Algonac Full Metal Muskrats 5860 - Build Blog 2020

FIRST Robot Showcase
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Well… here it is, the Algonac Full Metal Muskrats 2020 build blog.

We are a fifth season FRC team located in Algonac, MI. We are part of the Blue Water Area Robotics Alliance (BWARA) and we are the varsity team of the Algonac Robotics club.

The intent of this blog is to share our learning with the community. As a pretty new team, we are still learning the ropes!!! We also learned a lot in the last 4 years and if we can share some of that knowledge with other teams than we feel that we did our part in growing this community.

Our first and last 4 seasons have been up and down. We finally made it (barely) to the Michigan State Champs last year and luckily took the last spot to the FIRST Champ in Detroit.

Algonac Robotics has all 4 levels in FIRST. We have a dedicated coaching staff that is mentoring the students on our team across the levels. We are seeing our FLL and FTC students finally reaching our FRC team and, in my opinion, it is one of the most satisfying experience I went thru as a coach.

So this bot is not going to be the best one you’ll find… we are not a world champ team but our heart and soul is in the right spot! Our design is inspired by past and current robots and many of the Ri3D that we have watched and learned to appreciate. We have limited resources and try to leverage everything we can with what we have!!!

If there is anything I would like to achieve with this is share with new coaches and/ or mentors the knowledge that we build as we develop our program in the last 4 years. As I mentioned, not experts but very much willing to share what we learned so far in this journey. So feel free to ask how we do it!

Little bit about us!

  • 18 students
  • 8 coaches / mentors
  • 2 seniors, few juniors… and whole bunch of freshman…
  • Algonac Robotics total of 53 students across all 4 levels.
  • Solidworks is what strive to learn!
  • Rebuild CNC router from old school technology program.
  • Machine shop access from one of our main sponsor and coach. Thank you Island Machine and Engineering for your continued support
  • 50 years rollin band saw! that’s the best !

Our favorites…
The Robot Space
Andymark
Servo City
McMaster Carr

Our Website
Our Youtube Channel
Facebook
Twitter
and the like…

And yes we are part of the best alliance !!! Go BWARA!!!

And of course we like the chickens too… the Thunderchickens that is!!! and TORC!!! thank you guys for the inspiration!

Small print --> yes, i put “s” where they should not be and forget them where they are suppose to be… I am French Canadian and those darn “s” have been a real pain my entire life!!! wait, when i speak, “h” are even better !!! after 20 some years in the US… it is what it is…

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Week 1

We gonna fast forward the last 2 weeks pretty quick here…

in a nutshell…

Spend kickoff in Capac with our BWARA friends!!!
Then strategized on this year game… so we are going to:

Stay low under trench
cycle as fast as we can with 5 Fuel cell
launch low and high
control station
then climb and level

well… in that order for priority… we are a week 1 in Macomb and week 4 at Lincoln so limited time here…

So after Week 1 we published this vlog

and then our Week 2 vlog!!!

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So here is where we are at by subsystems…

Drivetrain

  • 8WD using 6" Colson wheel.
  • In tube drive chain 25H
  • Magic 17t sprocket inside tube.
  • 80/20 robot base
  • batter holder tuck inside the drive train with pneumatic
  • 3 Falcon motors 2 speed shifter reducer.
  • Open bumpers in front
  • Same bumpers style than 2019

Fuel Cell Intake

  • 2x1 machine arms driven by air cylinder over the bumpers about 10"
  • mounted on each side on the robot base
  • in tube chain drive driving hex shaft with mecanum wheels.
  • center wheel to be compliant green wheel to push fuel cell into robot storage
  • Static hopper like plexi or other lightweight material to input fuel cell into storage from loading station

Storage

  • flat curved storage on top of the robot base.
  • driven by bag motor or alike. Polycord on bottom and cable ties or brushes on shaft to move and line the fuel cell in proper position.
  • need PTFE wall to enable the fuel cell to slides and be in position.
  • Upright wheel to move the Fuel Cell into the launcher when flywheel reach launching speed.

Fuel Cell Launcher

  • Turret base using chain to drive turret position based on 2363 design
  • lady susan bearing for turret to be mounted on.
  • launcher using a falcon motor , maybe 2
  • hood style launcher with pneumatic adjustable hood position based on Bison Ri3D
  • Turret position to be “lock” on target using limelight 2 vision system mounted on hood launcher
  • Need to investigate the use of fairlane 60A durometer wheels.

Control Station Control

  • Design based on Ri3D Snow Problem Design.
  • mounted on top center portion of robot.
  • cylinder to push device to rotate 90 degrees.
  • Compliant wheel to spin control station.
  • REV Color sensor to assist with control.
  • need to figure out the best position for color sensor to detect the control station color.
  • Need to review lighting effect on color sensor. Review OSU Ri3D solution

Robot Lift Assy and Positioner

Electrical Control Box and Pneumatics

  • All Pneumatic will be mounted under the robot base
  • Control box for all electronics will be mounted on right side of robot.
  • use Bud Industries AC-1427 enclosure with smoked poly cover.
  • Enclosure bottom plate BPA-1529 aluminum plate CNC machine with hole
  • Vibration dampener will be use between the control box and the frame.
  • need to make sure we have access to roborio Ethernet connector and radio
  • All wires into the box to use Anderson connectors on box wall for quick disconnect

Thats where we are at!!! most of our prototyping is almost completed… more details in our next vlog…

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