Hello All!
We have just concluded our First meet
Here’s an update from the past couple of weeks:
Catch-Up (Week of 10/28 and 11/4)
25636
25636’s custom chassis worked out well. Our junior high team loaned us some extra mecanum wheels to use for a few meets until we get one of our sponsor funds processed. It’s looking good so far!
25637
25637 protobot was an amalgamation of a 4bar and the robits core kit robot. We have been trying to work through integration issues. First off, we are outside of the sizing box with the setup, the claw doesn’t pick up well, and we need a further reduction on the motor since it won’t lift all the way despite the rubberband counterweights. We reevaluated our progress, and have decided to cut our losses. Enter, Everybot: Beyond.
Everybot: Beyond
As we shift focus to making the everybot, we will showcase improvements that can be made to the robot. It has very high potential and hits all of our requirements! We aren’t sure if we’ll get around to everything on this list, but we’ll try our best.
Here’s the plan for this robot:
- 10-32 Hardware Conversion on clamshells
- Material exploration beyond PLA+
- Andymark Robits compatibility
- Arm Improvements
- Intake Improvements/Alternatives
- Durability Testing
- Sensors
League Meet 1
Each team faced its own challenges during LM1, both robots weren’t entirely finished so we sought to fix our issues and scout out gameplay.
25637 Soundwave
Over the course of 4 days, we printed everything we needed for the everybot, in addition to implementing some of our modifications. The first one was conversion to our more readily available 10-32 hardware for most major assembly points. We modified the clamshells and arm supports. We did not make changes to the Herringbone and intake assembly given the precision these are built with.
For meet 1 we also ran a regular 4wd, although our Junior High teams graciously offered their other mecanums, we need the smaller form factor of the REV wheels to achieve height limitations. We also would like to keep low to the ground as much as possible.
We also used our robits 0.5” extrusion, the sleeves provided worked well for the most part, but there were times we needed to sand down the sleeves to fit certain assemblies such as the pivot motor mount and support.
We also found that we did not cut down the upright extrusion enough for the hardstop to make it over, so it was dremel time in the parking lot of the venue.
Issues during competition:
- We did not realize we were running with two motors for a while, and thought we were chasing down an intake “drag” issue. However, this turned out to be a code error, we did not sync up our 4 motors to their respective sides (The rear motors were synced L/R on our Forwards and Back Joystick). This was a quick fix, although we did catch a foul in the human player zone getting used to the new speed. It also resolved the “drag issue.”
- We found out the triggers should be treated as joysticks when we were trying to bind them to the arm
- Our D-Shaft Adapter for the tape measure drive rounded itself out, we printed a new one on the spot with more walls.
- The Motor we selected for the tape measure drive is not strong enough to move our tape measure when the arm was completely vertical, so we will do some motor swaps.
- Need more driver practice!
- Our temporary number signs were catching game pieces and resulted in fouls, need permanent solution
- No Auto
- Drivers need arm automated, a temporary software solution was not ideal (Pushing up slightly in zero state), it fought the down motion. We tipped in one match when the driver couldn’t bring down the arm fast enough.
LM2 Sprint Improvements
- Implement one auto mode
- Driver Practice
- Mecanum Drive Conversion
- Add climbing Hooks
- Automate more Actions on the Robot
- Reference newly released Everybot Code
- Switch to Java completely
25636 Shockwave
Shockwave was chasing down some system/design integration issues in the follow up to the competition. Much focus was put on the arm’s issues and how to implement the Everybot intake. We were able to use the intake in some matches, we printed an adapter on the spot too! We don’t think we’re going to leave home without one of our 3D Printers (This was 25636’s captain’s idea, shout out to his hindsight!).
Here are some of the issues we chased:
- The arm was too heavy for the 5mm shafts we were trying to use, and in fact, they were bending the shafts under use. We need to use more heavy duty shafts.
- We probably rebuilt the robot at least 3 different times during the League Meet until we settled on something that could score on the low chamber. We dropped our second joint completely
- Auto issues
- Some students weren’t aware of the field markings (notably the climbing zones), and we had one major foul. This is past our threshold of 0.
LM2 Sprint Improvements
- 2-Joint Arm did not work out, we are dropping it to explore another solution, elevator on pivot (1678 2023 as reference, We’re looking at the robits lift kit)
- High-Chamber Scoring
- At least One Autonomous Mode
- Automate actions on Robot
- Switch to Java Completely
Overall Takeaways from competition
- Our programming skills are lopsided between the two teams, we will reorganize the meetings to have the programming team function as a more singular unit overall. Both programmers have expressed a strong desire to use Java, so we will put them together.
- 3D Printed parts on both robots held up very well, especially those in critical roles (We actually had a metal hex core break, no 3DP breakage besides the shaft rounding out the inside of a print), we will try to integrate this technique more moving forward.
- In our league, we saw a lack of chamber scoring and climbing, after match review, we were the only ones who scored on the chamber at all. We will make these our focus areas for the next meet.
- We brought some awareness to our local FRC Competition in March (FiT Victoria District Event), and grabbed a couple of interested volunteers!
- We handed out some Open Alliance business cards!
- The E-Sports team at our University is interested in live-streaming the event for LM3 and the Tournament, we have made this aware to the event host.
- We offered to bring a half field setup for all teams to use in future meets, the event hosts will see if they can work this in!
Both teams are going to benefit from a rules (safety and game) refresher. We’ve needed to remind our members about safety glass usage a bit too much and one major foul acquired due to lack of field awareness.
But overall, we had a fun time at League Meet 1, and we now have more insight into the direction we should take our robots.
