4561 The TerrorBytes | 2025 Build Thread | Open Alliance

FIRST FRC Open Alliance
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Welcome to the TerrorBytes 2025 Build Blog!

Hello! The TerrorBytes are thrilled to announce that we will once again be contributing to the Open Alliance!

In this thread, we plan to discussing

  • Season and match strategy
  • Design decisions
  • Mechanical updates
  • Breakages and learning experiences
  • Events
  • And more!

Who are we?:

TerrorBytes Robotics (aka: The TerrorBytes) is an FRC team based out of Research Triangle High School in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Since our founding, we have been dedicated to “building better people”, with our mission statement being: “To utilize the resources of Research Triangle Park to encourage, empower, and create equitable STEM opportunities for the next generation.”

Our team is composed of 49 students and 23 mentors. The TerrorBytes are organized into Engineering and Business subteams. Our Engineering subteams consist of Design, Fabrication, Controls (electrical), and Programming. Our Business subteams are Awards, Outreach, Media, and Sponsorships. Students get to choose which subteam to participate in, and most help with multiple! For student leadership, we have leads for each subteam, along with the new positions of Engineering and Business Managers. The leads are guided by the Engineering and Business Captains, as well as the Team Manager.

Socials:

Offseason Recap:

It’s been a while! In preparation for the beginning of the 2025 season, let’s take a look at what the TerrorBytes have been up to. :scream:

Minifrc 10: Crescendo

In July, the TerrorBytes were excited to host their 10th season of MiniFRC, a quarter scale FRC event. In addition to the summer event, we are excited to announce MiniFRC 10.5 in December! If you are interested in volunteering or participating, click for more information.

Offseason Competitions:

In October, we competed at two local events: Doyenne and THOR East.

Doyenne East:

Doyenne is a competition aimed to encourage women and non-binary students in STEM to take leadership. The event is a great way to have people build experience and confidence in skills that may have been too intimidating to try otherwise. While we faced some technical issues from competing with our robot after so long, we were able to catch our bearings and fix our robot up during the second half of the competition. We had a great time in the playoffs with our alliance partners 3459 and 4829!

THOR East:

The following day, we competed at THOR (Thundering Herd Of Robots). After encountering numerous software challenges, we were grateful to qualify 11th, and eventually win the event with our alliance partners 6500 and 5190! At this competition we also tested a new scouting method!

Closing off:

All of this only covers a portion of all we’ve done since Worlds. Stay tuned for more information on our climber, scouting system, swerve tests, and more!

-Nicholas :sunglasses: and Siri

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email notifications: on

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Hello! Quick reminder that signups close Friday, November 29. If you are interested, please sign up as soon as possible!

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Can you give more information about the control systems and software used for the miniFRC?

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Of course!
MiniFRC robots generally use an ESP32 connected to a custom board known as the NoU2/NoU3, designed by Alfredo Systems (a business started by former TerrorBytes). Alfredo Systems also distributes the motors, servos, game pieces, etc. The power comes from a simple 9V battery that plugs into the NoU via a barrel jack. To run the robots, teams use Alfredo’s custom interface called PestoLink. This interface is made for MiniFRC, with the intention of making robotics more accessible to everyone. All of Alfredo’s systems are open source, and for more information I highly recommend checking out their website.

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Hi

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2024 Climber:

One of our biggest off-season Engineering projects was putting a climber on our 2024 robot for our off-season competitions.

(Unfortunately we have taken apart our robot, so I apologize for the lack of good images and videos. )

Goals

  • Fast climb
  • Robust execution
  • Iterable design
  • Little addition to our existing robot
  • Avoid telescopes

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History

During the first few weeks of the season, we planned to mount our arm pivot on an elevator to climb and potentially score in the trap. Unfortunately, with our first district competition approaching, we decided to bolt down the unfinished elevator, and we eventually scrapped it altogether. Because the climber’s architecture was meant to be incorporated with our elevator, we designed our A-frame tubes on the side of the shooter. However, it ended up preventing us from pivoting to a simpler climber with hooks on the shooter (e.g. how 6329 climbs)

Final Design

Eventually, we landed on a design that involved hooks pivoting around our arm’s axle using REV MAXSpline bearings. We intended these hooks to be winched down, pulling our robot’s center of gravity up and resulting in a more stable climb. To ensure the hooks did not accidentally flip over before they were on the chain, we tied surgical tubing to the hooks, attaching them to the bottom of the shooter.

