Improbable Earth Society

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Yarmouth High School

1764C

00/00/0000

5/12/2023

v1.0.8.29.22

Note: This Notebook was designed to be viewed digitally. The Print Version may have broken features, such as broken links, and videos. The Digital Version can be viewed through the QR code.

3 Team bios 05/16

6 Game Analysis 05/16

17 Research: Potential Existing Solutions 06/06

28 Prototyping: Manipulating Game Elements June 9th

33 Narrow It Down: Making Initial Decisions June 13th

43 CAD Design 1 June 16th

53 CAD Design 2 July 2nd

62 CAD Design 3 August 7th

70 Build Phase 1 September 5th

81 Testing and Tuning 1 October 5th

88 Code Phase 1 October 26th

95 Autonomous 1 November 7th

102 Scrimmage Result & Debrief November 16

104 York Tournament Debrief November 18

108 Build and CAD phase 2 November 21

115 Code phase 2 December 5th

124 Yarmouth Tournament Debrief December 17

130 Cad, Build, Code, & Test Phase 3 January 4th

135 York Tournament Debrief January 14th

149 Cad and Build Phase 4 January 25th

165 Code Phase 4 February 13th

Table of Contents

Team Profiles

Antonio, Ian, Nat

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5/16/23

3

Nat Krah

Grade: 12th

Experience: 6+ years

Roles: Prototyper, Builder, Drive team, Notebooker, CAD

Other activities: Tennis, Violin

Ian Gilbertson

Grade: 12th

Experience: 4+ years

Roles: Programmer, Builder, Drive Team, CAD

Other activities: Technical Theater, Maker

Antonio Velazquez

Grade: 10th

Experience: 3 years

Roles: Prototyper, Builder, Notebooker, Programmer

Other activities: Swim team, Golf team, piano, jazz band

Team Profiles

Ryan, Abe, Reid, Antonio, Ian, Nat

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5/16/23

4

Abe Fortin

Grade: 9th

Experience: 3 years

Roles: Driver, Builder, Notebooker, CAD

Other activities: Graphic Design, 3d Design, Video games, Jazz Band (Alto/Tenor Saxophone)

Ryan Kew

Grade: 9th

Experience: 2 years

Roles: Prototyper, Building, Notebooker

Other activities: Piano, Guitar, Jazz Band (Electric Bass), Video games

Reid Garofoli

Grade: 9th

Experience: 3 years of robotics

Roles: Programmer, Builder, Notebooker

Other activities: Sailing, Golf

Header

N/A

5/16/23

6

Understanding the Problem:

Game Analysis

Prohibited Actions

Reid Garofoli / Abe Fortin

5/16/23

7

NOT ALLOWED:

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GAMEPLAY:

• Purposefully losing or playing beneath ability to manipulate match results
• Strategically breaking rules
• Intentionally detaching part of your robot during a match
• Clamping to the field (except for the elevation bars, obviously)
• Using out-of-field objects that interfere with / change match results
• Robot leaving the field during a match
• Having your hands in the field (unless your robot has not moved yet, or if you are introducing a triball into the match load area)
• Unplugging remote from field
• Human interaction during autonomous period
• Destroying other robots
• Forcing opponent into a penalty
• Pinning for more than 5 seconds
• Using a triball to loophole rules
• Starting the match in the same offensive zone as your alliance partner
• Starting the match touching any tiles not in the starting zone
• Starting the match touching other robots
• Starting the match touching any elevation bars (field perimeter and match load bars are allowed)
• Starting the match moving at all (nothing in your robot is in motion)
• Expanding more than 36” horizontally
• Launching triballs out of the field
• Starting the match with more than one triball as a preload
• Getting entangled with goal nets
• Possessing more than one triball at a time
• Removing triballs from opponents goal (unless the opponents are double-zoning)
• Leaving starting zone in autonomous

Prohibited Actions cont.

Reid Garofoli / Abe Fortin

5/16/23

8

NOT ALLOWED(continued):

TEAM:

• Unsafe robot or team actions
• Attending competition without adult
• Not wearing safety glasses
• Harassing, teasing, or disrespecting any team
• Continue to argue with Head Referees after score is finalized
• Adults doing the work (building, programming, etc)
• Adult coaching teams from the stands
• Taking obvious rule errors literally (ex. per <T5> instead of per <G5>)
• Having more than 3 people up at the field per team
• Communicating with people who are not at the field
• Imparting energy into a triball when match loaded
• Skipping a match

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ROBOT:

• Using more than one robot per team
• Using a robot that exceeds an 18” by 18” by 18” volume
• Unsafe robots
• Using match-affecting decorations
• Exceeding more than 88W of power during the game
• Using power sources other than VEX batteries
• Modifications to electronics or pneumatics
• Using more than the equivalent of a 12” x 24” sheet of custom plastic
• Using more than 2 VEX pneumatic air reservoirs on a robot
• Charging a pneumatic air reservoir over 100 psi
• Using more than 2 controllers on one robot

Max Scoring

Antonio Velazquez

5/16/23

9

Ideas & Game Strategy

Reid Garofoli

5/16/23

10

Possible ways to score

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Triballs in goal

Shoot them in a launcher

Large wall to push them

Sweeping arm

CATAPULT

Lasso

Scooper

Conveyor belt

Pneumatic puncher

Push it through triangle space

Flicking them

Open the top of net (flip it out) then launch/place triballs in through the open top, or roll triballs up the newly created ramp

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Tribals in offensive zone

All of the ideas in Triballs in goal

Roll it down a ramp from the match load zone

Push it

Drive over, and drop it in..

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Elevation

Climb (4 bar, dr4b, chain bar, wrap w/ wheels)

2 arm (crab style - ask abe what he means)

Scissor lift from bottom of robot (again ask abe what he means)

Climb up flip flop style

Finger-trap-like auto-tightening manipulator

Two-Claw system in front of robot

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Ideas chosen to analyse in bold

What happened, Takeaways, and Attendance

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

6/1/2023

11

June 1, 2023

Notes/Ideas/Big takeaways:

• It will be important to keep track of ours, our alliance partener, and our opponents elevation relative elevation levels, and be able to change our elevation to maximize our alliances score
• As a team we will need to have multiple autonomous and seek out our alliance partners before a match, to work with them and get the most out of an autonomous.

Key:

1. Green present and working on specific section
2. Red absent

Elevation Analysis

Ian Gilbertson

6/1/23

12

Elevation Analysis

The rules for scoring elevation present some unique situations. Several situations arise because ties round up for both tied robots. The following are some examples of how elevation is not a simple matter; all these situations start with the arrangement seen in fig 1, where Blue wins by 3 points.

1. Red 2 raises itself into a ‘B’ tier elevation. Both red robots are in tier ‘B’, so they both get 10 points for being in the 3rd tier (fig 2): Red wins.
2. Same situation as in fig 2, but instead Red 1 lowers itself into zone A (fig 3), resulting in the same adjustment of scores: Red wins.
3. Blue 2 raises itself into the ‘E’ tier (fig 3). Blue gets +5 points (Blue 2 moves from 2nd Tier to Top Tier), but both Red robots move up a tier because 2nd tier is now vacant, +10 points to red: Red wins.

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Credit to 7996B on the G2M for the initial discovery of this idea.

Skills Analysis

Ryan Kew

6/1/23

13

Skills Analysis

• 1 minute matches - 3 autonomous and 3 driver control
• Can stop match early
• Score for red alliance
• Blue prealoads not used
• 44 match loads in red alliance station
• 12 triballs on field unscored
• Can start in any starting position - all alliances
• Match loads can be introduced in autonomous match
• Elevation: �Top Tier: H or higher (20 Points) �2nd Tier: E-G (15 Points) �3rd Tier: B-D (10 Points)�4th Tier: A (5 Points)

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Skills tiebreakers at events:

1. �Sum of highest Autonomous Coding Skills Match score and highest Driving Skills Match score.
2. �Highest Autonomous Coding Skills Match score.
3. �Second-highest Autonomous Coding Skills Match score.
4. �Second-highest Driving Skills Match score.
5. �Highest sum of Skills Stop Times from a Team’s highest Autonomous Coding Skills Match and highest Driving Skills Match (i.e., the Matches in point 1).
6. �Highest Skills Stop Time from a Team’s highest Autonomous Coding Skills Match (i.e., the Match in point 2).
7. �Third-highest Autonomous Coding Skills Match score.
8. �Third-highest Driving Skills Match score.
9. �If a tie cannot be broken after all above criteria, then the following ordered criteria will be used to determine which Team had the “best” Autonomous Coding Skills Match:� �a. Number of Triballs scored in the Red Goal.� b. Number of Triballs scored in the Red Offensive Zone. c. Elevation Tier points score

Autonomous Analysis

Abe Fortin

6/1/23

14

Autonomous Analysis

In the autonomous period, each robot has to stay in their quarter of the field. This makes the solo AWP hard to achieve because a triball needs to get from the match load zone into the teams goal.

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This means every alliance will need to meet at the mid barrier and pass the triball to each other, or have a mechanism to score across the barrier.

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This makes AWP hard because most robots won’t have a standardized pass off, which means scoring from across the barrier, if possible, is very important.

Autonomous Analysis cont.

Abe Fortin

6/1/23

15

To sum it up, there will be three autons:

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Score as much as you can in your teams goal, completely ignoring your alliance member

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Get as many match loads into the game as possible

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Focus on completing your side of the AWP, and trying to perform a passoff of the match load

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This means that we will need to leave ample time for autonomous coding, and during competitions scout out our teammates to find the best fit auton.

Autonomous Analysis cont.

Future Planning

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

6/1/2023

16

What we want to do

What we want to do:

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• Launch triballs and do so quickly, since almost all of the points in a game come from triballs and at the beginning of the game there are a fraction of the tribals on the field, it will be very important to be able to introduce triballs and get them to our teammate as quickly as possible.

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• Elevate quickly, being able to elevate quickly will be important, as it will give us more time to score triballs and stop our opponents from scoring, and still get points from elevation.

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• Descore, since scoring triballs in the goal increases their value by so much, it will be important to capitalize on when they double zone to decrease this value.

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• Several Autonomous, there are many things that we want to be able to do in autonomous (AWP, introduce match loads, score triballs), but too little time to do it. This means that we will need several autonomouses that can work with different teams to get the most out of the autonomous period.

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Research:

Potential Existing Solutions

What happened, Takeaways, and Attendance

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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6/6/2023

18

June 6, 2023

Notes/Ideas/Big takeaways:

• We looked at our list of everyway that a robot can score and started to research how a robot would physically do this
• Additionally we started listing the pros and cons of each design to reference later when we start making decisions for the first design of this robot
• Hopefully this planning in the future gives us an edge over opposing teams and allows us to get qualified for states early

Key:

1. Green present and working on specific section
2. Red absent

Scoring Strategies

Antonio Velazquez

6/6/2023

19

Scoring Strategies

Triball In Goal

Strategy #1

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Push Triballs in with a flat surface

Description:

Use a flat side of the robot to push multiple triballs in at once.

Pros:

Cons:

• Can score many triballs at once without counting as over possession
• Extremely simple

• Easy for triballs to slide off the side
• Cannot be used on same side as intake

Strategy #2

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Push Tribals in with Arm

Description:

Use an extendable arm to sweep triballs into a goal

Pros:

Cons:

• Can score many triballs fast
• Extremely simple
• Can be used on same side intake

• Easy for triballs to slide off the side
• Could result in possible possession penalty

Scoring Strategies

Antonio Velazquez, Nat Krah

6/6/2023

20

Triball in Goal (cont.)

Strategy #3

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Shoot triballs in with a catapult

Description:

Build a catapult to shoot triballs in the goal from farther distances

Pros:

Cons:

• Cross court capabilities
• Could be used for scoring in Off. Zone
• Can effectively use match loads

• Not very accurate
• Hard to build

Strategy #4

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Shoot triballs in with a

Puncher

Description:

Launch the triballs with a puncher

Pros:

Cons:

• Accurate
• Powerful
• Saves a motor

• Slow reloads
• Hard to load
• Limited number of shots

Strategy #4

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Shoot triballs in with a catapult

Description:

Build a catapult to shoot triballs in the goal from farther distances

Pros:

Cons:

• Could potentially score from the other side of the field
• Could be used for scoring in off. Zone
• Can effectively introduce match loads

• Not very accurate
• Hard to build

Scoring Strategies

Antonio Velazquez, Nat Krah

6/6/2023

21

Strategy #1

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Roll it down a ramp from the match load zone

Description:

Build a foldable and unfoldable ramp that we can roll triballs off of from the math load zone

Pros:

Cons:

• No motors or pneumatics used
• Can be loaded very quickly

• Can be pushed by opponents
• Triballs usually do not roll in a straight line
• Hard to get it in a easily scorable position

Strategy #1

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Climb with a 4 bar

Description:

Climb up the pole using a 4 bar and a claw

Pros:

Cons:

• Will get us up the pole
• Relatively simple

• Will not have the height to reach the top
• Has a swing

Strategy #4

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Shoot triballs in with a catapult

Description:

Build a catapult to shoot triballs in the goal from farther distances

Pros:

Cons:

• Could potentially score from the other side of the field
• Could be used for scoring in off. Zone
• Can effectively introduce match loads

• Not very accurate
• Hard to build

Triball In Offensive Goal

Elevation

Scoring Strategies

Antonio Velazquez, Nat Krah

6/6/2023

22

Elevation(cont.)

