Week 2 Technical Post
Design Technical Teams: Chassis, Intake/Indexing, Shooter, Tower
1. Summary
In week 2, the technical teams were focused on prototyping and designing parts for the robot. The tower team had a variety of options and brainstormed throughout the week. They ultimately made a decision, but there were many constraints on space and motors that kept popping up. The index team started prototyping and continued throughout the week. The shooter team tested and charted a graph for how far the balls went. The chassis team began building the swerve modules, but was briefly interrupted because it is a newer, more complex model of the swerve system. They are almost done building all four swerve modules!
2. Focus For Week 2
The focus for the second week was to prototype and design. The shooter group, indexing group, and tower group started to make prototypes of a design that could be used for the robot. A lot of CAD designing went into this week as well. The teams had to fully model different parts of their subsystem by this week and into early next week as well. Constraints that appeared this week were mainly due to the amount of motors that we have and sizing difficulties from other subsystem groups.
3. Subteams
Chassis
The Chassis subsystem group was focused mainly on designing the robot. There were different teams that were assigned a different purpose. One team was focused on the vision for the robot, another was focused on modeling in CAD, one more was getting the overall Chassis code working, and another was building the new swerve modules. The vision group made a template for code to refer to as well as planning out where the limelight sensor would be best placed. The chassis code took code from Github, a website that has downloadable code files, to start developing the moving mechanism (cardinal directions). The design team developed the base for the robot (bellypan) as well as the swerve modules and the bumpers. The team had slight modifications throughout the week to the bellypan. The swerve module team spent the week constructing the new swerve module.
The chassis group completed a lot of work throughout the week such as manufacturing, designing, coding, and testing. The design team completed the chassis CAD by this week, vision has made progress and started coding, the manufacturing for one swerve module is complete, and the movement code has started. The vision group also began testing the limelight sensor at the end of the week.
Some challenges arose throughout the week. The swerve module manufacturing took longer than anticipated due to a more complex module. Additionally there were some slight difficulties from coding the movement section as well as vision coding. The chassis group as a whole needed to communicate with some of the other groups to consider spacing on the robot, sizing, and how the code might interact with the other groups. As the base, this is a high priority which makes some constraints in other groups due to spacing. Considering this, going into the third week, the group hopes to finish the vision code, manufacturing, and the movement code.
Intake / Indexing
In Week 1, the intake design focused mainly on a simple roller concept to collect fuel from the floor, but it struggled with consistency and control. During Week 2, we added belts to the intake prototype to improve fuel, capture and transport. This change was made after early testing showed that the original roller setup allowed fuel to slip and occasionally jam. We also began developing an indexing prototype to guide the fuel more reliably from the intake into the shooter. We also started to work on a CAD for the expandable shooter.
This week, the team made several concrete improvements to the intake and indexing system. We added belts to the intake prototype to reduce the amount of motors we use. We created an early indexing prototype to move fuel from the intake toward the shooter in a more controlled path. We want to make this bigger to simulate what it would really be like on the robot. In addition, we wrote pseudocode for the intake. We also began creating size dimensions for the hopper and created ideas for the indexing system.
We performed functional testing on the updated intake with belts by running fuel through the mechanism by hand and with a drill. Initial indexing tests showed that fuel could be directed toward the shooter more reliably, although it was not true to the actual size. These results suggest that belts are a better solution than a single roller because it reduces the amount of motors we need.
(5).jpg)
.jpg)
(2).jpg)
(6).jpg)
(7).jpg)
(4).jpg)
(8).jpg)
(3).jpg)
Shooter
In the shooter subsystem team for week 2, we focused on prototyping and testing. The group used a 3D laser cutter to cut out wood prints to construct. The group used fast, rotating wheels that would spin the ball out similar to an automatic baseball pitcher. Once constructed the group started testing the shooter.
The group accomplished a lot of things in the second week. We constructed a prototype for the shooter and successfully tested it. CAD is near finished heading into the next week and sizing is starting to get planned out. In the test there were several different measurements that were tested. When there were three balls shot they went the least distance and only one ball provided the farthest distance. Challenges occurred while constructing the prototype and there was a length factor in the laser cutter so making it wouldn’t be instantaneous. The shooter team has to effectively communicate to the other groups for wiring difficulties and spacing. Heading into the third week, the group plans to continue testing, prototyping, and eventually get started on manufacturing the physical part
Tower
During Week 1, the group talked and brainstormed on ways to climb L3, the third rung on the tower. In Week 2 the team started researching gear boxes and different ways to climb.
The tower team went back and looked at the elevator design, and modified it to see if it was a viable solution. The team then started CADing the design and the gearbox to create the first iteration of the mechanism. While prototyping, the team also researched what gear ratios the gearbox would need to pull up a weight of about 120 pounds.
The team had to effectively communicate with the other teams due to spacing and a three-motor limit. The group's original design required four so they needed to revise their design and adjust to that restraint. Other issues came up from designing and spacing issues. The max height of the robot is 30in so the group needed to figure out a way to make a design that would not take up too much space. Heading into week 3, the team plans to continue CADing, manufacturing, and designing.
