez6628]

@@zeruzio1345 average spring W

[@Mysda_]

I love the engineering of this thing. I still wonders if some kind of a puncher/piercer could be a good usage of this mecanism for robots that aren't really affected by flips like Huge.

[@mediocremilsim]

The interviewer’s words said “Awesome insight. Thanks!”
But his eyes said “Bruh I know even less than before.”

[@LePetitePoopoo]

After hearing that, I’m either an engineer or dumber than before I heard this

[@smallwaves]

I feel like we need an entire lecture dedicated to Blip's flipper.

[@FatNinjaWalrus]

Best way I ever heard it described was essentially if you take a pencil and put it through a rubber band and then hold the rubber band while turning the pencil, the rubber band will twist and eventually shorten up, right? Now do that with a heavy flywheel and a ton of speed and force and you have the mechanic that pulls blips flipper into open position
I have no idea if this is accurate but it does definitely sound feasible from my understanding of physics

[@stonefish98]

Wrong.

[@FatNinjaWalrus]

@@stonefish98 well as you failed to elucidate then I'll assume you don't actually know and you're just out here failing to start fires

[@stonefish98]

@@FatNinjaWalrus Or I'm just mimicking Aren's line for mild humourous effect.

[@FatNinjaWalrus]

functionally equivalent given the line and context of the discourse

[@SonOfaChipwich]

"Everything is a spring" 🤯

[@romanterry7215]

Learned that in physics 1011. Still weird to think about

[@satibel]

Yes, even concrete, ask a bridge engineer.

[@Scudboy17]

If I understand it right, Blip has a flywheel (a very heavy wheel spinning fast) to store kinetic energy. The transmission engages the fly wheel to take that energy and transfer it to the flipping arm- the cord acts as a governor to restrict the transmission so the whole doesn't engage in instantly and explode the whole transmission. What be meant by "everything is a spring" is everything has a level of flexibility and and ability to return to it's original state without some degree of deforming. Literally every has that ability, it's just that some are better at it than others. It's sounds like he was using the clutch as a spring to absorb some of that energy- acting like a spring- before transferring it to the transmission and throwing arm. The problem with that is that can ruin your clutch really quickly- the cord helps to control some of that energy allowing the transmission and arm take some of the load so the clutch doesn't just explode. I could be totally wrong, but that's my understanding.

[@pargeterw]

Yeah, this is wrong 🤷‍♂️ the string *is* the transmission... It converts rotational to linear as it twists and reduces in length.

[@Outland9000]

After I found out about Blip I spent hours trawling the internet for pictures to try and figure out how it works. The small scale prototypes are great!

[@Administrator_O-5]

Is it weird that I'm 46 a former Network Engineer, suck at math, know absolutely nothing about mechanical engineering etc, but everything he just said makes perfect sense to me like he was explaining how to make a PB&J?

[@charleskempton8808]

I understood nothing but loved all of it

[@tapalmer99]

Everytime I watch this it reminds me of a specific industrial process which for the life of me I cannot remember

[@koopdi]

When it first starts twisting, it pulls with a lot of force but moves slowly. As the string twists more, it moves faster, with less force. The same concept as starting a car in first gear and transitioning to higher gears to gain speed. The twisting string provides a variable gear ratio.

[@crashmaxx1987]

That's wild! I didn't think the cable helped so much

[@thejman3489]

I think what he is saying is as the string twist it starts to contract. Or pull both ends closer together. When it first starts twisting the force pulling the 2 ends together is very weak. The more it twist the string, the stronger the force gets. This allows the force to be increase gradually. The alternative is to have a fixed gear and apply all the force at once which will probably break. The strings are like having multiple gears that would apply a small amount of power at first, then switch to the next gear that applies a bit more power, then to the next gear and so on.

[@probablygeneric429]

Wrong.
But close. At the start the twisting string causes the two ends of the string to move towards each other with very high force but very small displacement, so it can lift a very heavy bot very slowly ("that very first motion has infinite force, 0 displacement")
As the string twists more the two ends are pulled together at faster speeds with less force.
At least I think that's what's happening.