Strategy #3

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Scissor lift from bottom of robot

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Description:

Have a scissor lift on the bottom of the robot which deploys and lifts the robot up

Pros:

Cons:

• Stored in robot, doesn’t interfere with launching method
• Can move slightly down for ties if needed

• Unstable when elevating
• Unstable
• High initial torque
• Large
• Not way to drive robot once deployed

Strategy #4

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Two-Claw system in front of robot

Description:

Use a claw that moves up and another claw to grab the pole, so the robot can climb up.

Pros:

Cons:

• No limit to the height it can climb
• Relatively compact

• Requires several motors
• Need a way to lift
• Takes a lot of time elevate

Scoring Strategies

Antonio Velazquez, Nat Krah

6/6/2023

23

Drivetrains

Strategy #1

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4-wheel tank drive

Description:

4 motors, 4 wheels: 2 traction wheels in back, 2 omni wheels in front

Pros:

Cons:

• Fast
• Simple to code
• Hard to push
• Compact

• Large turns
• Hard to control

Strategy #2

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6-wheel tank drive

Description:

4 motors powering 6 wheels positioned in a straight line,

Pros:

Cons:

• Fast
• Hard to push
• Easy to control
• Easy to code

• Takes up space
• Can’t be mixed old 4” omni wheels
• More friction

Scoring Strategies

Antonio Velazquez, Nat Krah

6/6/2023

24

Strategy #4

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X-Drive

Description:

4 omni-wheels positioned at 45% angles to allow the robot to move in all directions

Pros:

Cons:

• Can straf for easier scoring
• Can be used on same side intake

• Easy for triballs to slide off the side
• Hard to code
• Harder to use effectively

Strategy #3

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H-Drive

Description:

4 omni-wheels with a central horizontal omni-wheel which can move the robot side to side

Pros:

Cons:

• Can move in every direction

• Slow strafe speed
• Takes an extra motor & space
• Challenging to keep the center wheel on the tile

Drivetrain(cont.)

Scoring Strategies

Antonio Velazquez, Nat Krah

6/6/2023

25

Strategy #5

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Mecanum

Description:

Use independently powered mecanum styled wheels to allow for strafing

Pros:

Cons:

• Can move in every direction
• More space than an X-Drive

• Slower than an X-Drive
• Hard to code
• Hard to drive affectivity

Drivetrain(cont.)

What happened, Takeaways, and Attendance

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Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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June 8

26

June 8, 2023

Notes/Ideas/Big takeaways:

• We started prototyping grabbing mechanisms for elevations, launching mechanisms for triballs, and intake methods
• Additionally we finished up researching and documenting all of the different subsystems our robot might have

Key:

1. Green present and working on specific section
2. Red absent

What happened, Takeaways, and Attendance

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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June 9

27

June 9, 2023

Notes/Ideas/Big takeaways:

• The rising freshmen were not present today because the High School has half days with the second half being available for robotics
• We continued work on the prototypes

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Key:

1. Green present and working on specific section
2. Red absent

We have decided to discontinue writing these update pages because they actively take away from the goal of the notebook, which is to record our design process and decisions and not become a session-by-session diary.

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Prototyping:

Manipulating Game Elements

Manipulating Game Elements - General Disclaimer, Elevation

Nat, Ian, Antonio

June 8th

29

This is an over-centered claw that should be able to clamp onto the elevation bar (we haven't gotten our field yet). Once the bars are pulled vertically, it is almost impossible to unlatch them by pushing on the bars. This means that once this is latched onto the bar, it should be nearly impossible for us to fall off.

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Note this photo was taken when the bars were in the locked position

Elevation

General Disclaimer

With two seniors on the team, we have extensive experience with drivetrains and lifting mechanisms. This means we will not be building prototypes for those subsystems. Instead we will focus our time on triballs manipulation and holding the elevation bar as these are specific to the game

The clamping

bars

Manipulating Game Elements - Launching

Ian Gilbertson, Nat Krah

June 8th, 9th, 12th

30

Triball Launching (Catapult)

Manipulating Game Elements - Launching

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Ian, Nat, Abe

June 8th, 9th, 12th

31

Triball Launching (Puncher)

Our finding:

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We found that with similar rubber bands and power it took substantially more torque to pull back and fire the puncher than the catapult. However, both of these systems had enough power to easily launch the triball across the field, and possible into the goal. Additionally, we found that the position of the triball in the catapult heavily impacts its speed, landing area, and how it reacts after it lands. In contrast, the puncher was a lot more consistent

Manipulating Game Elements - Intaking

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Abe

June 12th & 13th

32

Triball Intaking

This is our prototype of an intake. It uses two 200 rpm 5.5-watt motors and pulls the tribals in extremely quickly and efficiently. However, it struggles to pull a triball up and over the back bar. Something that should be fixed by placing a piece of sloped polycarbonate up and over the bar.

Narrow It Down:

Making Initial Decisions

Making Initial Decision - Size

Nat, Ian, Abe

June 13

34

Robot Height

Why this is important

This year's game had two areas a robot might want to go under: the crossbar and the goal. These require the robot to be under 11 and 6in, respectively. Being able to fit under the goal allows for easy descoring of triballs, the most valuable objects, and fitting under the crossbar gives more options when crossing the field.

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Meaning of each section

Versatility

This measures the robot's roles and how the height impacts these roles.

Complexity

This measures how complex the subsystems of the robot need to be in order to fit within our size constraints.

Time to build

This is similar to complexity as it is dependent on it. However, it is less important as we plan to do most of the design work in CAD.

Making Initial Decision - Size

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Nat, Ian, Abe

June 13

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35

Robot Height cont.

Scoring Each section:

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Under 6 inches

Being under 6 inches allows us to easily fit underneath the goal and the bar, giving us tons of versatility. It will, however, be challenging and time-consuming to fit everything under 6 inches.

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Under 11 inches

Being under 11 inches allows us to go under the crossbar, but not the goal. This means that it will be harder to descore triballs but not impossible. Additionally, it will be much easier to fit everything under 11 inches.

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Under 18 inches

This will be the least versatile robot, as we can only cross the field over the center bar. However, it will be the easiest and fastest to construct.

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Our decision:

We’ve decided to start designing the robot under 6 inches because it will give us the versatility of easily descoring triballs. If it becomes too complex or time-consuming to fit everything inside, we will expand to 11 inches.

Making Initial Decision - Drive Trains

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Antonio

June 13

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36

Drivetrain

Why this is important

Everything is build off of the drivetrain, which means that it is imperative that we make an informed decision before blindly building as it is almost impossible to change once we have a fully build robot.

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Meaning of each section

Complexity

This measures how complex the drive is it to properly build with little friction and code it.

Traction

This measures how well the robot can push and resist being pushed.

Maneuverability

This measures how easily it is to maneuver the base, and what axis it can maneuver on.

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Making Initial Decision - Drive Trains

Antonio

June 13

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37

Drivetrain cont.

Scoring Each section

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4 wheel tank

A four-wheel tank drive is the simplest and easiest drive train. Depending on the configuration of the wheels (four transactions, two tractions and two omnidirectional, or four omnidirectional), a four-wheel tank drive can have excellent traction but low maneuverability or vice versa. It can, however, not have both.

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6 wheel tank

A six-wheel tank drive is more complex because it requires gears. However, it overcomes the shortcomings of the four-wheel drive train

by having one center traction wheel and two omnidirectional wheels on the outside. Giving it a greater maneuverability and traction rating.

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H-Drive

This is similar to the four-wheel omnidirectional tank drive, except it has a center wheel for strafing, making it highly maneuverable but easier to push around.

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X-Drive

This is similar to the four-wheel omnidirectional tank drive, except each wheel is rotated 45 degrees, allowing the robot to straf. Since all four motors work together, it is harder to push around, but it is still weaker than a drive with traction wheels.

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Mecanum

This is a four-wheel drive with mecanum wheels, allowing the robot to straf. It has similar power as an X-drive, except it has more space in the front and back of the drive. This also means it has less side-to-side traction than a base with traction wheels.

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Our decision:

We’ve decided that the 6-wheel tank is the best drivetrain for this competition because it is fairly simple to build, has excellent side-to-side traction (which will be especially important in this game when shooting match loads), and decent maneuverability.

Making Initial Decision - Triballs

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Nat

June 14th

38

Scoring Triballs

Why this is important

Triballs can yield the most points in a game, making them the most important element in a game. Having the ability to consistently and efficiently score triballs is essential. Additionally, most subsystems require lots of space, meaning we must plan around them when building.

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Meaning of each section

Complexity

This measures how complex the scoring system is

Efficiency

This measures how efficient this scoring system is at completing its desired task

System Integration

This measures how easy it is to integrate the scoring system into the rest of the robot

Making Initial Decision - Triballs

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Nat

June 14th

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39

Scoring Triballs cont.

Scoring Each section:

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Flat Surface

Since this is a single piece of flat metal, it is the simplest system and the easiest to incorporate. However, it requires us to drive around and place ourselves in the best orientation to push the tribals in, making it inefficient.

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Extendable Arm

This holds onto triballs, making it significantly easier and efficient to use. However, since it needs to flip out, it is inherently more complex and needs to be integrated with the other subsystems.

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Catapult

This can shoot triballs across the field, giving it great versatility and efficiency. However, it needs to be powered, have a loaded mechanism, and fit with other subsystems, decreasing its complexity and system integration points.

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Puncher

This can shoot triballs across the field giving it great versatility and efficiency. Similarly to the catapult, it needs to be powered, have a loaded mechanism, and fit with other subsystems, decreasing its complexity and system integration points. However, since it is smaller, it gets more system integration points.

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Our decision:

Since scoring triballs is the most crucial aspect of our robot, we decided to combine several of these systems. First, we combined the flat surface and the extendable arm into one mechanism. We would have two lengths of c-channel along our drive that could deploy to double the width of our robot, making it easier and more efficient at scoring triballs. Second, we decided to use a catapult, even though it scored fewer points. It will be lower when pulled back, allowing us to be under 6 in, and it should have a similar fire rate as a puncher.

Making Initial Decision - Elevation

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Ian

June 15th

40

Elevation

Why this is important

This is important because elevation mechanism require a lot of torque and space. If we do not make an informed design now, we might need to restructure our robot completely.

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Meaning of each section

Complexity

This measures how complex the elevation mechanism is

Size

This measures how large the elevation mechanism is

Speed

This measures how fast the elevation mechanism gets the robot to its maximum height.

Height

This measures how high the elevation mechanism gets the robot.

Making Initial Decision - Elevation

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Ian

June 15th

41

Elevation cont.

Scoring Each section

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Four-Bar

Four-bars are simple, compact, and allow for decent height.

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DR4B or Double reverse four-bar

A DR4B is two four-bars attached end by end and geared together. They are highly complex and take up a lot of horizontal and vertical space. However, they can reach very high very quickly.

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Wheels

These would allow us to clamp onto the bottom of the elevation pool and “drive” up it. They would be complex to keep traction along the poll and have enough traction to grip it.

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Two Claw System

These would be complex to build, align, power, and time-consuming to climb but would allow us to climb theoretically any high poll.

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Our decision:

We’ve decided to use a four-bar because it is the least mechanically complex, the smallest, and is as fast as everything else. It will not get us to the top of the poll, which could become a problem later in the season, but for now is fine.

Planning Ahead

Nat, Ian, Antonio, Ried, Abe, Ryan

June 15th

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42

Next Steps/Timeline

CAD Design 1

Robot Cad Design 1 - Drivetrain: Define problems

Nat

44

June 16

Drivetrain Design: Define Problem

Goal:

• Define what qualities our drivetrain needs

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Solution Requirements:

• Size limit (18in x 18 in x 5in)
• No more than 6 11W motors
• Only using legal VEX parts

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Solution Goals:

• Faster than a “standard robot” ( > 42 inches per second)
• More pushing force than “standard robot” ( > 83 N )
• “On pitch” (the holes on each drive channel must line up)
• Enough ground clearance to cross the Long Barrier

Cad Design 1 - “Standard Robot” Description

Ian Gilbertson

June 16

45

“Standard” Robot

The v5 Clawbot is the standard benchmark robot. Most robots in Maine have a similar drivetrain to the v5 Clawbot, so its driving qualities provide a good stand-in for other teams we may face.