To avoid problems with rigidity, our climber’s winch mounts to the arm axle and our superstructure’s crossbar. We used a NEO motor with a MAX planetary with a 100:1 gear reduction to power our climb sufficiently. To avoid the inconvenience of deconstructing and reconstructing the axle to assemble the climber, we split the hooks from the pivot point and attached them with an aluminum gusset, which made replacing hooks much easier.

Early Climber Test

Electrical and Software

The sensors for this system were very simple. After running the winch for too long and breaking the string multiple times, we experimented with stopping the winch using the current limit to indicate when the climber had reached its hard stop. We ultimately found better success with magnetic limit switches on 3D-printed mounts which we wired directly into the motor’s sparkMAX.

Failures, Breakages, and Lessons Learned:

Fortunately, this was an amazing demonstration of the value of failing early.

:face_vomiting: = Didn’t work

:fire: = Worked for us!

:star_struck: = Would likely work, but we did not have time to try

Winch

Because the entire robot load was being applied to a single point, there was a lot more riding on our winch than we originally thought. Some things we learned from our iterations and experimentation of our winches included:

  • 3D printed winches with high infill TPU :face_vomiting:
    • The string dug into the winch until it split
  • Hollow aluminum tube (pictured below) :face_vomiting:
    • The tube collapsed when the string tightened around it
  • Steel tube winch with 100% infill printed carbon fiber insert :fire:
    • Insert prevents the tube from collapsing
  • Multiple winches to disperse load :star_struck:

String

Because we were trying to keep costs and turnaround time low, we just used whatever string we had in-house. Some things we learned were:

  • Using paracord :face_vomiting:
  • Continuing to run winch after hooks hit their hard stop :face_vomiting:
    • With such a high reduction on the motor, it pulled the string until it snapped
  • Stopping climb using limit switches once the hooks hit their hard stop :fire:
  • Cable/testing string :star_struck:

Churro

Originally, the string was tied to a churro connecting the hooks, with an indent done on the lathe to prevent slipping (picture below). However, we learned that was not enough:

  • Supporting the entire robot weight with a churro :face_vomiting:
    • Churro bent almost immediately
  • Removing material from the connection point :face_vomiting:
    • Created a weak spot right where the load was being applied
  • Using steel hex shaft for high load :fire:
    • We could use shaft collars instead of removing material to prevent string sliding
  • Multiple strings attached directly to hooks :star_struck:
    • Would go with multiple winches
    • Direct mounting would pull straight on the hooks, instead of the bolts connecting to them
  • Using a thick bent sheet metal plate/tube :star_struck:
    • BONUS: provides more rigidity
    • Could bend/buckle

Plates

We were worried about using aluminum hooks in case of bending, so the original design just used polycarbonate for the hooks, however the point where the churro bolted in - although reinforced by the aluminum gussets - proved to be a weak spot.

  • Loctiting polycarb :face_vomiting::face_vomiting::face_vomiting::face_vomiting::face_vomiting::face_vomiting::face_vomiting::face_vomiting:
    • While we were installing the steel hex shaft, loctite was accidentally applied to the bolts, causing the polycarb to shatter at its weakest point
  • .25” polycarb with .125” aluminum on the outside :fire:
    • Relatively lightweight
    • Flexible but does not snap nearly as easily
    • Easy to machine
  • Easily replaceable hooks :fire::fire::fire:
    • Spared us hours of time and pain
    • Lower stakes for design and assembly

As always, please reach out to us with any questions!

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