[@jianshen2223]

I would like to hear this guy talk design n engineerimg more

[@everettowen3016]

Google "Aren Hill FRC" and a lot of good videos come up

[@DeltaRobotics]

Is anyone else feeling bad for Tantrum 2018, who got flipped a ridiculous amount of times by Blip as a test target?

[@wolflinggon5664]

Kinda. I served two purposes: testing Blips flipping and testing Tantrum’s durability

[@maximumvoltage7784]

I need to have Aren Hill design out our FRC bot next year 😂

[@R3DM3M0]

Lmao he explained that so perfectly 👌

[@heckensteiner4713]

Blip is a great bot, but it seems like the flipper needs to extend down to the floor like Hydra or Bronco. He has to get completely underneath bots to flip them which seems far more difficult to do. I'm sure theres a reason its designed the way it is though.

[@dandischinosvarietyhour1655]

I feel like some of it has to come from the weirdness of the mechanism's shape too, like it can't be the normal low shape cause that weird engagement mechanism

[@serPomiz]

I got the starting point, and the arrival point. I got nothing of the in-between, but I'm pretty sure I got enough

[@angelashcroft1832]

I love the engineering of it

[@Nolifecoffeeaddict]

That do be some physic right there

[@Iatechocolatetoday]

Why has this design not gotten further

[@TweezersUnlimited]

Ground Game & bad matchup draws

[@BizarreWords]

Magic, got it!

[@Gurmudgin]

So like he said some words and stuff right? I spaced out and my eyes glazed over.

[@t0ad55]

I like your funny words robot man

[@EmeraldLavigne]

You could say "it's physics," and I would say, "ah, yes, I understand - I have no chance of understanding, thank you for explaining."

[@Space_Reptile]

i know know less than i did before, well done Aren

[@bentaylor8198]

Thank you

[@Jason-vp8nd]

Why don't you harness the power of a coil spring?

[@Core-1948]

All I understand is bot go yeet

[@mattwharton5939]

So the.. it like.. the.. it spins and the upper shooter takes the spinny and makes it uppy with the toot toot rocker. But backwards. Sometimes. And everything is a spring.

[@janicecole8384]

Infinity ratio? Has that possible 😂

[@SianaGearz]

I would think that i know all of these words but i dont know what the Blip is and nothing about battle bots in particular, and i understood nothing.

[@ammhg8642]

I thought it was grian 💀

[@MJ-mp1fx]

I have no idea what's happening but I want to

[@NHRL]

Same

[@mikaspringer2024]

Actual Redditor in the wild

[@thedude4063]

Blip would work in battlebots

[@NHRL]

Aren would have a Tantrum if it didnt

[@thedude4063]

If it didn't, people would be Hypershocked

[@TheTenzen12]

Aah, so it's like that, huh. I understand everything now.
(doesn't get it at all)

[@Man-EatingMushroom]

I have no idea what you just said.

[@super8ben]

All this just to avoid using compressed gas…
And probably a bunch of other things my art student brain is too dumb to understand.

[@davemacharoni3730]

The big reason to avoid pneumatics is because they’re bulky and take up a lot of interior space. Compare blip to other flippers of similar power (hydra and bronco) and you’ll notice how much more dense it is.

[@sasquatch_z]

I chuckled way too hard when he said everything is a spring. I'm a fucking nerd lil

[@randomman4938]

It's all ball bearing these days. - Fletch

[@RiverWilliamson]

Hot damn!

[@Troglobitten]

Can I get an ELI5 please? ps: blip is best boi

[@NHRL]

Clever man make robot good

[@stonefish98]

@@NHRL Wrong

[@cameronwilliams7930]

That was just a long way of saying that the rotary gerder is connected to the inline.

[@elenasiri5120]

Idk wtf he said and on top of that my ears got tired lml

[@fnordcinco]

Yep. Uh huh....yep. wow. Okay, I don't know a single thing you said.

[@gasun1274]

now imagine if 2 billion people believe that jesus is the reason how blip works, and we allow these people to hold office.

[@lukasart3951]

Ah… what?

[@scotch_onrocks1876]

Dude needs a math class

[@megadan268]

This shit is why I cannot become a physicist

[@metha9987]

I understand all 0 percent of that 😂

[@D.Jay.]

He doesn't know what hes talking about. Pretty sure its a pneumatic hydroponic ram rod lifter