By the Numbers:

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• 4 motors at 200 rpm (1.05 Nm torque per motor)
• 4 inch diameter wheels ( x4 )
• Max speed: 41.88 inches / second
• Max pushing force: 82.67 N

The v5 Clawbot

Cad Design 1 - Brainstorming Solutions

Ian Gilbertson

June 16

46

Drivetrain Design: Brainstorm Solutions

Goal:

• Find a gear ratio that fulfills all design requirements and goals

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Plan:

• Use the Gear Ratio Spreadsheet to choose an appropriate option
• Design in CAD to find flaws before physical construction
• Quickly iterate through options to determine the optimal choice

Cad Design 1 - Drive Designs

Ian Gilbertson

June 17

47

Drive Designs

Pros:

• Low motors
• Large wheels for easier barrier traversal
• Fast
• Less backlash due to gearing down faster motors

Cons:

• Non-symmetric (front-back distances are different)
• Low clearance between gears on wheels and the ground

Extra gear to attach motor

4 inch wheels; 343 rpm

Cad Design 1 - Drive Designs

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Ian Gilbertson

June 17

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48

Drive Designs

Pros:

• Symmetric
• Large wheels for easier barrier traversal
• Fast
• Less backlash due to gearing down faster motors

Cons:

• High-mounted motors
• No place to mount motors so the gears would still mesh

4 inch wheels; 360 rpm

Cad Design 1 - Drive Designs

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Ian Gilbertson

June 17

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49

Drive Designs

Pros:

• Fast
• Very low CoM due to small wheels
• No extra gears needed for 6 motors
• 200 rpm input allows for easy conversion to use 5.5W motors

Cons:

• Non-symmetric (front-back distances are different)
• Small wheels will struggle to cross barrier
• Inconvenient motor mounting points
• Significantly shorter than optimal length

2 inch wheels; 500 rpm

Cad Design 1 - Drive Designs

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Ian Gilbertson

June 18

60

Drive Designs

Pros:

• No extra gears needed for 6 motors
• Large wheels for easier barrier traversal
• Symmetric
• 200 rpm input allows for easy conversion to use 5.5W motors

Cons:

• High motors
• More backlash due to gearing up slower motors
• Wheels extend beyond drive channels

4 inch wheels; 400 rpm

Cad Design 1 - Drive Designs

Ian Gilbertson

June 18

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51

Drivetrain Design: Final Selection

Goal:

• Determine what solution to use on our physical robot

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By the Numbers:

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• 4 motors at 600 rpm (0.35 Nm torque per motor)
• 4 inch diameter wheels ( x4 )
• 360 rpm wheels
• Max speed: 75.4 in/s
• Max pushing force: 68.5 N
• Height: 5.4 in
• Length: 25 holes, 14in max
• Width: 2.8in, 5.6in w/ motors

Justification

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• Meets all requirements except for pushing power; but we should not need to push back because we can just go around at high speed
• Low CoG
• Lots of space for other mechanisms
• Incorporates lessons learned from other designs

Robot Cad Design 1 - Catapult

Ian Gilbertson

June 19

52

Launcher: Catapult

Goal:

• Solidify what design of launcher we will use

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Design Requirements:

• Rapid shots (shoot all match loads during a match)
• Size requirements (fit within the chassis and under 6 inches tall)
• Launch triballs over the barrier

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Decisions:

After considering the prototypes we made earlier in the summer, we believe a catapult will best suit our needs. Although slightly less accurate than the puncher, the higher arc from a catapult will ensure the triballs make it over the barrier.

The common gear ratio of 12:60 with a 36t slip-gear will be adequate for our requirements. Powered by two 100 rpm 11w motors, this ratio will allow for one shot every second while pulling back with 11N of force

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CAD prototype:

Thrown together as more of a proof of concept and sizing, this CAD model demonstrates the feasibility of this design.

CAD Design 2

Robot Cad Design 2 - Puncher

Ian, Nat

July 2

54

The Puncher

Design Goals:

• Compact design to fit evenly between drive channels
• To be powered by one motor
• To have enough power to consistently shoot over the barrier and into the goal
• Sub-1-second cycles for match load shots

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CAD Prototype:

The puncher on the right is a preliminary design, and the one on the bottom is a final design. They both use one 11-watt red motor to power a 1:3 gear ratio rack and pinion. The 36-tooth gear has a screw head ratchet, which allows us to pull the 36-tooth gear off the rack when the motor moves in reverse. This allows us to vary the power of the puncher depending on how far we pull it back. The puncher should be able to pull back every and fire every 1.5 seconds (roughly estimated using rotations per second along rack gear; physical testing required for exact number).

prototype

Final design

Robot Cad Design 2 - Wings

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Nat

July 4

55

The “Wings”

Goal:

• Design a method of increasing the width of the robot in the beginning of the match to push more triballs

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Design constraints:

• Small enough to fit along our drive channels
• Stay within the maximum width
• Automatically deploy without motors or pneumatic
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CAD prototype:

Two 11.5 inch c-channels on either side of the base that is rubber banded forward and held back with a piece of string in our drive channel gears. When the base moves forward the string is released and the wings are pulled forward by the rubber bands. These will increase the width of the robot to 35.5 inches.

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This is more of a proof of concept

and preliminary design demonstrating

that this type of design can work

within the given space.

Rubber Bands

String

C-Channel

Robot Cad Design 2 - Blocker

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Nat

July 8th

56

These wings and vertical blocker automatically fold out at the beginning of the match. The wings allow us to push double the triballs without pneumatics or motors. The vertical blocker enables us to block incoming shots, which we could not block due to our size.

The Vertical Blocker

Goal:

• Design blocker to block our opponents from shooting while still allowing the robot to fit under the goal

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Design constraints:

• Fold down to find within the 18 x 18 x 18, and fold to being under 6 inches, these do not need to happen at the same time.
• Deny opponents from launching
• Automatically deploy
• Stay out of the way of the puncher, elevation, intake, and future sub-systems

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CAD prototype:

Two 17-inch 1x L-Channel on the inside of the base are held back and deployed similarly to the wings. These will increase our height to 20 inches. Height can be increased by adding a second stage but will complicate folding under 6 inches and fitting within the starting size.

Non-slip mat

1x L-Channel

Wings

Robot Cad Design 2 - Elevation

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Antonio, Abe, Nat

July 10th

57

Elevation

Goal:

• Create an arm that can quickly pull us up to a high elevation tier.

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Design constraints:

• Can only be powered off of the drive (no pneumatics for clamp)
• Find under 6 inches

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CAD prototype:

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A double reverse four bar (image on the left) on each side of the base that holds a passive claw (image on the bottom). This will be powered by the base when a pneumatic piston fires and connects the lower four bars to the drive gears. It has a maximum height of 30 inches, which means we will be able to reach a G or H tier depending on how much the base tilts.

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The passive claw starts in the position it is in the image, and then when it is pushed into the pole the outer c-channel closes around the pole.

Pole comes in this direction

Outer c-channel

Robot Cad Design 2 - Intake

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Nat

July 14th

68

Intake Designs

Goal:

• An intake that quickly and accurately pulls triballs from the ground and into an area to shoot.

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Design constraints:

• Only receive power from one 5.5-watt motor
• Start within the 18 x 18 x 18
• Be under 6 when deployed

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We came up with a total of five designs. These first three use two flex wheels, a single 5.5-watt motor, and a chain sprockets together. However, since the chain doesn’t change direction, the wheels run in the same direction and will only cause the triball to spin and never pull it in.

Robot Cad Design 2 - Intake

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Nat

July 14th

69

Intake Designs cont.

The following designs use a set of gears that change the direction of the chain, so the wheels spin in opposite directions. The design on the right is our first iteration. This design was bulky and couldn’t fit within the size constraints. The second iteration was much smaller and allowed the puncher to shoot over it. However, when we built this prototype the 5.5-watt motor didn’t have enough power to intake a triball.

Built intake

Robot Cad Design 2 - Intake

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Nat

July 30th

60

Intake Designs cont.

We move away from the single 5.5-watt motor and have two dedicated motors on each side. This design has an extra set of wheels, which gives more control of the tribal and brings it closer to the puncher.

Robot Cad Design 2

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

August 4th

61

This Robot’s Shortcomings

While we were planning for this robot to do almost everything on the field we realized that with this current design, it would not be possible.

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1. It is impossible to fit everything (subsystems, brain battery, pneumatic tanks) and still fit under 6 inches
2. The intake works well, but it can’t pull the triball above itself while returning to an area less than 6 inches. Additionally, there is no easy way to launch triballs from the intake.
3. The double reverse four bar: while it can reach extremely high but cannot fit on this robot with the wings, while being under 6 inches. Additionally, the blocker and the DR4B conflict and can’t function together.
4. Connecting the base to the DR4B would be bulky or insecure.

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For these reasons, we are planning to move onto a completely different design with an all-new base, launching strategy, blocking method, and wings

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CAD Design 3

Robot Cad Design 3 - The Plan

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

August 7th

63

Our new plan

We realized that triballs are the most important game element. We are redesigning our robot centered our triball manipulation and no elevation.

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Goals:

• Fit under the goal
• Shoot into the goal
• Be faster and more powerful than most bases
• Push around large quantities of tribals
• Take triballs from the ground and put them into the puncher
• Control single triballs with an intake

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Our initial plan:

1. The robot has to return to a size under 6 inches
2. From our testing and experience a catapult with 33 watts or more should have enough power to shoot under the goal, it will need to be as flat as possible, sit near the center for the intake, and have some self-centering mechanism
3. Since we want a powerful drive and a powerful catapult we will be experimenting with a two-position transmission. This transmission will allow us to transfer the power of the catapult to the rest of the drive. Giving us a massive boost in power and acceleration.
4. From our past experiences with bases, the absolute fastest we would ever want to go is 80 in/sec anything higher is too fast to reliably control. We will probably need to use 5.5-watt motors which means our gear ratio will need to take an input of 200 rpms. Additionally, we can only use wheels 4 inches and under in case we need to use the space above for storage.
5. The intake needs to be able to fit under 6 inches while also being large enough to hold triballs without them falling into the catapult.
6. The wings should be able to extend fully and retract and have enough power to stay open when pushing large quantities of triballs without folding in.
7. For motors: 11 watts will be dedicated to the intake, 44 watts will be dedicated to the catapult (which half of the time will be connected to the base), 33 watts or one 11-watt and one 5.5-watt motor per drive side

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Robot Cad Design 3 - Base and Transmission

Nat, Ian

August 10th

64

Initial Planning of The Base and Transmission

Base:

The first step in designing this base is to finger out the max speed, number of motors, how many and of what type wheels, the gear ratio, and how large it is.

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We have already identified that we don’t want the max speed of the base to be over 80 in/sec, but still faster than most bots (200 rpm direct drive with 4-inch wheels is ~40 in/sec); The gear ratio needs to take an input of 200 rpm; The wheels need to have a diameter of 4 inches or less; a width and height of 14.5 (in our experience odd size bases are the best for lining things up, something under 16 inches is best for room on the sides, a perfect square makes turning and lining stuff up the best). We want at least three wheels on each side, omnidirectional on the outside and traction on the inside.

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Transmission:

Fitting everything in such a small place means the transmission will need to be as low profile as possible. We want it to fit in between the motors and the drive channels on the back half of the robot. It should not extended above the motors as that area will be dedicated to the catapult.

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We will have to build several prototypes to find which mechanism from transitioning power is the safest (smallest chance of getting stuck in neutral or powering both systems)

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After some research, we have found two designs that might work. One that has a gear that shifts between being meshed with the drive and the catapult. The other has a gear that will have a standoff sticking out on either side, it will push those standoffs into other gears to transfer the power.

Robot Cad Design 3 - Base

Ian Gilbertson

August 17th

65

Drivetrain Design (reprise)

Goal:

• Establish what design we will use for our drivetrain.

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Previous Design Shortcomings:

• Custom parts require more precision than our capabilities allow
• Low ground clearance will result in immobilization

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Decisions moving forward:

Using the design considerations from deciding on our first drive, we will shift back to the previous iteration (400 rpm on 3.25in wheels). This design fulfills every condition stated in the previous slide, notably being faster than most drives, using 200 rpm input allowing for one 11-watt and one 5.5-watt dedicated per side, more ground clearance, sized correctly, and using omni wheels on the outside and traction on the inside.

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1/16 inch gap

New Design

Robot Cad Design 3 - Transmission

Ian Gilbertson

August 20th

66

The Transmission

Goal: Design and create a system to allow one set of motors to power multiple systems. �

Requirements:

• Use no more than one air cylinder
• Do not change the gear ratio from the motor
• Must fit between the drive channels, and be as compact as possible

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Brainstorming:

• VEX HEX PTO [linked]
• Compact PTO [this video has been taken down, see screenshot instead]

Prototyping:

• Pictures next slide

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Final Design:

• We decided to use the design that meshed gears (akin to VEX HEX’s) because it shifted more consistently (the standoffs would get stuck on each other in the other design). Additionally, it took up far less space, which will allow it to fit into our chassis much more cleanly. When went to place it in the chassis we found that it needed to be much smaller than previously anticipated, so much so we needed to half cut high strength gears.

