Team 2840 Blue Tide: Cap'n Munch!
 

Behold, our glorious 2012 robot! More and better pictures and videos are on the way.

Autonomous Mode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36kE...oKjNxRsC-y35o=

Ram Testing:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLRv...MZDQefPbERu4E=

Chassis: We have mecanum drive augmented by raised traction wheels that help pull us over the bump and mitigate tipping. This is our second year with a welded steel drive base.

Ball Shooter: The shooter is powered by two Banebot 550s in 4:1 gearboxes. The wheels are from a soccer-ball kicking machine, and were chosen for their wide grippy tread and significant rim mass. Each wheel has an encoder for precise PID speed control, although we can also use voltage control if needed.

Ball Pickup System: High-speed polycord rollers take balls from the front and rear intakes to the base of the turret in a half second. Balls are transferred into the shooter by a pair of gatekeeper rollers, and are fired by pushing them between the shooter wheels with a servo-actuated arm. This makes for very repeatable shooting at a variety of distances and speeds.

Bridge Ram: An angled wedge deploys over the rear bumper and locks in place, allowing us to simply and reliably push down and drive up the bridge. We can quickly perform a solo balance, and have practiced double balancing.

Autonomous: We have several modes available, which we can quickly switch between while placing our robot. We can score in the top or middle hoops autonomously, and can choose to clear the coopertition bridge.

Sensors and Whatnot: Our camera system can automatically align the shooter on the target, although manual adjustment is also available. The drive wheels are fitted with encoders, allowing us to activate speed control on the bridge to eliminate slipping.

Let me know if you have any questions. Otherwise, we'll see you at AZ tomorrow!

Re: Team 2840 Blue Tide: Cap'n Munch!
 

I'm a little curious to your shooting mechanism. You said you used two Banebot 550 motors. I couldn't exactly tell from the video but is one wheel on top and the other on the bottom? I also thought I saw some sort of 'kicker' to push the balls into the fly wheels. I really like that idea! Other than that, good luck at your competition!

For your bridge wedge, how do you lock it in place and what kind of motor drives it? We are looking at building a similar wedge for our robot so we can add it at championships.