[MCC] Minimum Competitive Concept 2013

[JesseK]

My additional limitations for the MCC
- No Pneumatics
- Very simple code-wise
- Limited budget

Basic: Plywood circle-shooter with a ram-style hang. Feeds from chute over the shooter into a plastic-bucket-hopper, into a 90-ish-degree 8" treaded shooter. Shoots from either rear corner of the pyramid.

• KOP Drivetrain that uses 2 CIMs total. Add more depending on available budget.
• Shooter: Plywood wheel with the 3M friction tape purchased with PDV from AM, directly-driven by a CIM. Shooter channel uses 1/4" thick x 1" wide strips of squishy silicone rubber on the outside to provide friction for spin and plenty of cushion while the disc is under compression. Shooter is adjustable while in the pits (thinking 3/8" all-thread) so the exact angle can be tweaked, but is static while the robot is live.
• Hopper: 5-gallon bucket, one with a very rigid rim support trellis on the outside (useful for mounting)
• Indexer: Any number of motor/gearbox combinations would work here. Banebots RS-775 + 10:1 Versaplanetary would be my choice in order to spread the PDV's around. The dual spiral arm would be made out of wood and would kick the bottom-most disc in the hopper into the wheel. Code would tweak the % power sent.
• Feeder chute: Tough call for what material -- need it to be smooth (various woods would work) but also be able to absorb some amount of energy from a falling disc (polycarb with some flex). Access to a heat gun & patience would make polycarb win. Just make sure the bottom isn't concave. Mounted on top of the shooter, it has a fixed angle with the correct height for the middle feeder chute. Is doable in such a way that the robot can still go under the pyramid (useful for avoiding defense).
• Hanging: ram-style hanger. I didn't do this one during the season, but saw plenty of robots do it right and plenty do it wrong.
• Bumpers: (yea, that's right!) Letters are all-white and are spaced according to various calibration points for lining up shots. That way the driver knows the range of depth where a shot will hit vs miss. Simply put the pyramid corner on one of the numbers.

4-5 cycles, 18-point autonomous, 10-point hang. With practice, could lead an alliance into elims. Without practice, the team would easily make a great off-side cycler.

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IMO, the problem with using the de-facto defense box-on-wheels-with-pool-noodles robot is there are plenty of alliances with FCS's that would not what that type of robot unless the robot was GREAT at pushing others out of the way. That means 148lbs, (probably) 2-speeds, and an extension for the FCS blockers such that they can be out of the way. This adds pneumatics, which an MCC team (IMO) probably wouldn't understand well enough to maintain over the course of a season.