3397 Presents: Ulysses

[Walter Deitzler]

Ulysses
http://i.imgur.com/FuQIWwc.jpg?1
http://i.imgur.com/C3ejeXw.jpg?1

Video

Specs:
Drivetrain
AM14U Chassis

Electronics Shielding
Had to throw us in there because we are quite happy with the system. It is two Gull-Wing doors that fold up for access to electronics, we love them.

Catching Cage
PVC Structure
Rises up to 59"
Retracts with a 10:1 Versaplanitary attached to a Banebot Orange Wheel (Traction wheel)
Held up when fully extracted by two steel-cable tensioners

Catapult
Retracted by a Ballshifter with a 3/8 wrench inside (inspired by this) (Thanks 4265)
Webbing attached to the arm by a U-bolt, then to the winch shaft by two 1/2inch hex hubs from Andymark.
Reliably shoots over truss, working on reliably hitting the high goal.
Ball is held by a painted and cut Salad Bowl.

Story
This was probably the smoothest-sailing robot build 3397 has ever done. We jumped right into prototyping and building a practice-chassis week 1, messing with different catapult and intake designs. Near the end of the week, we decided to scrap the floor pickup and focus on catching. Catcher prototyping was undertaken week 2, as the CAD and electronics started coming together. By the end of that week, we were 16 hours behind scheduled due to snow, but got some CAD for a prototype catapult to our sponsors. Week 3, we worked on that catapult, and mounted it to the practice robot frame. Then put on electronics. We started playing around with the catapult and started on finalizing the CAD. Week 4 we sent off our CAD to our sponsors, but kept the practice frame and kept tinkering with that. More days were lost to snow, but we kept working. Our stuff came in at the end of the week, and assembly began. We lost some time waiting for parts, but were making the final assembly push in weeks 5 and six. We finished construction the Friday before ship,, and started testing and refining. Worked on code and drove a lot. We kept everything on as we bagged it up on Bag-N-Tag, feeling really good.

See yall at STL, it is gonna be fun!