Robot Cad Design 3 - Transmission

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Ian

August 18th

67

Two different designs for sliding gears to engage with the teeth of other gears (not shown)

Using standoffs to transfer power, allowing for outputs to be collinear

Robot Cad Design 3 - Wings

Nat

August 19th

68

Our Pneumatic Powered Wings

Straying from our last design of wings, these wings will be powered by pneumatic. After some discussion, we realized that it would be incredibly difficult to drive with our wings constantly out:

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• We would be forced to go over the center barrier
• Could easily pose two triballs
• Accidentally score triballs for the other team
• Struggle to defend opponents who are launching triballs in the corner.

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As seen in the photos below, these wings can completely fold up along the side of the base. This means our outer diameter will be less than 18 inches and we will have an easier time doing everything listed above.

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Additionally, when extended these wings will move in the piece of 1x and lock the wings in place. Similar to the design of 21417A RoboCause. Locking wings allow us to push large amounts of triballs into the goal without the possibility of them folding in and being useless

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Piece of 1x

Robot Cad Design 3 - Intake

Nat

September 2nd

69

Placing the Intake

With the rest of the robot CADed, we tried to place the old intake onto the robot. However, it couldn’t pull the triballs to the catapult, and the flipping mechanism wouldn’t fit while keeping the intake under 6 inches. We plan to start building the rest of the base and try and fit it together when it’s built.

Build Phase 1

Robot Build Phase 1 - Base

Nat, Ian, Abe, Ryan

September 5, 2023

71

The Base

We started to construct the base by milling our high-strength 72nd tooth gears to fit within our extremely tight tolerances (image 1).

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While one team member milled, the others followed the CAD and started constructing the rest of the base (image 2).

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When building the base, we realized that the support structure of the wheels allowed for more friction and improperly supported the sides. Lower friction means our motors have an easier time moving the robot, which is especially important with a transmission that will remove over half of the power from the drive.

First base design (image 2)

The 72-tooth gears on the Bridgeport manual mill

(Image 1)

Robot Testing and Tuning 1 - Base

Nat, Ian, Reid, Abe, Ryan

September 7, 2023

72

The Base

To greatly reduce the amount of friction in the base we changed the configuration to include a nylock screwed down all the way, locking the screw in place. This means that when the wheel rotates it will only move the wheel and not the screw, and only have to face the friction from the plastic insert on the screw. Metal on plastic has a much lower coefficient of friction than metal on metal.

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Additionally, the configuration allows the screw to securely hold onto the opposing piece of metal, meaning there's a lower chance of it moving side to side and creating more friction.

Our wheels freespin

Short screw

Long screw

Long screw

Nylock

No nylock

New Design

Old Design

Robot Build Phase 1 - Base & Transmission

Ian, Nat, Reid

September 14, 2023

73

Integrating the Transmission and the Base

We already know how to connect the base and the transmission from the CAD we created. However, in the real world, there are many more challenges than CAD; the main challenge being friction between the gears when shifting. In other transmissions, such as those in cars, shifting is usually done by disconnecting the engine from the wheels, moving the gears, and reconnecting the engine. Additionally, these gears are coated in some lubricant to reduce friction between the gears. Since we don’t have space for a neutral position in the transmission, we must shift extremely quickly. We will also need to rely on different ways of reducing friction.

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Image of the transmission in the base

Robot Build Phase 1 - Catapult

Abe, Ian

September 14, 2023

74

The Catapult

Goal:

• To launch triballs from the match load zone in a consistent ark and into the goal

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Constraints:

• Under 6 inches
• Triballs center in the catapult when dropped in
• Powered received from the transmission
• Doesn’t conflict with other subsystems

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Summary:

We first prioritized getting the triball to center in the catapult, so it has a consistent trajectory no matter how it was placed. This was done by testing the width and height of the bar, and then using a bent piece of 1x while making slight changes.

Catapult with the frame, and 1x before it was attached to the robot

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Red PLA brackets that will be converted to cut polycarbonate

Robot Build Phase 1 - Wings

Nat, Antonio, Ian

September 14, 2023

75

The Wings

After building the wings we found that they were incredibly difficult to extend. This is most likely due to the piston being in line with the pivot point. Additionally, the locking mechanism either doesn’t do anything or doesn’t let the wing fold back.

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To fix the deploying problem we are going to stop the wings from folding back completely, allowing the piston to have more leverage. And we are going to change the attachment method to polycarbonate to reduce the friction between the wing and the base.

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After some quick testing, we found that the locking mechanism doesn’t work at all. It either doesn’t do anything or doesn’t let the wing fold at all. Lots of testing and brainstorming will need to be done to make them work, (see future entries in testing and tuning).

Robot Build Phase 1 - Intake

Antonio

September 30, 2023

76

The New Intake

After building everything we were still struggling to fit the old intake onto the robot. We started brainstorming different methods that we could take triballs from the ground and put them into the catapult that would fit under 6 inches.

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We came up with this, it’s two bars with rubber bands going across each side. To intake a triball the intake is set directly onto the triball and the rubber bands move to the sides so the triball can sit on top of it. Then it rotates back up and the triball falls onto the catapult.

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This configuration allows the intake to sit around the catapult, not increasing our size at all. Additionally when completely vertical it increases our height to 13.5 inches allowing us to block robots that we previously couldn’t due to our size.

Final intake on the robot

First prototype of intake

Robot Build Phase 1 - Plates, Wire Management, and Tanks

Ian, Nat, Abe, Reid

September 21, 2023

77

Plates, Wire Management, and Tanks

Now that all of our subsystems are built and partly tested, it is time to make this robot competition legal.

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We need to:

• Find a place for license plates
• Connect all of the motors with wires
• Place our pneumatic tanks
• Attach solenoids and connect them to the tanks

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License plates:

Since the robot is close to the ground, license plates mounted perpendicular to the ground could be hard to read and easily obscured by other robots. So, we have decided to mount the plates at a 45-degree angle. Additionally, instead of having four plates, 2 red and 2 blue, we will paint one side of the plates and only flip them around. This means that if we have our robot we have all the license plates, and there is no possibility of misplacing them and being late to a match.

Plate holder CAD

Plate holder on robot

Robot Build Phase 1 - Plates, Wire Management, and Tanks

Ian, Nat, Abe, Reid

September 26, 2023

78

Plates, Wire Management, and Tanks cont.

Pneumatics:

Initially, we were planning to store the pneumatics under our drive motors and adjacent to the brain. However, this placement would require us to cut several of our cross braces and risk the structural integrity of the robot. We decided to store them above the wheel wells. This placement, while easier to access, means we will have to remove the tanks every time we need to access the wheel directly below it, the 5.5-watt motors on the base, and the 3-wire ports on the brain.

Tanks

Motor

3-wire ports

Wire management:

With many moving parts and mechanisms (transmission, catapult, base) that could be permanently damaged we have spent a lot of time planning out and properly securing our wires.

Bottom view of the wire management

Wires leading to the brain

Robot Build Phase 1

Ian, Nat, Antonion, Reid, Abe, Ryan

September 28th

79

The Current Robot

So far we have an almost working catapult that sometimes get stuck in the down position or constantly firing, a transmission that works 50 percent of the time between the catapult and our 33 watt 400 rpm 68 in/sec, and an intake which can pull triballs off the ground into the catapult and act as a small blocker.

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Now with only two weeks until our first competition, we will try to make our subsystems more reliable before transitioning completely to coding to try and get this robot driver ready and have at least one simple autonomous.

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Testing and Tuning 1

Robot Testing and Tuning 1 - Wings

Nat, Abe,

October 5, 2023

81

The Wings

The current problems with the wings are:

1. The air cylinder struggles to open them
2. They can’t push triballs over the barrier
3. They don’t consistently lock

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1. We are most likely facing this problem because there is excessive friction in the joints and the position of the piston. This is a simple torque problem, and modeled in an equation it would look like this:

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Torque net = (Force of piston * distance from pivot) - Friction - Force of retracting elastic

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When the wing is closed, the piston is almost completely in line with the pivot, which means the force of the piston is greatly reduced. To solve this we are going to stop the piston from folding completely, effectively increasing the torque of the piston.

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Additionally, we are going to replace the pivot with polycarbonate, because metal on metal has a higher coefficient of friction than plastic on metal.

Old:

Almost completely inline

New:

Pushed out slightly

The polycarbonate brackets

Robot Testing and Tuning 1 - Wings

Nat, Abe

October 5, 2023

82

3) With some quick testing we found that the piece of polycarbonate that was meant to lock the wing didn’t do anything or stop the wing from folding.

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This testing was done fairly quickly and dirty. We just held a piece of polycarbonate and manually powered the wing. Then tried to push it closed.

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Three major factors could be causing our problems. 1) The piece of polycarbonate is moving around when testing, thereby reducing its consistency. 2) The method we are using to pull the plate of 1x is pulling improperly. 3) There is unequal friction in the system causing the bars to move in an odd pattern.

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Polycarb Position

Rubber Band to Pull 1x Plate

Possible Friction Points

The Wings cont.

Robot Testing and Tuning 1 - Wings

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Abe, Nat

October 5, 2023

83

The Wings cont.

1. To increase the consistency of the polycarbonate position, we switch from using a handheld piece of polycarbonate to one that is bolted to the robot. To test different positions, we need to remove the piece, sand it down a little, and blot it back on. While this is much slower than the handheld piece it should be a lot more consistent and allow us to find the sweet spot for locking.

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1. We kept the position of the rubber band consistent throughout our quick and dirty testing. This made testing easier but ultimately we will be moving it around to find a position that works best.

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1. Another factor that we didn’t consider is unequal friction. This means that parts might not be moving equally leading to the 1x plate moving in such a way that it easily gets stuck or moves past the piece of polycarbonate.

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After several more tests where we adjusted the position of the polycarb stopper, the tightness of the joints, and the position of the rubber band we were able to consistently get the wing to lock.

Robot Testing and Tuning 1 - Transmission

Ian, Nat, Reid

October 13, 2023

84

Reducing Friction when Shifting

After connecting the transmission and the base and manually firing the pneumatics while spinning the wheels, we get a rough 40% success rate for successfully shifting. The other times it doesn’t shift at all, only one side shifts, or it gets stuck in between. To try and fix this problem, we plan to create a function that spins both wheels and fires the pneumatic piston to help facilitate consistent transitions (which will be found in the code section). Additionally, we removed all of the gears and sanded each tooth down, to try and remove any curation that would cause excessive friction. After reassembling everything it had a rough 50-60 success rate, which will be fine for now but will need to be improved in the future.

The gears before being sanded

The gears after being sanded

Robot Testing and Tuning 1 - Catapult

Nat, Ian

October 13, 2023

85

Trying to Fix the Catapult

From our testing, the catapult consistently got stuck in the down position or constantly firing. There are probably several causes for these problems, it most likely has to do with the position of the limit switch and something to do with the gears improperly meshing.

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Slow-mo of it stuck shooting: Slow-mo of it getting stuck down

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Robot Testing and Tuning 1 - Catapult

Ian, Nat

October 15, 2023

86

Trying to Fix the Catapult

Several things can be seen in the video that are the probable causes of our problems. 1) The limit switch is not in the proper position to register the catapult when it pulls back. 2) The catapult is not stopping correctly 3) The motors aren't waiting long enough for the catapult to settle before pulling back.

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1. This can be solved by changing our method for hitting the limit. Currently, the limit switch is far back along the piece of 5x of the transmission. Moving it closer to the base of the catapult means the catapult will hit it earlier and allow it to properly register.
2. The current hardtop is a piece of boxed 5x that sometimes bends out of the way when the catapult comes down. To fix this we are going to change the hardstop to hit from the base of the catapult, which is going to be more consistent.
3. Currently, the code doesn’t include a wait to allow for the catapult to fully rise. This can be fixed by adding a wait after it fires.

Robot Testing and Tuning 1 - Catapult

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Ian, Nat

October 15, 2023

87

Trying to Fix the Catapult Images

Limit in the back position

Limit in the new position

Delay added here to stop it from pulling back when it is firing

Code Phase 1

Code Phase 1 - Software Platforms

Ian Gilbertson

October 26, 2023

89

Software Platforms

There are three major programming environments we can use to code our robot:

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VEX Visual Studio Code Extension

We have decided to use PROS to program our robot because it offers the most options in regards to expandability, and our prior experience with using it will both allow us to jump right in without having to learn a new API and will allow us to take advantage of the extra features it exposes. Furthermore, the base of Visual Studio Code will allow us to use the integrated version control system that runs on Git, which will make sharing coding responsibilities infinitely easier, as well as creating a running history of changes we can roll back to if some changes break essential functionality (which has happened to us in the past).

Code Phase 1 - Transmission Programming

Ian Gilbertson

October 26, 2024

90

Programming the Transmission

To handle the complex operation of the transmission, we used a task that will always be running in the background, instead of relying on the proper sequencing of the competition tasks. By using this approach, we can ensure every motor is getting the commands it needs when it needs them to prevent them from fighting each other.

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Side note: the motor group called “xkcd” is named that way because naming it “Lpto” (to follow the previously established naming convention) caused a “Data Abort Exception” at that memory address. Using the name “xkcd” seemed to fix it.

