694 StuyPulse 2012 Robot Reveal

[jblay]

Here is our 2012 robot JoeBot the Robot. He is named, in thanks to our long time sponsor Anne Moore, after our long time mentor and former coach Joe Ricci.

JoeBot is what we have been referring to as, and hope you to will refer as, a "Fender Bot". Unlike many other "Fender Bots" that have been shown so far, JoeBot can and for the most part will score on the top hoop against and away from the fender. Like 1114 and 217 from 2009 we are able to score from distance but our general strategy will be to score up close against the fender. We are able to score with robots in our way as well as from the key. JoeBot is also capable of crossing the bump as well as the bridge in order to reach the other side of the field.





Here are some specs on the bot:
Drive
-Eight wheel drive with 6inch pneumatic tires with an AM hub.
-Belt driven with modified AM shifters.
-High gear of 16fps and low gear of 4fps.

Acquirer/Conveyor
-Bottom rollers pick balls off of the ground and they are forced into the conveyor which runs to feed the balls into the shooter.
-The acquirer is an FP with an AM planetary with a 5:1 reduction.
-The conveyor is an AM motor with an AM planetary with a 5:1 reduction.
-There are light sensors within the conveyor to do things like move a ball up to make room for the next ball to enter the conveyor and bringing balls to the top while not sending them into the shooter while the shooter gets to speed.

Shooter
-Two BB775s with custom gearboxes that have a 5:1 reduction.
-Four Skyway wheels, 2 on each side to center the balls.

Tusks(Bridge Lowerer)
-Two 1.5inch bore pneumatics to raise and lower the tusks.
-Once the tusks are lowered, we drive into the bridge and it just tilts down as we begin to climb it.

We have had an up and down season but our final product, we think, is pretty good. The CAD was done, for the most part, by Jake Potter, known in the CD world as Ninja_Bait. It is by far the most thorough CAD we have ever had and it really helped us with the little things not going wrong.

We would like to thank a few teams for their role in inspiring this robot
-365, 254, 968 from 2006. The way you guys scored at the top of the ramp in 2006 was a big part of what gave us the "Fender Bot" idea.
-173 from 2002. You guys introduced us to polycord and we have been using it for years as a result.
-71 from 2002. Every year this "beast" inspires the ideas of 694 even if we never build a robot close to as awesome and dominating.

You will be able to see us in action at New York, Hartford and hopefully St. Louis.

We wish everyone the best of luck in Rebound Rumble!!! Hopefully we will be able to put together and post a robot video in the remaining days of build season.