Yours, mine, and ours

Today we combined our ring grabbing system and our ring release system, finding the two to work almost perfectly together. With some design modifications to improve performance, this system will work beautifully to grab and place rings.

This

+

This

=

20% Cooler

And They're Off!

After being operational for a week, our robot finally got graded for being able to move. While the other groups scrambled to get theirs moving, Casey just loaded up last year's program and got a grade so we could get on with building; it's awesome to be ahead of the game!

Don't let Nik use the drill press!!

You hear that, everyone??? So it has been written, so it shall be. Maybe I'm just no good with power tools; or, maybe it's the drill press' fault. Yup: definitely the press. Whatever the case, looks like someone else is going to have to machine the plexiglass, and I'm going to get out of the machine shop before I cause any more damage!

What could possibly go wrong?

...close enough...

Harder, better, faster, stronger...

Adapted aluminium to use for elevator as it is lighter and more stable. Also designed a stability mechanism using channels the hold the aluminium steady as it is raised.

Prototype V.2

Adapted the prototype ring release mechanism to work on our robot, added the ability to run a motor to operate the mechanism.

Flipper

Going Up

Determined that an elevator system would be best for our robot to reach the highest row. Began construction using channels.

Bottoms Up

Done! End! Fin! The SolidWorks for the new robot's chassis is finally done! Know what that means? Me either. The new chassis is fairly similar to the one we used on last year's bot, since that one worked pretty well anyways. If it isn't broke, don't fix it; that's good news for our programmer at least, and the build guys have less to take apart now. You're welcome!

Chassis

The new chassis keeps the best aspects of the old one – including its 2:1 gear ratio for drive motors, which provided enough torque to move our monster of a bot faster than it probably should have been going – but boasts some improvements. For starters, it's only got one omni-directional wheel on either side, as opposed to two on the last chassis (which we changed because, during the finals, we kept getting pushed around by our opponents because our bot had no lateral grip). The plexiglass plate in the middle is new too; it's there to give us a place to mount our motor controllers and help de-clutter our wiring – a serious problem last season. The rest of the design was carried over from last year's bot.