Magnetic and Rotary Encoders and Potentiometers can greatly improve teams abilities on the field, getting exact measurements of the position and velocity of the robot and manipulators on the robot. However, for most FRC teams these can be very expensive and hard to implement, often involving very precise machining and delicate components. This is why our team (Bearbotics FRC team 4068) has developed the “BearCoder” concept. These are Magnetic Encoders that can be 3d printed, made for cheap, and easily assembled with the adapters to apply the BearCoders, COTS Magnetic Encoders and Potentiometers to robots. On this post we have linked an Instruction Manual that shows how to assemble and use our Bear Coders to help other FRC teams use the designs we’ve already published on our GrabCAD page (link provided below). We think this documentation shows how our published designs (and others we plan to add soon) solve many of the challenges we and other FRC teams have experienced as we attempted to use COTS and custom-built sensors to improve our robot designs and builds. We welcome feedback and suggestions!
GrabCAD Library:
https://grabcad.com/library/bearcoder-misc-referance-materials-1
More Info on Assembly and Use:
BearCoder Instructions on assembly and use.pdf (5.5 MB)