What is your teams (general) robot design? (2015)

[iLikePie]

I was just wondering what other teams are thinking and what your (general) design is.
For instance are you planning on building a forklift like robot with a tank drive or are you going to build a robot with a giant arm and a mecanum drive?
Talk about your design in the comments.

[yara92]

My team trying to use forklift

[marshall]

Our team is building a robot.

[mrnoble]

It will move, and it will lift stuff.

[mrnoble]

You will find we are more talkative in about 5 1/2 weeks.

[MrForbes]

It's still a hand waving fantasy. But one plan as of last night is a sliding lift that will pick up a tote from the side, and possibly a container the same way. The more solid plan is to have a low arm that will pick up a tote from the side, and lift it high enough to put it on top of another tote. And have another longer arm mounted higher up, that can grasp a container or a tote, and place it on top of a sort of tall stack. The fun part is figuring out how to make the robot so this stuff can be done quickly. We have some ideas...but they're still being worked out. And a few more prototyping experiments can change our plans at any time.

[The_ShamWOW88]

Our robot will lift things up and put them down....

also probably move....in a tank-like fashion....

[K-Dawg157]

Originally Posted by The_ShamWOW88

Our robot will lift things up and put them down....

also probably move....in a tank-like fashion....

Tank-like? I thought we were doing swerve drive?

[Abehar]

Originally Posted by K-Dawg157

Tank-like? I thought we were doing swerve drive?

Good luck.

[cjl2625]

Swerve around the field, suck in totes, pick them up, put them down, do things with containers, have lots of auto modes that do lots of things...

[Canon reeves]

Several harpoons on a 6 CIM swerve drive that fire into the containers on the step, and pull them in. As well as a giant airboat fan that blows over the opponent's stacks.

Not really, I've been thinking about a conveyor that goes up from the chute enough to put the containers from the chute into a cage that forces them to stack three high, but there is no bottom to the cage. So after getting three totes, we drive them onto the ramp and open an end of the cage and back out.

Or, a more complex way, that doesn't involve conveyors. To do this we could put totes in upside down, then have them slide on a bar that is the same length as the tote, but pivots just before the center of mass. At the end of the bar is a small lip, so the totes catch, and flip, then slide almost vertically into a forklift that is leaned way back. Do this three times, then just raise the forklift and bam, at stack of three.

[Dunngeon]

Originally Posted by marshall

Our team is building a robot.

No way, we're doing the same thing. Small world huh?

[iLikePie]

Originally Posted by marshall

Our team is building a robot.

What! No way!

[popnbrown]

Originally Posted by The_ShamWOW88

Our robot will lift things up and put them down....

also probably move....in a tank-like fashion....

Originally Posted by K-Dawg157

Tank-like? I thought we were doing swerve drive?

Hahahaha, communicating through CD is at least communicating.

[GeeTwo]

Chassis: We built a KOP chassis "long" and modified it into a 5-dualie omni h-drive (4" wheels), probably one CIM per drive train. It's already under 28" wide to make the transport dimensions, but we'll probably cut it down to about 22in so it can drive into the landfill to get the second tote.
Pickup: A rake/contour gauge "hand" picks up totes and containers by the "handles". It's optimized for long-side tote pickups, but capable of lifting a container or pulling totes off the step. Lift will be outside the frame, forklift style, driven by two chains (for stability, not strength). The lift will have a single CIM geared lower than the drives, targeting about 80# lift at 40A. The brake is TBD, but will probably be a pneumatic clamp of some sort and normally slaved to the lift motor control. We plan a "Bottom stacking" strategy, that is, putting a stack atop a single tote. With the KOP chassis and 4" wheels, it stays on the carpet and off of the platform.
Controls: The initial prototype is two joysticks with the Y axes controlling the tank drive trains, one X controlling strafe, and the other the lift. We're planning to program buttons to do some "muscle memory" actions such as line up on a tote, and do a bottom-stack maneuver.
Sensors: KOP camera and a couple of high-resolution rangefinders for navigation, and several limit switches as well as a potentiometer for the lift position. We may also add a current meter to the lift motor, depending on the sampling rate of the PDB meters.
Extras to work on after we get the basic stuff built:
A passive frame at the top of the lift will stabilize tall stacks as we drive.
A skid plate shall protect belts and the strafe wheel in case we run amok and hit a platform.
Autonomous will be selectable between a tote-stack or a simple drive into the auto zone.
A tote-flipper is way on the back burner.
We currently have no debris manipulator; we were planning to have the human players load them into the container, but now we're waiting on an update. As we're already committed to staying on the carpet, we might consider a spoiler to push noodles along the floor rather than run over them.