21-07-2016 23:30

Chak

Re: pic: Outreach Frame/Prototyping Robot

Before I even see the CAD model, I want to ask: why did you decide to build a dedicated Outreach Demo bot? Surely any robots from past games, especially Stronghold, would be fine for most demos. What can this specialized outreach bot do that any regular robot cannot?

I'm guessing that one of the reasons is to make a prototyping bot to put things on top of. I'm having trouble imagining what would happen if the prototyping robot happens to not fit a specific design. Has this kind of thing been done before?


Now, on to the actual CAD:

• How do you guys plan on mounting bumpers?
• Access to the chain or the inner side of the shaft is blocked. If this things is suppose to run for years and years, maintenance is more important than it is for a regular FRC robot.
• er, I'm going to assume the battery mount isn't finished yet either
• you can use something like Versaframe instead to increase mounting versatility
• What resources/tools does your team have to make something like this?

Btw, is that the black anodized 80/20 from mcmasters? Nice touch.

22-07-2016 01:04

SoftwareBug2.0

Re: pic: Outreach Frame/Prototyping Robot

This suggestion of bumpers for a demo bot might sound silly, but it could be useful to have at least one side that can mount a bumper for prototyping purposes.

22-07-2016 01:58

RoboticDaymon

Re: pic: Outreach Frame/Prototyping Robot

Part of the reason for a dedicated outreach bot was because we wanted to build a t shirt cannon module. The modularity can allow to change the robot abilities quickly depending on the outreach event. We also thought it would be useful to have a base so that while prototyping during build seasons we would be able to have driving prototypes quickly to test basic concepts and allow the programmers to start working much sooner. We felt that the drive base design was simple enough it should work for a good amount of conditions and designs. Obviously designs will differ from a purpose built robot for a game but this can let us quickly test basic ideas Ex. For Stronghold we could have built various shooters and then decide which one we thought would work best.

Bumpers are probably going to mounted similar to how we've built most of our bumpers either pins or bolts on c or angle mounted to the frame. If you go to the CAD there are bumpers, they were taken off for this render to let you see the inside more easily. With the bumpers on the only part above the bumpers is the 80/20.

The access to the chain can be done from over or underneath. The motor controllers do not actually go over the chain and the spacing will be placed such that maintenance should be fairly easy.

The battery mount is fairly close to done actually. The strap isn't shown in the cad and the rear angle hasn't been placed yet but the battery was placed like that to make it easy to change without having to remove any modules that may go on top of it. After this years robot we wanted a battery that could be changed by one person very quickly.

We are using Versaframe for most of the extrusion in the frame.

Resource wise we have everything we need to make a WCD frame (Mill, Lathe, Drill Press, Pneumatic Rivet Gun, Etc)

The 80/20 was actually donated to us by a sponsor.

Thank you for your comments. I hope this helps to clear things up a bit.

22-07-2016 09:07

ASD20

Re: pic: Outreach Frame/Prototyping Robot

If you want to make it for prototyping, you are going to want the mechanism mount point as close to the ground as possible for mechanisms that are low to the ground and height matters for, like intakes or a lot of shooters this year. You can easily make a robot taller, but not shorter.

22-07-2016 11:53

Sperkowsky

Re: pic: Outreach Frame/Prototyping Robot

Agreed. Id recommend bringing all the electronics to the back with a vertical electronics board. That way it takes up very little space and then get those 8020 rails as close to the ground as possible.

22-07-2016 14:40

RoboticDaymon

Re: pic: Outreach Frame/Prototyping Robot

This robot mainly started as a design for a T-Shirt Cannon, then we decided that it would be nice of we could change the top modules and use it for prototyping mechanisms. Part of the reason we didn't want to do a vertical electronics board was because we were looking a a T-Shirt Cannon module and a few others that would already take up most if not all of the space above the frame. As for potential intake mechanisms most of the time we build those prototypes separately due to the fact that they can require cutouts or other specialized parts or locations for a competition robot. Most of our prototype shooters have been hand loaded during initial testing, then we work during integration and in CAD to make sure that they work together. This is why we didn't really design this with intakes in mind. The purpose of this protobot was mainly to prototype shooters and things that weren't necessarily specialized to any particular robot. I feel that how it is laid out works well for how our team works in the early stages of build season. It may not work for others out there but it fits well into how we work during the prototyping stage already. I hope this helps to clear up why it was designed this way.