Charge Robotics Team Technical Post
Build Season Week 1
Weekly Technical Blog Post Design & Build Teams: Chassis, Intake/Indexing, Shooter, Tower
Continuity From Pre-Season Work.
After preseason, the entire robotics team watched the 2026 FRC game video to figure out what will happen in the game, and with that information everyone started strategizing what they would want the robot to do. After that everyone shared their ideas and the strategy team decided on strategizing and everyone was broken up into teams, Chassis, Intake/Indexing, Shooter, and Tower, to determine what specific parts the robot should contain.
Weekly Focus
Creating Ideas, designing in CAD, and Prototyping
At the start of the week, our goal was to create ideas on what would work best in the game for each subsystem. We wanted to be able to prototype by the beginning of next week.
Chassis
The chassis technical team was tasked with making a decision of how the robot should drive. The main two differentials were tank and swerve. In tank, the moving system for the robot is more two-dimensional and gives up speed for stability. In swerve drive, the moving system has a much larger range of motion and is faster, but is less stable than tank drive. Certain constraints that limit the chassis are the size of the base, and how many motors are available.
The chassis group made prototypes this week on CAD. These prototypes are for swerve drive, the method that was decided by the team. At the beginning of week one, the team split into two categories to provide pros and cons of each different drive system, and then focused on specific modules of swerve drive to make a complete, modeled prototype. On the other hand, an electric component for the chassis is called the limelight. The limelight is a device that can detect QR code-like images on the field. These can output information such as distance and this is very useful in the software department as this can be used to code autonomous actions for the robot.
As for next week, the team is going to converse and discuss with the other technical teams to revise the chassis model. All technical teams and their builds have to work with each other and ensure that the size fits and other constraints that might appear from other models.
Intake / Indexing
The intake and indexing subsystem is designed to quickly get fuel from the field, store a lot of fuel(balls), and feed fuel into the shooter called indexing. The primary goal is to maximize cycle efficiency while reducing jams and inconsistent feeding.
At the start of the week, our goal was to select an intake architecture capable of fast acquisition, estimate realistic fuel storage capacity, and develop an initial indexing strategy. Work this week primarily involved concept development, supported by rough calculations and preliminary layout planning.
There were several constraints that included the total weight of the robot which is 115lbs, the base cannot extend more than 12 inches and the vertical extension can not exceed 30in at any point. Additional desired criteria includes intaking over the bump and the whole design needs to leave space for the shooter and tower systems. The intake team has been working on prototyping for the intake system. This includes a double-roller design that can be retractable, a large, internal hopper to maximize the storage of the fuel balls, and CAD designing. The intake system would use two powered rollers that would aggressively pull the fuel over the bumpers. This would provide simplicity and it fits under the 12 in extension rules. Additionally, the rollers will guide the fuel toward the shooter entrance, with the roller acting as a conveyor belt.
Some challenges arrived in the indexing team such as ensuring that there is maximum storage while leaving space for other subsystems like the shooter and the ladder. The index team also needed a way to make sure that the fuel was still contained in the space while going over the bump and/or going under the trench. The next steps for the intake team would be brainstorming a way to release fuel, and prototyping different possible systems.
Shooter
The Shooter group was tasked with figuring out what shooter should be on the robot.
They narrowed it down to three choices, a turret, single barrel, or a double barrel. If they chose a turret they would be able to collect balls, while shooting them at the same time, however no one on the team has had any prior experience in making a turret. If they chose a single barrel, they would be able to create the shooter by the due date, however it can only shoot one ball at a time and they can’t collect balls and shoot at the same time. Finally, if they chose the double barrel they would be able to shoot twice as many balls as the single barrel, and it would be easier to make then the turret as they only have to add one more barrel.
In the end they chose to make a double barrel as they had limited time when creating a turret and a single barrel could shoot less balls at a time. Afterwards, the group discovered the angles and calculated the compression needed to determine what angle they should shoot the ball from and how much they could squish the ball .After they calculated the compression, the group designed in CAD, and 3D printed the hood to test which angle the ball should come from, whether it be a low or a high angle. They then shared their discoverings and findings with the rest of the robotics team in a slideshow. Next week the group is planning to start testing the hood and discovering what angle is the best.
Tower
During Week 1, the team focused on early-stage concept development and rapid prototyping. The primary technical objective for this week was to explore viable methods for climbing the tower, a key endgame challenge in the 2026 Rebuilt game. The focus was centered on brainstorming and beginning early prototypes to assess feasibility, complexity, and integration constraints. (Need to check on this.)
During the early stage of the season, the team explored several concepts related to endgame mechanisms, including preliminary discussions around tower-climbing strategies such as telescoping arms and elevator. While these ideas were not fully prototyped at the time, they provided a useful foundation for Week 1 discussions.
In Week 1, the team revisited these preseason concepts and evaluated them in the context of the official Rebuilt game constraints. This allowed the team to move more quickly into concept development and prototyping, using prior knowledge to identify potential advantages, challenges, and integration concerns early in the design process.
We started prototyping a telescoping arm with the main hook on the second stage of the telescoping arm and a stationary hook on the fixed part of the arm.
Weekly Reflection & Progress Summary
The groups were able to decide what parts they wanted to use on the robot. And with that information next week they can start testing the parts and figuring out whether they want them or not. After that they can start prototyping the final robot.