Robots

Into The Deep- 1st Robot

Center Stage- 2nd Robot

We built two robots this year, a simple one for the first two competitions and a more complicated one for the rest of the season. This was our second robot that started with flippers that could grab from the bottom of the stack, pushed into our intake which was a series of three sushi rollers which brings the pixel into the dual gripper we installed that can drop one pixel at a time. The gripper is connected to the linear slide which is operated by one ultraplanetary motor that can reach up to the third line on the backdrop. We also had a pull-up mechanism to lift the robot and a drone launcher to propel a paper airplane across the field for extra points.


Center Stage- 1st Robot

This year, because of the tight work space we decided to go with a 15x18x18 box with a linear lift operated by two ultraplanetary motors working in tandem to operate a system of spools and lifts to enable us to be able to place on the tall, medium, small, and ground junctions respectively. For our robot, the reason we decided to go smaller was to enable us to be able to go in between all of the poles with much more effiency. We also applied a gripper to grab and release cones, and an attached distance camera to help us place cones in Autonomous more accurately. 


Power Play- Varsity Robot

This year, because of the tight work space we decided to go with a 15x18x18 box with a linear lift operated by two ultraplanetary motors working in tandem to operate a system of spools and lifts to enable us to be able to place on the tall, medium, small, and ground junctions respectively. For our robot, the reason we decided to go smaller was to enable us to be able to go in between all of the poles with much more effiency. We also applied a gripper to grab and release cones, and an attached distance camera to help us place cones in Autonomous more accurately. 


Power Play- JV BlueBot 

Since most of our team this year are seniors, we brought on a number of younger recruits to train for next year.  To give them the best experience, we decided to have them act as a "junior varsity" team and build their own robot, even though it won't be eligible to compete for real.  This season, the JV team decided to make a box robot with an arm that swivels on an axis to be able to place cones on all of the poles (smalls, mediums, talls, and grounds). We weren't sure how to place on all of the poles, but after looking it through, we figured out, with Pythagoras's theory and looking at the hypotenuse of an 18 inch triangle, we figured out how to all of the cones without the use of a linear lift.    

Freight Frenzy - Tiny Bot

This year, because of the barriers blocking most of the way to the warehouse, we decided to create a smaller robot to go between the gaps instead if going over the barrier. The chassis is 9.5"x11", and we use a mecanum drive train for added maneuverability. 

Our delivery system consists of a simple gripper on a long arm that can be swung from the front of the robot to the back. We chose this system, because it prevented us from having to turn around for every cycle. Another benefit that comes from the simplicity of our design is the fact that there are fewer moving parts that could potentially break down, improving reliability. 

On the bottom of the gripper, we have a microswitch that is pressed when the gripper closes all the way. We use this to determine if we have a cube loaded, and it sends this information to a set of LED lights that change color depending on the state of our gripper. Red means that the gripper closed too much, and we do not have a cube, green means that the servo moved, and the touch sensor did not activate, indicating we have a cube, and blue means that the gripper is open and ready to accept a cube.

Ultimate Goal - Ring Robot (Not Beyonce or Frodo )

Our intake consists of several star shaped wheels.  This leads to a poly cord conveyor.  After this, a gatekeeper servo can block our rings from going into our shooter, allowing us to have multiple rings loaded at the same time in our relatively small amount of space. Our shooter is powered by a single flywheel, and is capable of shooting the rings accurately and at high speeds. We can then lower the gatekeeper servo when we want to shoot our stored rings, activate the shooter, and fire the rings. Our wobble goal gripper makes it easy to grab the wobble goal.  

We have a camera we can use to detect the ring stack during autonomous, so we can place the wobble goals properly.  We also use the IMU and wrote some gyro routines for navigation during autonomous and also for assistance during teleop.

Skystone - Hadrian (Robot 1)

This first robot was made as a prototype and a temporary robot for the Skystone FTC season. Over the course of its lifetime, it has served the team well, and has carried Technophobia on to the Illinois State Tournament.

Chassis

This is a tank-drive chassis made out of REV extrusion. There are four 40:1 motors, four traction wheels, and four omni-directional wheels. This chassis is flimsy, and makes autonomous difficult with the inconsistencies.


Intake

The intake on this robot is different than many others. It is hinged on to the chassis at the start of the match, and then folds down once the match starts to extend out of 18in. On the end of the intake is complaint wheels, which grip the stone as it is traveling through the robot.


Claw

The claw on this robot is made with two servos that clamp the nub on the stone. Each of these servos has an arm with rubber bands wrapped around for friction. This keeps the stone in the claw without slipping. The downside with this design is that as there is not much surface area where the stone is being gripped, aggressive driving can cause the stone to fall. To move the claw out of the robot, there is a rack and pinion controlled with a servo.

Foundation Gripper

This design uses two servos to rotate two small arms that latch onto the foundation. While latched, we can adjust the position of the foundation easily. This components works without many problems.

Capstone

This capstone is designed to move up the skyscraper with the stone so as to only take one trip. As the stone leaves the robot, the capstone slides off with it.

Wire Lift

This lift has four separate stages to lift the claw to its height. It can make a skyscraper 6 stones tall, and is powered by two motors with spools on the end for the wire. It is not powered down, and instead there is surgical tubing to pull the lift back down after extensions.

Skystone - Hadrian v2 (Robot 2)

This is the second robot that we have constructed. This robot has been worked on as the year progressed through CAD (computer aided design). We used three types of software for this: PTC Creo, Autodesk Fusion 360, and Tinkercad. We began research before the year even started! This is the robot we will be taking to the Illinois State Tournament.

Chassis

This second chassis has been specially designed for mecanum wheels. These wheels have rollers at 45 degree angles, and when they are powered against each other, the robot can strafe side to side, as well as have all the previous mobility as tank drive. This allows us to move anywhere around the field with ease. 

Intake

This intake is designed to pick up the stone from any angle so as to decrease cycle time as much as possible. On the intake, there are two medium compliance wheels, and four small compliance wheels to grip the stone on its journey up the ramp into the claw. These wheels are run with belts.

Claw

This claw is most likely the biggest change from the first robot. The stone is gripped with a high torque servo, and clamped against a back wall which holds it in place tighter than the original. This claw also uses rotation instead of a rack and pinion. Once again, a high torque servo is used to rotate the stone out, and a gearbox is used to get more rotation (about 300 degrees from 180). Lastly, the chain run between the arms keeps the claw level as it is rotating. The capstone is integrated into the claw as well (not seen in picture).

Foundation Gripper

These foundation grippers work the same way as the last design. The only difference is that they are built out of poly-carbonate instead of REV extrusion.

Belt Lift

From the first robot, we changed the lift to a belt lift. This way, we don't have to worry about spooling the wire at the motor. The belt lift also allows us to power the lift both up and down, in a continuous motion.