We are proud to present our 2017 Robot for the FIRST Steamworks competition.
We will be competing at the Miami Valley, Midwest, and Seven Rivers Regionals.
Link here for our autonomous routine as of Monday 03-06-17.
Feel free to ask here or PM me with any questions!
Neat!
Where did the other turret go?
Where did your other shooter go?:]
Edit: Your current single shooter is simply incredible. I can see why you would put your resources elsewhere. Are there plans to reinstall the second one?
I like the street sweeper look it has to it.
Where’d your other turret go?
How do you make sure the street sweeper spindles are inside the frame perimeter to start the match? I see the surgical tubing deploy to keep the discs back, but the tubing looks like it extends past your wheels. Are you just going to bend it back before each match?
Leave it to you guys to come up with something that’s completely insane, and likely insanely effective. Can’t wait to see it at Midwest
Looking back at your previous post, there was never the frame structure there for two turrets. We’ve been bamboozled!
I do like the mixerator and the intake mechanism, it looks like a giant robot vacuum cleaner.
The hopper should look familiar, we borrowed the cam system from you guys!
You are correct about the picture posted previously. We originally posted it because we thought it wold be easier to debunk then it apparently was.
It’s funny, “street sweepers” is the name we’ve designated it internally all season. The intake wheels are mounted on a carriage that starts slid back into the robot so that the hubs of the wheels start within the frame perimeter. The orange polycord sweepers get tucked back against the frame to start the match.
Our robot has now climbed 11 straight matches (last 2 qualification, all 9 elimination matches at Miami Valley) and will look to increase the streak at Midwest in 2.5 weeks!
I’ve had a number of people ask me how our intake works. Below is a link to a short video demonstrating how we intake and manipulate a gear. The video also shows how we intake balls after grabbing a gear. Also below is an imgur album with some good pictures of the robots doing the different tasks at the Midwest Regional from this past weekend.
2451 PWNAGE 2017 Gear Intake Demonstration
2017 Midwest Regionl Imgur Album
The “street sweepers” work to center both balls and gears before pulling them into the robot. The balls hit the vertical conveyors and go up and over into our hopper behind. The gear trip a photo eye sensor once the street sweepers have brought it all the way in. When the sensor is tripped there is a blue urethane wheel in the back that actuates into the gear, finding a tooth gap to nest into which clocks the gear. If you look through the conveyor in the video you can see the blue wheel. Once the gear is clocked correctly, the grippers on either side swing down to pinch the gear, and then the gripper arms rotate up together to hold the gear at the placement position. Once the robot has driven the peg through the gear and all the way through our conveyor system behind it for the balls, the grippers swing out to release the gear and we drive away.
It was very important to us that we be able t get fuel out of the way both when trying to intake a gear and when placing a gear. We knew the loading stations would become a mess of gears and balls and that without a way to get the balls out of the way our cycle times would severely suffer trying to grab a gear. We also knew that it would be difficult to get the gear all the way onto the peg without being able to get fuel between us and the airship wall out of the way.
This paired with wanting to be able to intake a gear anywhere across the front of our robot is what drove the decision to use the street sweeper design. The street sweepers are mounted on a carriage system that starts fully within the frame perimeter and then slides out at the start of the match so that the orange polycord on the street sweepers stick out past the bumpers some.
It’s definitely proven to be an unorthodox way to intake gears and balls compared to the standard pinchrollers for gears and OTB rollers and such for balls, but we have been very happy with the performance and the dual purpose we have gotten from this design.
Let me know if you have any questions or come find us at either the Seven Rivers Regional or STL Champs to talk!
Well that’s something I want to take a closer look at when I get to St. Louis.