Quote:
Originally Posted by Arpan
Do those intake rollers let you acquire totes from the tote chute as well?
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Yes, with the combination of the intake mechanism and the swerve drive, we can acquire totes very quickly no matter where we're at on the field.
In terms of feeder station loading, the only design limitation is that with the specific movement range for our infinite stacker, we can't park directly at the feeder station to be drop loaded. However, as soon as those totes hit the carpet, they're game to be sucked right in and the stacker is very quick. The timing efficiency vs. being drop loaded is a relative wash, as we can allow the new tote to be essentially loaded and dropped immediately without having to wait on any mechanism on our robot to lift a tote out of the way for drop loading. The intake pulls the tote away from the chute and the manueverability of the swerve allows quick alignment tweaks so that tote is already in the robot before the next one is dropping onto the field. The intake is also pretty forgiving in terms of tote alignment. This puts the stack efficiency cap essentially on the human player and not on a robot mechanism.
With that said, while we can operate effectively from any position, we've found that we are more point efficient operating out of the landfill. We can use our arm to grab bins off the step at any opportune moment allowing for the most efficient use of every second of match time in tele-op. If you watch closely in the video, you can see moments where we are collecting a bin while simultaneously intaking and stacking the next totes. Match time wise, we've found we're comfortably capable of 2 6 tote stacks capped with bins exclusively from the landfill, after deploying the 3 tote auto stack onto the step. This allows the 3 standing auto zone bins to be freely used by our alliance partners operating from the feeder stations to hopefully maximize alliance point potential. Remaining match time can be used in whichever way will maximize those points per second for each match situation (capping off the co-op stack, topping off an alliance stack with a bin, getting another partial stack with a bin scored ourselves).
Thanks for all the words of encouragement, everyone! We're looking forward to playing with new and old friends alike in Arkansas in week 2, CIR in our own backyard in week 4, then hopefully championships in April. As always, feel free to stop by our pit at any time to say hello. Just look for the giant, inflatable pirate head. Thanks, again!