Code Phase 1 - Shifting the Transmission

Ian Gilbertson

October 31, 2024

91

Shifting the Transmission

As previously mentioned, the process of successfully shifting the transmission was only somewhat straightforward, so it got its function within the code.

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To not break anything while tuning the delays to be as short as possible (resulting in more time using the motors for driving or the catapult, not shifting), we left the shifting cylinder disconnected and used an extra cylinder to simulate the shifting. We took slow-motion videos (one is shown) to analyze the timing and stepped through the recording to see where time could be shaved off. Further testing was done once the transmission was active on the robot to validate the timings.

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Code Phase 1 - Intake

Nat

November 2, 2024

92

The Intake

There are several common control schemes to move a bar

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The two most common:

• Two buttons that raise and lower
• Pros:
• Best for a bar that needs to be in many different positions
• Give the most control to the driver
• Cons:
• Can take focus away from other aspects of the game
• Can take the most time for small correction
• If used improperly the driver can move the bar into the ground or another hard stop and destroy it or another part of the robot
• A button that cycles positions
• Pros:
• Easy to use
• Can focus on other aspects of the game instead of lining up
• No chance of destroying the robot
• Cons:
• Least control
• If the driver needs to move it to a position between the two points it’s impossible
• Can lose precision overtime

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Instead of using these, we are going to use a more complex form of the single button using a Switch Case. This control scheme looks at a variable, or case, and has several actions to do depending on its value (see next slide for example). This means it can not only read controller inputs but also sensor values, variables, and more. Based on these values, move through cases.

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Additionally, We wanted to use a rotation sensor to read the intake angle, as it is more precise than the motor encoder and doesn’t reset when the program is shut off. This meant we could change the start position of the intake, and it would have a consistent 0 position. However, after some testing, we found that the gearing in the bar brought the sensor out of its non-reset range. This means we would need to use an axle on the intake itself to read the angle, which we simply do not have the time to change.

Code Phase 1 - Intake

Nat

November 2, 2024

93

Because of the versatility of Switch Case Statements our drivers and coders came together and created a plan for what conditions the switch case would look for to control the intake.

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Intake State Machine

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This means that the intake will stay in the “blocking” position until either button ‘A’ is pressed which will toggle between pulling the triball off the ground and putting it into the catapult and button ‘B’ will put it in the “flat” position if the catapult is also in the “flat” position, or bring it from “flat” to the “blocking” position.

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The Intake cont.

This was translated into code:

Code Phase 1 - Intake

Nat

November 6, 2024

94

Video of Intake Working

Autonomous 1

Autonomous 1 - Planning

Nat

November 7, 2024

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96

Autonomous Planning

Autonomous in this game is powerful, it can:

• Set a team up for success for the rest of their match
• Score up to 30 points uncontested in a goal
• Get 8 points for winning auton
• Get one win point (winning a match is worth two).

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A single robot cannot do all of this, which means it is important to have multiple autonomous that can be matched up with other robots to maximize the value of autonomous.

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We think the following 5 autonomous will cover all fronts:

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1. Do nothing
1. In case our teammate has an autonomous that we agree will do more for us, and we might get in the way, or if one of our autonomous breaks mid-competition
2. Example
2. Driving straight and pushing our pre-load into the goal
• Similar to the last one, but we get 5 points no matter the side
• Possible example
3. Close-side autonomous win point
• This autonomous would score our-preload into the goal, remove the triball from the match load zone, and touch the crossbar
• Possible Example
4. Close side denies triballs:
• There will be teams that score the triballs along the autonomous line, removing those triballs means we remove their ability to score them, and we can score them once the game starts
• Possible Example
5. Far-side scoring as many as possible
• This will be used when our teammate can complete the other steps for autonomous win-point or during the pre-elimination rounds
• Possible Example

Autonomous 1 - Autonomous Drive Functions

Nat

November 9, 2024

97

Autonomous Drive Functions

There are several ways to control the drive base during autonomous in pros

• Commanding the robot to move degrees
• Uses pros built-in move function
• Pros:
• Extremely easy to use, only need to convert degrees to a measurement on the ground
• Cons:
• Inaccurate, can easily over/undershoot
• Only one speed, will be too slow in the beginning and too fast at the end

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• A P-control loop
• Sends voltage proportional to the distance needed to travel
• Pros:
• Fairly easy to use, only need the base current position and a conversion from degrees to measurements on the ground
• Cons:
• Can be inaccurate or take a long time to settle into a position
• Need to tune kP (a constant multiplied by the proportional distance to convert it into a voltage usable by the motors)

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• A PID control loop
• Sends voltage proportional to the distance needed to travel, the integral of the distance from the target and time graph, the derivative of the distance from the target and time graph
• Pros:
• Much faster than every other control method, meaning we can get more done in autonomous
• Cons:
• Can be inaccurate or take a long time if the kP, kI, or kD values are improperly tuned (constants that are multiplied by the proportional, integral, and derivative terms)

Autonomous 1 - PIDs

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Nat

November 9, 2024

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98

Autonomous Drive Functions cont.

There are three key components behind a PID controller - proportional, integral, and derivative, from which the acronym PID originates from. However, one doesn’t strictly need to use all three together. Since we don’t have enough time to properly tune our PID loops we will just be using them as a P controller. We used this document as a guide to make both PIDs.

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P:

The proportional aspect of a PID controller looks at the current distance from where it is to where it needs to be and supplies current based on this distance. The idea is to give the largest amount of power when there is a long distance to travel and only a small amount when the robot is near its objective.

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This is calculated by taking the difference between where the robot wants to be and where it is, and then multiplying it by a tuned constant (kP) to give the preferred power at specific distances.

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I:

The integral looks at the past error, and supplies current based on how long the robot has been moving and how high P was. We are mainly using it to keep giving power to the robot when it is too close to the objective for P to overcome the friction in the drive.

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The integral is calculated by adding the proportional distance to the integral of each cycle, then multiplying it by a tuned constant (kI) to give the preferred power at a specific instance throughout the turn.

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D:

The derivative looks at where the robot will be and how fast it needs to slow down. In our case, it will mainly be used to smoothen out the movement and decrease the chances of overshooting.

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The derivative is calculated by finding the difference between the current proportional distance and the last proportional distance, this value is then multiplied by a tuned constant (kD) to give the preferred power at a specific instances throughout the turn.

Autonomous 1 - Drive Forward PID

Nat

November 14, 2024

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99

Autonomous Drive Functions cont.

driveInchesPID:

This function takes in a parameter of inches and uses a PID loop (P loop for now because we do not have time to tune the constants) and will move the drive base within .5 inches. Tuning can probably be found in the future code section.

Initializing variables:

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Proportional distance

Where to store the integral and derivative

Setting constants based on the drive power

Recalculating the proportional distance (error), integral and derivative

Watching for integral windup

Multiplying the error, integral, and derivative by their respective constants and setting them to a variable

In case the set voltage is higher than pros expect, bring it back down

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Finally send that power to the base

Autonomous 1 - Autonomous Drive Functions

Nat

November 14, 2024

​

100

Autonomous Drive Functions cont.

turnToHeading:

This function takes in a parameter of degrees [-180, 180], and uses a PID loop (P loop for now because we do not have time to tune) to move the drive base to this degree within 1 degree of error. Tuning can be found here.

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Initializing variables:

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Proportional distance

Where to store the integral and derivative

Setting constants based on the drive power

Recalculating the proportional distance (error), integral and derivative

Watching for integral windup

Multiplying the error, integral, and derivative by their respective constants and setting them to a variable

In case the set voltage is higher than pros expect, bring it back down

Finally send that power to the base

Autonomous 1 - Video

Nat

November 18, 2024

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101

Autonomous

With so little time until the competition, we were not able to do nearly enough autonomous tuning and testing. We only finished the “Do Nothing” and “Drive Forward Autonomous”.

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Video of drive forward:

Scrimmage Result

& Debrief

Scrimmage Debrief

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

November 16, 2024

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103

Result

The day before our first competition the club hosted a small scrimmage between the four teams that were competing.

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Result:

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What went well:

• We were able to shoot a lot of triballs
• The base overpowered everyone, and could easily push them around

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What could have gone better:

• We didn’t go under the goal once
• In two matches our catapult got stuck in the down position, and couldn’t shoot, in another it got stuck constantly firing. Additionally, when the fire button was pressed we couldn’t move.
• The transmission had a roughly 50% success rate, with most of the failure being due to it getting stuck in both positions
• We did not use the wings. This is most likely due to our driver not having practice with wings, and not looking for moments to use them
• Needing to use the alleyways was cumbersome, and going over the barrier would have saved time and possibly won us a game or two

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We do not have enough time to troubleshoot and fix the transmission and barrier issues. However, we reduced the power and speed of the catapult we found that it helped the consistency a little.

Tournament Debrief

Tournament Debrief - Results

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

Nov 18, 2023

105

Results

Notes:

For the first two matches, our catapult gears were twisted and we couldn’t use the catapult

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Q5: We couldn’t move because of a problem with the code, and our teammate had to 1 v 2

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Quarter Finals: Our autonomous got us stuck under the goal and we couldn’t move for the first 20 seconds while the team we were supposed to be defending launched almost all of their triballs

Tournament Debrief - Analysis

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

Nov 19, 2023

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106

What Went Well

1. The transmission worked about 50 percent of the time, and when it didn’t the driver only had to move the base back and forth
2. The catapult allowed us to introduce many triballs when we used it, and for the most part, our teammates were able to score
3. The base was able to overpower every other base
4. The dedicated 33-watt motors on the base worked well and allowed us to move around and even play some defense without shifting the transmission

What Could Have Gone Better

1. We didn’t de-score any triballs from the goals
2. There were two opportunities to remove triballs from the goal, but we couldn’t capitalize on them
3. We never used the intake, not for blocking nor for manipulating triballs
4. The driver rarely used the wings
5. The wings consistently got stuck in their closed positions and didn’t lock
6. The base was hard to control because of its speed and consistently got stuck on the barrier
7. Not having the ability to go over the barrier forced us into the alleyways
1. Multiple times there were triballs there that we would be forced to push into the opponent's side
2. Our opponents realized this and were able to completely stop us
8. The plates broke several times
9. We got stuck in the goal in the Quarterfinals and it took us 20 seconds to get out, which lost us the game
10. The gears on the catapult got twisted and took over an hour to fix

Tournament Debrief - Next Steps

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

Nov 19, 2023

107

Plans Moving Forward

We only have four weeks before the next competition and we have a lot we need to do.

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After a discussion with all team members, this is what we want to do:

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Physically:

• Go over the barrier
• Fix the wing-locking mechanism
• Remove the intake and replace it with one that can easily possess a single triball, but can’t put it into the catapult
• With the space from the intake, create a higher blocker that can block shots more effectively
• Stop the catapult gears from twisting with an axle
• Make the plates more robust

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Code:

• A turbo button
• Better driver feedback
• Better autonomous, which scores more points and doesn’t get us stuck
• Stopping the catapult in case something goes wrong (triball placed under)

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And driver practices to get used to the speed and use the robot to its fullest ability (wings, shooting, intake, match-play).

Build & Cad Phase 2

Build & Cad Phase 2 - Wing and Sleds

Ryan, Nat

November 21, 2023

109

CNCing Wings and Sleds

Wings:

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Problems:

• Too much friction.
• Handmade brackets are too inconsistent.

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Goal:

• Reduce friction with more consistent brackets.

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Solution:

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We decided to make new brackets with the CNC to make them more uniform. This reduced friction in the wings by aligning the axis they rotate around.

Sleds:

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Problem:

• The robot cannot drive over the barrier.

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Goal:

• Add something to the robot to allow it to drive over the center barrier.

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Solution:

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We chose to CNC sleds and attach them to the end of the robot. These sleds bring the wheel up over the barrier and allow the rest of the wheels to push it over. They were CNC milled to keep the holes consistent.

Build & Cad Phase 2 - Reducing friction

Reid, Nat

November 24, 2023

110

Reducing Friction when Shifting

Beveled vs normal (cad)

Problems:

• catapult/drivetrain transmission getting caught while shifting
• Transmission having trouble shifting.

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Goal:

• Get our transmission shifting smoothly and without getting caught.

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Solution:

The solution we came up with was beveling the shifting gears. The beveled edges help the gear slide between the drivetrain and catapult gears more easily. Nat designed and 3d printed a guide for beveling the gears that allowed the gears to be held at a consistent angle when grinding the gears down.

Build & Cad Phase 2 - Clamp

Ian Gilbertson

November 25, 2023

111

The Clamp [Intake]

In our analysis of previous tournaments (both the one we attended and other matches we saw online), we noticed how the ability to manipulate a single triball allowed teams to more effectively move triballs, especially ones that get stuck in the corner. However, because the majority of the robot had already been built, we were limited by how little space we had.

