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

[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.

[asid61]

Not really finalized yet (which I hate BTW). Probably totes on the inside of the bot, with a lifter for cans and totes.

[lark95]

We are doing a mecnum drive with a forklift type grabber. The arms will be able to both move side to side so that they can pickup totes the long way and the short way. Also the arms will have a curved section in the middle to grab the cans more securely.

[theCADguy]

Originally Posted by asid61

Not really finalized yet (which I hate BTW).

As a CAD designer, I know how that feels.

[blackbrandt]

Confidential. I'd tell you but then I would have to kill you.

[dchartley]

Think hay bales!

Doug

[MrForbes]

I want to see a hay bale stacking robot! It's a neat way to do it.

[Mike Marandola]

At our meeting today we tossed a bunch of wheels, box tubing, and motors into a tote, shook it up and we'll see what comes out on Monday. Wish us luck!

[asid61]

Originally Posted by theCADguy

As a CAD designer, I know how that feels.

Same, actually. I decided this year that I was going to put everything in CAD before we were finished prototyping, so that we have a base to work from and we could get done with our robot quickly. I only hope the prototypers can get things resolved by the end of Sunday.
So far, I've cadded the drivetrain, a one-stage scissor jack, some arm thingies, an external elevator, and a four-bar linkage. An electrical guy took care of the electrical components. So no matter what design we go with, we'll be almost ready to go.
Unless we decide to chuck totes using a catapult.