2023 was a fantastic year for the Blazing Bulldogs! 581 grew in almost every way this season, culminating in exhilarating performances at our competitions and countless “firsts” for our team. We are very proud to release our CAD and code for our 2023 robot, Spike. Later in the week, we will also be releasing the CAD & code for our 2 off-season robot projects!
2023 Competition Robot (Spike):
Major Design Decisions
As our team analyzed Charged Up, we quickly realized that this game would require Spike to have three main features: a fast, maneuverable drivebase, a low center of mass for stability, and the ability to reach both up and out.
After some brainstorming, we settled on using an angled elevator to simultaneously achieve the required “up” and “out” motions. Our experience building an elevator for our 2022 off-season robot contributed to this decision as well.
Intake
After spending time prototyping various types of claws, we settled on using an Everybot-style claw. Through testing a handful of iterations of this claw, we managed to find ways to decrease the claw’s weight and improve its durability. Following the end of our season, we decided to pursue a wider version of our claw for our off-season competitions, taking a lot of inspiration from teams 972 and 1678. After comparing the performance of these teams with ourselves, we felt a wider claw would accelerate our ability to intake game pieces in both Teleop and Auto by requiring less driving accuracy. This wide claw used the same roller geometry as our season claw, but the rollers were made from polycarbonate cylinders and silicone tubing rather than compliant wheels to save weight.
Having our claw pivot on a wrist and be raised and lowered by an elevator meant Spike was able to play every aspect of Charged Up with only two degrees of freedom. This was a large contributor to Spike’s success on the field, as it meant the robot was fairly easy to repair and maintain and was extremely reliable throughout our entire season. This is a photo of our very first intake rev from January, which was again modified before our first competition, and our final intake from MadTown.
Forks
In addition to the main parts of our robot, we experimented with using “forks” on Spike so we could buddy-climb off the side of the Charge Station during the endgame. The forks that we ended up with pivoted around the elevator’s lower steel hex shaft. They were articulated with a cable that ran up from a winch to an idler located high on the frame of the elevator, then down to a crossmember on the forks. We used these forks while we competed at our Week 2 Regional, but we removed them from the robot ahead of the Week 6 Regional as part of a larger upgrade that made Spike faster and more stable overall.
Autos
Following Kickoff, we felt the most important aspect for us to prioritize in our autos was being able to balance. Utilizing PathPlanner, we were able to create two-piece autos on both sides and a 1.5-piece balance over the charge station. We tested and tuned these on our practice field. Our 1.5-piece balance auto was the most consistently used in qualification and elimination matches at our Regionals to help obtain the Activation Bonus Ranking Point. Following the end of the competition season, we developed some more ambitious autos that we would be able to use at off-season competitions. Notably, our three-piece autos were critical for Chezy Champs as the higher level of competition required greater flexibility and more firepower from our autos.
Feel free to ask any questions you have here and we’ll do our best to answer them!
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