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Requirements were as follows:

• Fit in a 10.5in x 2.5in footprint while staying below 5.5in tall
• Use no motors (all 88 Watts are already allocated)
• Securely grab a triball in any orientation
• Be robust enough to survive ramming from other robots (its placement is somewhat exposed)

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Completed design pictures: (explanation on next slide)

Build & Cad Phase 2 - Clamp

Ian Gilbertson

November 21, 2023

112

The Clamp[Intake] cont.

The motorless requirement immediately ruled out any design with rollers, so the intake would have to be some kind of claw powered by pneumatics.

Initially, we planned to have the arms pivoted in the middle, closing on the triball from the stowed position. However, the short arms prevented us from grabbing triballs with their point toward the intake, so we had to find another solution.

By moving the pivot point of the arms to the edges of the size constraint and staggering the elevation of the two arms, we could extend the arms to be long enough to extend past a triball in any orientation.

We chose to use standoffs rather than C-channel because of the space constraints (standoffs are significantly smaller) and because they would be easier to modify in regards to length and custom attachment points.

Due to this layout, the arms would have to swing at least 90º while starting from an overlapping position. To prevent the same situation that befell our wings (not enough torque to open them), we moved the point of effort away from the fulcrum using custom gussets, which were made by drilling and tapping shaft collars. The angle between the two standoffs was adjusted in CAD so the arms would provide the proper range of motion when being powered by a 75mm stroke cylinder (the open position was 75mm closer together than when it was open)

By not fixing in place either end of the pneumatic cylinder (the same technique used on the transmission), each end could move one of the arms, instead of using multiple cylinders or mechanically linking the two sides together (this also helped to reduce the overall footprint of the build.

There was concern about the torque the unbalanced loading of the triball would cause, but initial testing did not show any adverse effects. Adding stretched rubber bands created some compliance in the grapple motion, which greatly improved the grip of the intake, especially while turning with a triball.

The one major downside of this geometry is when the intake is ready to grab a triball, the arms are sticking out and could be unwieldy, but no other design that we could think of so successfully achieved the initial requirements, so this is the design we will use.

Build & Cad Phase 2 - Plates

Nat

December 5th, 2023

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114

The New Plate Attachments

During the competition, we broke three of the five printed plates. If one more had broken then we would have no way to attach the plates. We need to design a stronger version of these plate holders that will last.

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This is what we came up with:

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Instead of using two independent “towers” to screw onto the plate we connected them, thickened up everything, and printed them with 100% infill.

Old: New:

Build & Cad Phase 2 - Blocker

Reid Garfoli

January 2, 2024

113

The Blocker

Design Goal:

• Higher and larger than the previous intake
• Fits within the same space constraints

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Final Product:

The blocker is a 1-bar that has another 1-bar on top. When the lower 1-bar moves up, the string connected to the second 1-bar gets tensioned and pulls the second stage up.

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It can fit under 6 inches and works well at going up and down quickly and blocking triballs. However, it sometimes can’t come down all the way or sometimes pops up during autonomous. We were able to change the string placement further up and it got the blocker to come down consistently but the blocker still popped up during autonomous (may have been caused by coded issues).

Code & Autonomous Phase 2

Code and Autonomous Phase 2 - General Changed

Nat

December 5, 2023

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116

General Changes to the Code

Blocker Code:

Similarly to the intake, the blocker needs to work with the catapult. We are going to use the same control method and just change it over to using two motors instead of one and using different values. Coding the intake can be found here.

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Turbo mode:

As detailed in our tournament debrief, with the little time we have for driver practice, it is hard for the driver to move the robot around the field at its current speed. The default speed is going to change to 80% of the max power, and there is going to be a turbo mode that allows the robot to move at 100% speed. This is done by switching the boolean “turboMode”, which when true multiples the inputs of the controller sticks by 0.8.

Toggling the boolean

Setting the power

Code and Autonomous Phase 2 - General Changed

Nat

December 5, 2023

117

General Changes to the Code cont.

Catapult E stop:

As mentioned in the tournament debrief, we need some way to stop the catapult from pulling back and receiving the fire command. Because, if the motor task receives the command to fire and the catapult is stuck down, we cannot move. To do this we have a toggle-able boolean that when true allows the catapult to operate normally.

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Toggling the boolean

Checking the boolean

Code and Autonomous Phase 2 - LEDs

Ian Gilbertson

December 7, 2023

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118

LEDs: the How? What? and Why?

One underappreciated aspect of this robot is the WS2812B Addressable LED strips mounted to the base. Originally conceived as a purely cosmetic feature, the ability for direct control of these strips (made possible through VEXos 1.1.2 and the Sylib library) created the opportunity for active driver feedback. Explicitly allowed by <R8.g>, this form of feedback allows the driver real-time feedback on subsystems without needing to look away from the robot. These include the status of the transmission/catapult, and if the robot is in turbo mode. Both of these are hard to see and would need to be reported to the controller. The driver feedback will be expanded to fit future iterations of the robot and monitor other subsystems as we see fit.

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When in an idle state, all of our strips default back to the color of our alliance, and all indicator colors are far from the alliance colors to avoid confusion for everyone (our driver, other teams, refs) during a match.

Initial LED control testing

On-field testing

Code and Autonomous Phase 2 - PIDs

Nat

December 7, 2023

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119

Tuning the PIDs

In the last competition, we didn’t have time to tune our PID loops. Information for those can be found here. Properly tuning a PID is an in-depth and fairly complicated process, we will be using this document to guide ourselves through the process.

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This is the spreadsheet that they give as a guide:

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Tuning a PID is a difficult and time-consuming process. As slightly changing a single value can positively change an aspect while adversely impacting another.

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After about two sessions of working attempting to tune our two PIDs, we were able to get them passable, with them not being 100% accurate and not extremely fast, but consistently moving in the intended direction and stopping accurately.

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Code and Autonomous Phase 2 - Autonomous

Nat

December 9, 2023

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120

Autonomous

As mentioned in the tournament debrief, we need autonomous that scores more points and doesn’t get us stuck. Tuned PIDs will help not get stuck, as for scoring more points we only had one autonomous that scored one triball. For this competition, we are going to try and complete a half AWP autonomous and a far side autonomous that scores at least 4 triballs.

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Half AWP:

For this autonomous, we want to fulfill two-thirds of the requirements for the autonomous win point. Which are removing a triball from the match load zone and touching the elevation bar. We will not be attempting to score our alliance triball in the goal as we cannot consistently score from across the barrier and almost every team that we saw in the last competition had an autonomous could score their alliance triball.

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This is the preliminary route.

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Far side score:

The goal of this autonomous is to score as many triballs as possible to give us an edge at the beginning of a match. There are many routes to complete this, but our initial plan is to score the three-center triball and our alliance triball.

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This is the preliminary route.

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The Half AWP autonomous will get us 9 points and a win point and the Far Side Score should get us 20 points. During the pre-elimination rounds we will prioritize win points as they decide ranking and our partner for elimination rounds. For elimination rounds, we will most likely run the Far Side Score unless our teammate has an autonomous that scores more.

Code and Autonomous Phase 2 - Auton Selector

Nat

December 14, 2023

122

Auton Selector

With four autonomous (don’t move, drive straight, far side score, and half AWP) and two colors to select at a beginning of a match, it would be cumbersome to upload a different program for every situation. Instead we are going to use buttons on the brain screen to select our color and autonomous.

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To use these buttons all that we have to do is tell PROS to run a function when the button is pressed.

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To select a color, we tell PROS to run a function that toggle the boolean “isRedAlliance” and the run the function “setLEDs” that sets the LEDs accordingly, click here for more info on LEDs.

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Initializing the buttons

Toggling button

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Setting the LEDs

Code and Autonomous Phase 2 - Auton Selector

Nat

December 14, 2023

123

Auton Selector cont.

To select an auton, the person selecting uses the left and right buttons on the brain screen that will call the function “leftButton” and “rightButton”. These functions increment or reduce an integer called auton. When autonomous mode is started it will use the value of auton to run the selected auton.

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Incrementing or reducing the count

Checking if the value is past the number of autons and returning to the other side

Calling a function that checks the value of auton and displays which autonomous it corresponds to

Running the selected autonomous route based on the value of “auton”

Code and Autonomous Phase 2 - Half AWP

Nat

December 14, 2023

121

Problems with Half AWP and turnToHeading

When tuning the half AWP autonomous we found that the turnToHeading function cannot handle turning to and past 180 degrees. It will continuously turn until it is disabled. This is most likely a problem with the math, where the transition from negative heading to positive heading makes the PID loop think it is 360 degrees away from its setpoint instead of 1 - 2. Click here for PID loops.

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After revisiting the math we couldn’t find any problems with it and we did not have the time to remake and test different ways of calculating the heading. Instead, we are making some quick and dirty changes to the route that keep the robot from turning past 180 degrees.

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This new route can be found here.

Tournament Debrief

Tournament Debrief - Analysis

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

December 17, 2023

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125

What Went Well

1. The PTO shifted every time
2. The intake was easy to use and allowed us to control a single triballs
3. The lights were useful with driver feedback
4. The blocker was good for blocking most shots
5. We were on time for every match
6. We scouted every single match and had a plan going into them, although our match strategy was flawed

What Could Have Gone Better

1. We tried to launch almost every match and relied on our teammates to defend the other robot, which we were better suited for defense
2. The wings consistently got stuck in their closed positions and didn’t lock
3. The second position for the catapult was hard to use and often let the triball fall onto the catapult where it could get jammed
4. When the catapult jammed and it was commanded to fire we could not move
5. It took a long time to fire all 22 triballs
6. The intake became extremely bent, snapped in several places, and often got stuck in the closed position
7. We only went under the goal to descore once
8. The close side autonomous was inaccurate and we never got the win point
9. On the far side, autonomous the bot would get stuck in the turnToHeading and wouldn’t exit, often not scoring any of the tribals.
10. It took a long time to set the robot up for autonomous

Tournament Debrief - Next Steps

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

December 17, 2023

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126

Plans Moving Forward

We thought we were a catapult bot with a strong drive and blocker, but our robot performed better as a strong drive and blocker with a catapult.

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• Work on increasing blocker size
• Make the wings go over the bars
• Make the wings lock better
• Increase structural integrity of the intake
• Make both sides push triballs over the barrier
• DRIVER PRACTICE!!!
• Elevation with catapult and bar
• Improve the two-position catapult

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After more discussion:

We realized that we haven’t been able to capitalize on being under 6 inches. Moving forward we plan to expand upward. We are also converting to a puncher for faster shots, less likelihood of it jamming, and more consistent shots. Raise the wings to go over the barrier and curve them to pull triballs out of the goal. Use a double reverse four bar to block almost every single robot and capitalize on the defensive nature of our robot.

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On the code side, we want to tune both of our PID functions to work with the PTO in drive mode, fix our turnToHeading function to exit after a given time, and make our fire cata non-blocking so we can move if it is jammed.

Tournament Debrief - Next Steps

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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December 18, 2023

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127

Schedule

We have a total of three weeks until the next competition and a lot to do, so it will be important to use our time as effectively as possible

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12/18/23:

• Continue debriefing with our coach
• Make the intake more sound
• Get the supports in for the new catapult placement
• Remove wings and get supports for higher ones
• Remove the blocker and start work on a new one away from the bot

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12/19/23:

• Make final touches on the intake
• Put the puncher in place
• Finish at least one side of the wings
• Continue work on the new blocker

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12/20/23:

• Start testing the new catapult
• Start testing the new wings
• Finishing touches on the new blocker

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1/2/24

• Finish catapult testing and tuning
• Finish wing testing and tuning
• Attach a new blocker and start testing

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1/4/24

• Finish blocker testing and tuning
• Retune the PID function and fix the turnToHeading function
• Work on a non-blocking cata fire function

Tournament Debrief - Next Steps

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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December 18, 2023

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128

Schedule cont.

1/9/24

• Start work on better more consistent close and far side autons
• Work on better light patterns

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1/11/24

• Finish close and far side autons and finish skills auton
• If some time do drive practice

Tournament Debrief - Next Steps

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Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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December 21, 2023

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129

Our Real Plan

With only 3 weeks of sessions before our next competition which is the last competition of the year before states, we are going to use this time to test different methods for manipulating triballs. We are going to stop powering the transmission and run a dedicated 66-watt drive; Power the wings with motors and make their folded position vertical; Power the blocker with pneumatics; Use a puncher instead of the catapult; and try to run an intake with a bottom plate.

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Cad, Build, Code, & Test

Phase 3

Cad, Build, Code, & Test Phase 3 - Puncher

Nat

January 4, 2024

131

Puncher

Goal:

• Design, build, and test a puncher that shoots fairly quickly and has enough power to shoot over the barrier.

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Constraints:

• 11-watt input
• Fit under 11 inches
• Be powerful enough to shoot over the barrier

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Plan:

The puncher is going to be placed over the transmission where the catapult was. We are going to run a 25 rpm puncher because it will have enough power to consistently launch over the barrier. To hold the triball we are going to be able to choose to place it on four standoffs for straighter more direct shoots, or place it further back and give it a larger ark to go over our opponent's blockers.

