pic: FRC488 - Team Xbot Presents

[Madison]

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[Madison]

This is our (mostly) complete robot for 2011. The minibot deployment system remains at our lab undergoing design revisions.

The major features are:

-- Octocanum Drive that couples mecanum wheels with pneumatically lowered traction wheels for enhanced maneuverability without sacrificing pushing power.

-- Field-oriented drive while on mecanum wheels, tank drive while on traction wheels. Seamless transition between them.

-- Neutrally bouyant four-bar linkage coupled to a RS550 motor at 570:1.

-- "Whisker" tube manipulator releases tubes onto pegs from above, eliminating interference while scoring. It can load easily from human player or from the floor.

-- Three non-powered omniwheels with encoders.

-- LED-based human player signaling system

-- Camera assisted scoring

Video:

Basic autonomous mode test -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoHDdyRu0Zk

Driver hopeful test -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5y2p_GcSnw

[nighterfighter]

I hope that isn't your competition robot... you're missing bumpers!

Is your autonomous using line followers, encoders, gyro/accelerometer, or camera tracking? Or all 5?
Also, does it work on the middle line?

[MrForbes]

Nice! very spiffy frame construction technique!

[Kris Verdeyen]

Love the end effector. Looks like magic.

Originally Posted by Madison

-- Three non-powered omniwheels with encoders.

For mouse-style tracking of position, I assume? How do you handle the raised areas on the floor?

[bam-bam]

Cool robot! Looks great and drives good!

One thing quickly: In the auto basic drive, it says in the description that you guys will be planning to do the action twice during autonomous. I'm not sure what you mean here.

[MattC9]

Great robot! look almost exactly like ours!! is there any way your gripper can pickup from the ground?

[Madison]

Originally Posted by nighterfighter

I hope that isn't your competition robot... you're missing bumpers!

Is your autonomous using line followers, encoders, gyro/accelerometer, or camera tracking? Or all 5?
Also, does it work on the middle line?

It uses seven encoders and a gyro. It does not use the lines at all. We've got camera tracking code in place that would allow the robot to align itself using the retroreflective tape, but that wasn't in place when the video was filmed and isn't necessary.

Originally Posted by squirrel

Nice! very spiffy frame construction technique!

Thanks -- when you've got a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When you've got a laser cutter, everything looks like sheets of polycarbonate or delrin.

Originally Posted by Kris Verdeyen

Love the end effector. Looks like magic.



For mouse-style tracking of position, I assume? How do you handle the raised areas on the floor?

Yeah, we've got two wheels aligned forward/backward and one sideways. They're each mounted a spring-loaded suspension arm and should handle the bumps in the carpet with little trouble. Since our octocanum drive raises the frame by about .5" when we're on traction wheels, we needed to spring-load the follow wheels to maintain constant contact with the carpet.

Originally Posted by bam-bam

Cool robot! Looks great and drives good!

One thing quickly: In the auto basic drive, it says in the description that you guys will be planning to do the action twice during autonomous. I'm not sure what you mean here.

We'd like to score two ubertubes in autonomous mode.

Originally Posted by MattC9

Great robot! look almost exactly like ours!! is there any way your gripper can pickup from the ground?

It sure can. The whisker and the arm it's attached to are actuated downward by a pneumatic piston. That puts the gripper just in front of the bumper and we load from there. You can see it floor-load here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn2apqadb7M

[Darren Collins]

Elegant and effective 488. I'm eager to see your bot in person.