As we move out of our prototyping phase into final fabrication, the time has come to share some videos of the past week-ish's work. The current plan calls for a long barrier-traversing, bridge-balancing mecanum drive with front and rear ball intakes and a two-wheel CIMulator-driven shooter. Since these videos were created we have made many improvements and modifications.
Behold the drive system! The sets of raised kit wheels protect the mecanums from smashing into the barrier head-on while giving them a more advantageous angle of attack to lift the robot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQLnh...yer_detailpage
We felt that plywood wasn't representative of the actual barrier surface, so we screwed on some Lunacy regolith. Interestingly, it still works, despite the bridge lowerer being in the way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=wfWem0AkPfU
Behold the bridge ram! It swings down to lock into place and uses the weight of the robot to push down the bridge:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=OjCgx9XPV6E
Again, since plywood isn't representative of the actual bridge surface, we attempted a simulation by attaching some polycarb panels. We were initially worried by the traction of the mecanum wheels on a plastic surface, but they seem to work alright, even better. The bridge ram in this video was an older version that didn't work quite as well as the current one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUhNt...yer_detailpage
(While not shown, we can also push the bridge down from the side, which could be useful in helping allies onto the bridge)
Behold the shooter! The final version will have flywheels, since our tests have shown that they reduce the shot spread. We will be optimized to score from the key, but the power of four 550s in CIMulators will let us throw balls across the whole field. CIMs are used here for convenience:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=d41pDyWn6fk
Not shown in our videos (yet!) is our turret and loader design, which will insure consistent feed speed and thus more accurate shots. We're also refining vision tracking and PID on our summer-project test robot (suspiciously similar to 1726's 2009 bot), which will be incorporated into the final design. I'll be happy to answer any questions about our designs so far.