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Puncher on Robot

Shared axle compound gearing

Cad, Build, Code, & Test Phase 3 - Blocker

Ian, Reid, Abe

January 9, 2024

132

Blocker

Goal:

• Design, build, and test a blocker powered by pneumatics that is taller and wider than our previous design.

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Constraints:

• Two cylinders
• Has to fit around the puncher
• Has to fit above the brain

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Plan:

We plan to place the blocker in a similar position as the previous design. It will be powered by two pistons, and use a similar second stage as our previous one.

Cad, Build, Code, & Test Phase 3 - Wings

Ryan

January 9, 2024

133

Wings

Goal:

• Test different wing designs and choose one for the robot.

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Original Design:

Our original wing design used pneumatics to push the wings outward. This design was good for a sub-6-inch robot, but it has some shortcomings:

• Wings could not reach over the barrier and match the load bar.
• Wings had trouble activating because of the pneumatics position.
• Wings wouldn’t lock well.

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To find solutions to these problems, we decided to try a vertical motor wing design. These do not need a locking mechanism as their mount stops them from moving left and right, they are powered by motors, which won’t have any problems powering the wings, and they will be raised to reach over the barrier. This design is mainly to test how higher wings and motor wings function.

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Motor Wings:

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Pros:

• Wings could be moved to different positions depending on the situation
• Wings could reach over barriers

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Cons:

• Wings used 2 5.5W motors, which could be better used in other places (such as an intake).
• No consistent hard stop to stop wings or axle from bending.

Cad, Build, Code, & Test Phase 3 - Code

Nat, Reid

January 11, 2024

134

Code

Puncher:

We repurposed the catapult code, it follows the same logic with only changing motor, sensor names, delay, and voltage values.

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Blocker:

Since the wings go over the blocker, in the code the wings need to move out slightly whenever it goes up and down.

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Clamp and wings:

The clamp and wings use simple toggles that deploy or retract them depending on a boolean value.

Tournament Debrief

Tournament Debrief - Analysis

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

January 14, 2024

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136

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What Went Well

• Bowling triballs
• 6m drive
• The speed of the drive base
• Green LEDs for the turbo mode
• The pneumatic clamp
• Puncher never jammed
• Match loads on both sides

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What Could Have Gone Better

• Blocker didn’t have enough power to go up
• Blocker broke in the beginning and needed a ton of time to fix
• Not being able to go over the barrier on both sides
• Not enough power on the puncher to get over the barrier
• Wings got stuck down
• Autonomous only got one triball
• Limit switch stop
• Slapper was a little slow
• Not having any driver practice time or auton testing time

Tournament Debrief - Next Steps

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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January 14, 2024

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137

Plans Moving Forward

Using the information that we gained from the last competition we are going to completely redesign for states. This is a large step forward, but not having the ability to elevate while being over 6 inches, having a dysfunctional blocker, struggling to go over the barrier in both directions and a slow puncher means fixing these problems will require a large change.

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Goals:

• Have a faster and more powerful base than most robots
• The ability to go over the barrier in both directions
• The ability to push triballs over the barrier without needing to intake them
• An intake that can take triballs over the barrier and that is always ready to intake
• Wings that can’t fold inwards (locked or vertical) and reach 35.5 inches
• A blocker that is tall and wide enough to easily block most shooters
• A raised launching mechanism that can shoot quickly
• An elevation mechanism that consistently gets B to C tier

Tournament Debrief - Base

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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January 15, 2024

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138

Making Decisions - Base

Base:

The current base is compact, fast, and powerful. It has worked well, and we think that spending the time redesigning, testing, and fixing a new base isn’t worth it, where this time will be needed designing, building, testing, and turning all of the subsystems we decide to redesign. Click here and here to see past drive breakdowns.

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Sleds:

The current sleds on the robot work, and work fairly well, but the ones we cut out by hand have inconsistent holes and don’t work as well as the CNCed sleds. We are going to re-CNC sleds except this time add attachments to distance sensors. These distance sensors will look forwards and by taking the distances from each sensor and doing a little trig we will find our angle from the wall. We hope to use these with the inertial to have more accurate autonomous.

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Back plate:

In the past there have been several instances where we have needed to quickly get triballs over the barrier to our teammate, and haven't been able to do so. We have planned on having a plate to push triballs over the barrier, but the catapult/transmission have always been in the way. With them gone, we now have the space, and will be filling it.

Tournament Debrief - Intake

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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January 16, 2024

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139

Making Decisions - Intake

Meaning/importance of each section:

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Size:

Expanding up to 11 inches means our subsystems have more room and their size becomes much less important.

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Efficiency:

Being able to quickly and efficiently move single triballs from around the field is the most important aspect of this subsystem.

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Build complexity:

It is important to take into account the amount of time it will take to build, test, and tune this intake, as any time spent building is time taken away from autonomous and drive practice.

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Tournament Debrief - Intake

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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January 16, 2024

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140

Making Decisions - Intake

Scoring each section:

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Clamp:

The clamp is extremely compact and already built. However, it has to open each time to intake a triball, which makes it harder and slower to use. It would be extremely difficult to modify the clamp to bring triballs over the barrier.

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Top rolling intake:

The top rolling intake is fairly larger than the clamp, but it is always ready to intake, can push them forward, is fairly easy to build, and easily allows access for a bottom plate to take triballs over the barrier.

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Side wheel intake:

The side rolling intake is much wider than the clamp and top rolling intake and has to fit within the base, something we struggled a lot with here. This size constraints will lead to us making sacrifices in its efficiency.

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Final decision:

We have decided to use the top rolling intake as it will be the easiest to integrate with the robot, bring triballs over the barrier, and will be fairly easy to build.

Tournament Debrief - Wings

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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January 17, 2024

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141

Making Decisions - Wings

Meaning/importance of each section:

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Consistency:

It is essential that the wings can fire consistently for an entire competition. If the wings can’t fire, it doesn’t matter how durable or large they are.

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Compatibility:

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It is important to make the wings flexible in how they're mounted and such so that we can make changes to the robot while keeping the same wing design.

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Size:

The wings have to not interfere with other subsystems, although they can be moved/redesigned which makes it a lower priority.

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Durability:

The wings must be durable enough so that we won’t be bending c channels or axles when pushing tribals.

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Tournament Debrief - Wings

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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January 17, 2024

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142

Making Decisions - Wings

Scoring in each section:

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Motor Wings:

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Consistency – The wings would often stop working and get in the way of movement.

Compatibility – The wings would be easy to mount, as they only needed one part mounted.

Size – The wings did take up some space, but they weren’t too intrusive on the robot.

Durability – We struggled to make a good hard stop for the wings, so the axles and wings occasionally bent.

• These wings can reach over the bars.
• Adjustable position

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Horizontal Pneumatic Wings:

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Consistency – The way the wings were mounted to save space caused the wings to frequently not fire.

Compatibility – The wings took up space on the sides of the robot, not allowing for anything else to be mounted there.

Size – These wings were the most size-efficient design.

Durability – These wings didn’t bend easily.

• These wings are unable to reach over the bars.

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Vertical Pneumatic Wings:

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Consistency – The wings have yet to not fire, though they haven’t been tested in a competition.

Compatibility – The pneumatic cylinders would be hard to mount if we changed the blocker design, but that is all.

Size – The design is somewhat small except for the pneumatic cylinders.

Durability – The wings don’t bend as much as the motor wings, but there is a possibility of them bending.

• These wings can reach over the bars.

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Final Decision:

We decided to go with the vertical pneumatic wing design because it works with our current robot and is more consistent and durable than the horizontal and motor wings.

Tournament Debrief - Launcher

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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January 17, 2024

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143

Making Decisions - Launcher

Meaning/importance of each section:

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Power

This is how far the launching mechanism can launch the triball. The lower the power, the higher the launching mechanism needs to be raised.

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Cycle Time

This is how fast the launching mechanisms can shoot triballs, and is important because the faster we can shoot all the match loads the faster we can stop our opponents from launching triballs or stop them from scoring others.

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Build Complexity

How complicated the launching mechanism need to be. This is important because the more complicated the launching mechanism is, the harder and more time it takes to build.

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Subsystem Integration

How easy it is to integrate this subsystem with the rest of the robot.

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Tournament Debrief - Launcher

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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January 17, 2024

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144

Making Decisions - Launcher

Scoring each section:

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Flywheel:

The flywheel is always ready to launch triballs, giving it the fastest cycle times. However, this means that they generally have less power than other launching mechanisms. Additionally, our club doesn’t have any spare 600 rpm cartridges, which means we would need to run a compound gear ratio making the flywheel much larger and bulkier.

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Catapult:

The catapult has to fit around the puncher, which makes it bulky and hard to integrate, but it imparts all of its energy into the triball allowing it to travel further.

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Puncher:

The puncher only needs to hit the triball, which makes it much smaller than both subsystems. It can shoot fairly fast and impart most of its energy into a triball, only losing energy to the friction from holding it.

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Final decision:

Due to the size, weight, and general launching abilities of the puncher, we are going to build it.

Tournament Debrief - Elevation

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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January 18, 2024

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145

Making Decisions - Elevation

Meaning/importance of each section:

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Speed:

This is how fast the elevation mechanism takes to elevate. This is important because more time spent elevating means less time scoring and/or defending.

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Tier:

This is the highest level this elevation mechanism can reach.

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Subsystem integration:

This is how easily the elevation mechanism will integrate with other subsystems.

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Time to build:

This is how fast we think it will take to design, build, test, and tune this elevation mechanism.

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Tournament Debrief - Elevation

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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January 18, 2024

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146

Making Decisions - Elevation

Scoring each section:

PTO to 4-bar:

This design would use a PTO (power take-off) to connect the gears from the base to the arm and pull the robot up. It would need to be fairly large to get a gear ratio for torque. The four bar would reach lower, but be much easier to design, build, and test.

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PTO to 8-bar:

This would use the same powering method as before, but use a DR4B (double reverse 4-bar). This lifting method would need more torque due to the longer lever arm, but reach higher. The complexity of the extra torque and DR4B makes this elevation mechanism much harder to build and integrate.

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Band Assist:

This couples a large number of rubber bands to the lift to help the motor raise the robot. It is extremely quick, as it doesn’t rely on the motor pulling the lift down and can continue to elevate even after the match has ended. It is fairly small, only requiring a pneumatic cylinder to release the bands and a place to connect the bands to the lift.

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Final decision:

We have decided to go with the band assist elevation, due to its speed and size.

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Tournament Debrief - Blocker

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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January 19, 2024

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147

Making Decisions - Blocker

Meaning/importance of each section:

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Blocking Size:

The size of the blocker. This is the most important section because a smaller blocker will struggle at its job.

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Deploy speed:

This is how fast the blocker can be ready to block. It is important because waiting for a blocker to deploy means teams can get several shots off before we can stop them.

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Subsystem integration:

How easy it is to fit this blocker with other subsystems while being under 11 inches.

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Reliability:

How reliable the blocker can deploy throughout the match.

Tournament Debrief - Blocker

Ian, Nat, Antonio, Reid, Ryan, Abe

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January 19, 2024

148

Making Decisions - Blocker

Scoring each section:

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Pneumatic 1-bar:

This is powered by pneumatics, meaning we can run out of actuation to fire it. However, since it is light, it will use relatively low air for each fire.

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Pneumatic 1 to 1 bar:

This is the largest blocker, but it is heavy and powered by pneumatics, making it reliant on high pressure, and therefore unreliable throughout the match.

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Geared with the lift:

This doesn’t require pneumatics, making it much more reliable, but it is mechanically linked to the lift. This means when the lift is up so does the blocker. Which will most likely cause problems for match-loading into the puncher.

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Just 4-bar:

This is the smallest blocker but will be able to block some shooters. This makes it as reliable as the lift and there is no need to integrate it.

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Final decision:

With the wings and elevation we do not have enough pneumatics to power a blocker, and it is not worth sacrificing this functionality. We are going to gear the blocker to the lift but replace it with the pneumatic 1-bar if the club can get more pneumatics before states.

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Note, we do not have spare motors, meaning this needs to be powered by pneumatics or another subsystem.

CAD & Build Phase 4

Cad & Build Phase 4 - Band Assist Elevation

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Ian Gilbertson

January 25, 2024

150

Band Assist Elevation & Lift

Goal: Create a mechanism to couple the stored power of many rubber bands to help lower the lift to elevate the robot, while still allowing for free motion of the lift prior to activation

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Brainstorming:

• Our major inspiration for this system was 1095R Run It Back’s explanation video, and we have taken the name they used as well: “kaboomer”
• We didn’t want to use the same release mechanism as them so we could run it with only one pneumatic cylinder, rather than two, so we looked to on-load release mechanisms before stumbling across a design from 81988E during Spin Up that achieved essentially the same motion that we were looking for.

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Prototype:

• We made a simple prototype to proof-of-concept the idea and make sure it would generally work before completing the design in CAD

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Final Design:

• Incorporating all these designs, we ended up with a design that used the same shaved gears as 1095R, held down by a mechanism similar to what 81988E used.

