Team 967 - Iron Lions

[Nemo]

Here are some pictures of Team 967's 2012 robot:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lmrobot...th/6964733805/

Robot info:

• Wide Configuration 4WD
• Two 8" AndyMark Pneumatic wheels (front) and two 8" FIRST wheels (back)
• Raised 4" center wheels help us over the barrier
• Angled HDPE skids on both ends also help the robot over the barrier
• 2 speed transmission (standard AM shifter gearing except 56:17 in third stage)
• Front wheels directly driven from gearboxes
• Two conveyor sections using RS-550 with 20:1 gearboxes plus 3:2 belts
• Bridge Arm using AndyMark gear motor plus 4:1 chain reduction (has been removed to keep it out of the bag in most photos)
• Fixed angle shooter using 6" wheels, two AndyMark 9015 motors, CIM-Sim gearbox (likely to be changed to something a bit faster before Wisconsin)
• Collector faces back of robot, with shooter facing forward
• 112.5 lbs at Kansas City

We went with a fixed angle shooter to keep things mechanically simple. It is designed to hit the 3 point shot from the key or the two point shot from the fender. The shooter could use a higher speed and some tweaking for consistency, so look for us to bring something slightly different to Wisconsin.

The robot started out around 100 lbs, so we added a 3/16" steel plate under the belly pan. That helps somewhat with stability. We had initially been concerned about the tower causing us to tip over backwards, so we designed the tower to be quite light and put the drive gearboxes and motors on the front end. Interestingly, we are now more prone to tipping forwards than backwards. It is still certainly possible for us to tip (we tipped once in KC) but it is pretty avoidable.

We started with four 8" pneumatic wheels but switched the back ones to 8" rubber tread FIRST wheels in Kansas City. Since the pneumatic wheels are so much smaller, we are using a 32:34 sprocket reduction to even out the front/back wheel speeds, and we made new wheel mounting blocks to keep the robot level. Before the wheel swap, the robot skipped and bounced around too much while turning. The wheel swap significantly improved the turning, and it still goes over the bump well in both directions.

Thanks to all of the great teams we competed with in Kansas City, and we look forward to seeing what people bring to Wisconsin!