Heh, this year, we had a grand plan to document our build day-by-day. That kinda worked… sort of.
Anyway, after a couple of weeks of mad scrambling, we have a robot! Introducing Ms Calculated, our robot for the 2019 season! So named to honor the awesome women in STEM who’ve paved the way. Also named for the huge number of miscalculations that went into this year’s build…
Ignore the upside down bumper. It’s not production ready… or is it?
Some key details of Ms Calculated
Drivetrain
6 wheel tank drive powered by a 2 speed, 2 CIM shifting gearbox
Mounted on an AM14U4 frame
Top speed of 16.5 ft/s (really don’t need any more than this since we’re only doing half field work)
Elevator
2 stage cascade rigged elevator
Constant force springs to assist in lifting
~3s to get to max height
Driven off 2x 775pro motors into a VersaDM 3.75:1 combinator, followed by a 25:1 (2x 5:1) VP gearbox
Manipulator
Integrated HATCH and CARGO mechanism
Able to intake CARGO from the floor or loading station
Able to intake HATCHes from the loading station
Pneumatically actuated claw mechanism for holding on to HATCHes
Claw mechanism moves forward/backward to assist with placing HATCHes on the ROCKET
Actuated CARGO intake flips down for ground intake, and up for storage/loading station intake
#novelcro
Sensors and Automation
Limelight camera for vision tracking
Pixy 2 camera for high precision line tracking
Fisheye camera for driver feedback
AutoDock procedure which uses feedback from CV cameras to find, plan and drive to the loading station/cargo ship/rocket
We unfortunately do not currently have a climbing mechanism (too much time prototyping, and too little time actually building stuff), but we do have a potential HAB2 climber that we’re testing out on our practice bot (that’s right, we built TWO robots this year) and if that goes well, it’ll go on the competition bot (at competition, of course).
Also, since we have a practice bot, we’ll be using the next few weeks leading up to the Hudson Valley Regional for driver practice, and to perfect the autodocking routines. The goal is to be able to have the driver bring the robot 85% of the way to the target and let the computers take over. Fingers crossed that this works!
We’ll have more photos/videos uploaded soon, once we regain consciousness from bag day!
Look at us all not sleep deprived and loopy