Final Design

Cad & Build Phase 4 - Band Assist Elevation

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Ian Gilbertson

January 25, 2024

151

Band Assist Elevation Images

Pneumatic release

Arm hold down

Connection to lift

Cad & Build Phase 4 - Puncher

Nat

January 30, 2024

152

The Puncher

Goal:

• Design a 16.5-watt, 50-rpm puncher that motor shares with the lift.

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Design constraints:

• Lightweight
• Fit under 11 inches
• Don’t interfere with other subsystems

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Summary:

We designed two methods to motor share from the puncher and realized that there was no way to design the puncher without it being extremely bulky and interfering with the intake and elevation. So we are going to build an 11-watt 33-rpm puncher and a 5.5-watt 13.3 rpm lift.

Puncher design with the motors next to each other

Puncher design with the motors on top of each other

Cad & Build Phase 4 - Puncher

Nat

January 30, 2024

153

The New Puncher

Goal:

• Design an 11-watt, 33-rpm puncher

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Design constraints:

• Lightweight
• Fit under 11 inches
• Don’t interfere with other subsystems

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Testing:

Using our old puncher from the competition before we tested the launch angle and band configuration of the puncher. To test the angle, we 3D printed four pieces for the triballs to sit on and changed the angle of each (we tested 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20-degree angles) and found which one launched it the furthest. We found that 15 degrees shot it too forward, and 20 had too much of an ark, so we are going to take the value in between and use a 17.5-degree angle.

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Building:

The puncher uses a 100 rpm motor into a ratcheted 12-tooth gear, geared to a 36-tooth gear connected to a 36 tooth with 9 teeth removed on each side to allow the 48-tooth gear to slip past once it's down. The 48-tooth gear is screwed onto the punching arm. (see images on next slide)

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Cad & Build Phase 4 - Puncher

Nat

January 30, 2024

154

The New Puncher - Images

Front

Side

Isometric

12 tooth gear

36 tooth gear

36 tooth slip gear

48 tooth gear

Punching arm

Polycarb holders

Top

Ratchet

Cad & Build Phase 4 - Lift & Blocker

Nat, Ian, Ryan, Reid

February 2, 2024

155

Powering and Adding a Second Stage to the Lift

Goal:

• Power the lift with a 5.5 watt motor
• Add a second stage to the lift that can block triballs

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Constraints:

• Fit under 11 inches
• Be mechanically coupled to the lift
• Reduce as much weight on the lift as possible
• Allow easy access to the puncher

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Summary:

Initially, we planned to power the lift and second stage in the same mechanism. However, we realized that this design was over-complicated, and added more weight than necessary to the end of the lift. We converted to keeping the motor on the bottom of the lift and using gears at the top to move the blocker.

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Later, the club acquired two more vex pneumatics kits that our team was able to use to convert the blocker to dedicated pneumatic power. See our tournament debrief for why.

Cad & Build Phase 4 - Lift & Blocker

Nat, Ryan, Ian, Reid

February 2, 2024

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156

Powering and Adding a Second Stage to the Lift - Images

Top power and blocker isometric view

Top power and blocker isometric view

Cad & Build Phase 4 - Lift & Blocker

Nat, Ryan, Reid

February 2, 2024

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157

Powering and Adding a Second Stage to the Lift - Images

Bottom power, isometric

Bottom power, back

Geared blocker, isometric

Geared blocker, front

Cad & Build Phase 4 - Lift & Blocker

Nat, Ryan, Reid

February 2, 2024

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158

Powering and Adding a Second Stage to the Lift - Images

Isometric of pneumatic design

Side view of pneumatic blocker down

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Note the default angle of the cylinder, how it is facing slightly out, and when deployed it is facing straight up. This is by design, as it uses the force from the cylinder more efficiently than our last pneumatic blocker.

Side view of pneumatic blocker up

Cad & Build Phase 4 - Banding the Lift

Abe and Antonio

February 6, 2024

159

Banding the Lift

Goal:

• Reduce the strain on the motor by providing a force to offset the weight of the lift

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Constraints:

• Cannot conflict with other subsystems

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Procedure:

There are several methods for banding a lift:

• Square banding
• Banding that is attached to two or four points that come together as the lift rises
• Pros
• Simple to implement
• Provides some force
• Cons
• Force distribution along the lift is uneven (more force at the beginning or end)
• Triangle banding
• Banding that is attached to three points, starting with a right triangle on the bottom and an isosceles triangle at the top.
• Pros
• More consistent force along the lift
• Cons
• Harder to implement
• UTRB
• UTRB or Universally Tensioned Rubber Bands move the attachment point of the rubber bands away from the lift so when it is down the bands form a straight line, and when raised they create an equilateral triangle. We used this forum post as a reference for the URTB.
• Pros
• Consistent power through lift
• Cons
• Hard to implement
• Much larger

Cad & Build Phase 4 - Banding the Lift

Abe and Antonio

February 6, 2024

160

Banding the Lift cont.

Plan:

We will build a prototype of the UTRB and to see how complicated it is and if it is feasible on the robot, as the 5.5-watt power has extremely low power even with a 1 to 15 gear ratio.

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Prototype:

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In the end:�We have decided to use triangle banding because it will be extremely difficult to attach the UTRB to the lift, and still fit under 11 inches.

Cad & Build Phase 4 - Intake

Abe, Ian, Nat

February 6, 2024

161

The Intake

Design Requirements:

• Hold a triball securely in any orientation while crossing the barrier
• Pose no risk to entanglement

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Brainstorming:

• Many online reveal videos
• 1764X’s intake is a physical example of what we want to achieve, but they risk entanglement with the exposed rubber bands

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CAD Design:

• Using these guidelines, we CADed a rough design to achieve the general shape we wanted, as well as some polycarbonate side panels to help the intake ride over the net of the goal

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Problem:

Positioning the triball:�One problem our robot faced with this new intake was the positioning of the triball. We had a polycarb piece curved and facing down, which we thought would help pick up the triball. After much trial and error, we discovered that flipping around the polycarb piece so it was curving up actually solved the problem. It held the triball in while crossing the barrier.

Flex wheels to reduce entanglement risk

Note plate bent downward

Testing and Tuning 4 - Intake

Ian, Nat

March 2, 2024

Intake

Problem:

The intake doesn’t consistently flip up when we try to score a tribal;

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Solution:

This is likely caused by the intake not being raised enough and the polycarb designed to flip up isn’t hitting correctly.

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We are going to redesign the intake polycarb to have a straighter angle that should transfor more force vertically to bringing the intake up instead of horizontally into the drive base.

Old

New

Cad and Build Phase 4 - Sleds

Ian, Ryan

February 6, 2024

162

Distance Sensor Sleds

Because we were going to re-cut the sleds, the opportunity to make changes presented itself. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the decision was made to embed distance sensors into one set of sleds on our robot.

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These sensors will help with autonomous programming as we will be able to use them to get absolute distances for movement, and by comparing their readings we will have a backup to the inertial sensor for determining heading.

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By mounting these sensors to the sleds, they are low enough to get consistent readings against the barriers on the field, not just the field walls.

Determining the proper height for the sensor

CAD design integrating sensors

Finalized sleds integrated onto the robot

CAD & Build Phase 4 - Polycarbonate Plate

Abe

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February 7, 2024

163

Back Polycarb Plate

Reason for including it on our robot:

We needed a way to push triballs over the barrier, fast and effectively.

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Process of creation:�We took measurements, �Cut out the piece,�Drilled holes to screw it on our bot�Then I designed the logo, �We laser cut it and painted it so that our logo was made of light shining through the back of it: �����������

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���And the piece was complete and effective!

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Cad & Build Phase 4 - Wings

Reid, Ryan

February 8, 2024

164

The Wings

Analysis:

In the analysis for our last competition we found that vertical pneumatic wings suit our needs the best. The vertical wings don’t need a locking mechanism have because we are using hinges to pivot the wings up and down. Because the wings don’t have to lock, we can make the wings much more consistent than other wing designs. We chose to move our wings to the back so that they don’t interfere with our intake and lift which is positioned in the front of the robot.

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Pros:

• No need to make them lock
• Very consistent
• Can take tribals from match load zones

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Cons:

• Take up vertical space

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Cad & Build Phase 4 - Flipouts

Reid, Ian

February 8, 2024

165

Kaboomer Flipouts

Problem:

• Our center of gravity doesn’t align with our kaboomer

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Solution:

• Kaboomer flipouts

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When we designed our band assisted elevation, we knew our center of gravity would not be aligned to the pole. So we need something to hold ourselves from tipping that would be hold us elevated. We designed a mechanism that flips out when the band assisted elevation is activated. It flips out to the side to keep us from tipping. These initially started without any locking mechanism, and the robot started flipping backwards. So we have designed but not tested a way to lock them with a gear and ratchet.

Without locking

Locking mechanism

Code Phase 4

Code Phase 4 - Puncher

Nat

February 13, 2024

167

Puncher Control

Goal:

• Use a task to control the puncher and remove stress from the driver

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Plan:

We are going to use almost the same control scheme as the earlier puncher and catapult. However, we are planning to use an optical sensor to check if a triball has been placed, and if so, automatically fire the puncher. Additionally, the lights from the optical sensor will signal to the match loaders if the puncher is enabled.

Setting optical light

Checking the optical reading

Code Phase 4 - Intake

Nat

February 13, 2024

168

Intake Control

Goal:

• Use a task to control the intake and remove stress from the driver

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Plan:

Use a sensor to detect if there is a triball in the intake. If there isn’t, constantly intake, if there is stop the intaken and wait for a controller command to outtake. This means the driver only needs to worry about positioning the robot and then out-taking it. It also reduces the number of buttons required to control the intake that can be used for other important tasks, such as controlling the lift, blocker, puncher, and wings.

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Checking for a triball in the intake a setting a boolean

Only receive commands during OP control

Using a integer to control the intake mode

Intaking, outaking, and stopping

Control during autonomous

Code Phase 4 - Lift

Nat

February 15, 2024

169

Lift Control

Goal:

• Use a task to control the lift and remove stress from the driver

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Plan:

The lift control task has to do many things:

• Bring the lift down and reset the position to manage the encoder drift
• Automatically retract the blocker when the lift comes down and the blocker is up
• Automatically bring the lift up if there is a triball in the intake, but be able to bring it down for going around the horizontal barrier

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We will use an integer, liftMove, to control the position of the lift and a boolean, weDoNotCare, to control if it should move when there is a triball in the intake.

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If liftMove = -1 the lift uses a while loop to bring the lift down until it hits a button or receives a conflicting input from the controller. If the blocker is up, it will toggle it down.

If liftMove = 1 it sets the brake mode to hold, so it doesn’t fall, and brings the lift up.

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If weDoNotCare is false, the lift is down, and there is a triball in the intake then it will move up. Else it will stay down.

Code Phase 4 - Lift

Nat, Ian

February 15, 2024

170

Lift Control - Code

Only receives inputs from the controller during OP control

Setting the variables

Bringing the lift down if liftMove = -1

Toggling the blocker

Setting corresponding variables

Moving the lift up

Only moving the lift when there is a triball in the intake when the lift is down

Autonomous 4

Autonomous 4 - Position Tracking

Ian

Position tracking

Autonomous - Routes

Ian, Nat

Autonomous Routes

With this position tracking and faster pre-tuned move commands we are going to take this opportunity to rewrite many of our previous autonomous to make them more efficient and add a couple more. See slide 96 and 120 for past autonomous planning.

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Sending voltage to the drive

Backing up

Stopping the drive

Drive straight:

• Instead of using the drive forward PID we are going control the drive with voltage control. And it will only be used incase our position tracking or other function break.
• Route
• Code: Video:

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Autonomous - AWP

Ian, Nat

Autonomous Routes AWP

This autonomous route descores the match load triball and touches the elevation bar. Which means our teammate only needs to push their triball into the goal for the autonomous winpoint. This autonomous will probably run most pre-elimination matches to maximize our winpoints.

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It will be following this route.

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Code: Video:

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Setting position

Moving to the goal and scoring our alliance triball

Move to the elevation bar while outaking

Resetting position

Remove match load triball

Autonomous - Close Deny

Ian

Autonomous Routes Close Deny

Autonomous - 3 Triball

Ian

Autonomous Routes

3 Triball

Autonomous - 5 Triball Rush

Ian, Nat

Autonomous Routes

5 Triball Rush

This autonomous route rushes the center triballs that can be contested by our opponent. This will be used instead of the 6 triball if our opponent rushes the center.

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It scores all of the triball on our side except for the shared triball under the elevation bar. And will follow this path.

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Code: Video:

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Autonomous - 6 triball

Ian

Autonomous Routes

6 Triball

Autonomous - Skills

Antonion, Ian

Autonomous Routes

Skills

Testing and Tuning 4

Testing and Tuning 4 - Band Assis

Band Assist

Note: The following slides are templates for future notebook organization and do not contain more content on our robot design process

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Thank you for reading our notebook

-Team C

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TEMPLATE

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These tri-balls are underneath the bar. They are placed on top on this slide so they be can moved.

TEMPLATE

1/24th Scale