FRC Team 587 The Hedgehogs | 2024 Build Season Thread

[Team_587]

Hello! Welcome to Team 587, The Hedgehogs’, 2024 Open Alliance Build Thread. We are from Hillsborough, North Carolina, and we are excited to start our first year on OA.

A little bit about us: We are a student led team of members from Orange and Cedar Ridge High School. The team was formed in the fall of 2000 with 2 mentors and a handful of students. Currently we have over 50 active students and over 15 mentors. The Hedgehogs are committed to continuing the team, into the future and promoting STEM within our community.

This past year, our robot Hyperion competed at 4 official events and 3 off-season events. This then allowed us to go to the Championship, and have an amazing experience as 8th alliance captain in the Milstein division. After Championship, we were also lucky enough to be accepted into IRI, and also attended the FIRST North Carolina off-season events THOR West and Doyenne Inspiration West.

So far in the offseason, we have been working on training new members in preparation for smaller projects we want to accomplish and the build season. Our current goals for our team before January are to prototype and build a mini swerve base and T-shirt launcher, work on two accessibility projects for children at 2 of our local schools, and work on gaining new sponsors for the 2023-2024 season.

The Hedgehogs will be playing Crescendo at the following events:

FNC Orange County

FNC UNC Asheville

Website

[Jimmyy]

Its ao nice sweing so many NC teams joing OA! I am excited to see what yall bring to this coming 2024 season!

[BryceHanson]

Hedgehogs gotta be my favorite NC team. Not many out there who will let me join them for pushups behind the glass at champs! Great energy, great vibes, great team, undoubtedly gonna be a great thread! Following.

[IAmGrif]

Offseason Update Part 1

Hi everyone, welcome to part 1 of what the Hedgehogs have been up to this offseason. We have been very busy this offseason so sorry for the lack of updates until now.

Community Open House

On October 16th we hosted our second annual open house for local sponsors, school system administrators, parents, and anyone else that wanted to see the product of what they help to support. We feel that inviting those that support the team to get personal conversations with the students they support is really important for showing the impact that FIRST has and as a way to thank them for their support.

Branding

As part of our effort to standardize our brand as a team was getting our graphic design lead to make us a new logo (a cleaned up version of our previous one). They also created a logo for our parent non-profit, NORA. We have been working hard to make sure that our team has a consistent image moving forward mainly to make sure our impact is recognizable outside of the bubble of FIRST. Over the past few seasons we have really been trying to theme everything more consistently even going as far as wiring our robot with blue and yellow wire.

Swerve Chassis

Our CAD team was hard at work creating a model for our programming/testing chassis that we will use for the upcoming season. The dimensions are 25”x25” using leftover parts minus a new belly pan, from our 2023 chassis. The design is very similar to our 2023 robot just with altered dimensions. It uses SDS MK4i swerve modules which we plan to use for the 2024 season if the game allows.

Reasons for this design:

• 85-90% of electronics are very low and protected
• Ease of wiring
• Belly pan allows for no wires to stick beneath the robot (had issues with this in the past)
• Easy diagnostics when something goes wrong

Mini Mini Bot

Once the new programmers were familiar with basic programming concepts and knew how to implement them in different ways we had them begin working on a mini mini bot that uses FRC tools (WPILib VS Code IDE, Pathplanner, Driver Station, Shuffleboard) in order to introduce them to the kind of programming used for FRC robots without overwhelming them with dozens of different files. They worked on programming joysticks for basic movement, short and simple autonomous paths, and writing and tuning PID controllers, demonstrating what it looks like when the PID values are too high, as well as when they are too low. They also went over smaller parts of our actual robot programs, which are more complex, so the new programmers were prepared for what it’ll be like programming the swerve base.

This super tiny robot was created by one of the programming mentors and has been a super useful tool for the programming team. Since our meeting area can get crowded very quickly this is a great alternative to teach with than a larger more powerful robot.

Team Dynamic

An idea that we decided to implement this year was team building. This meant taking the last 10-15 minutes of each of our meetings to do a game or activity to strengthen the dynamic within our team. Towards the beginning of the year we started with things such as name games to promote getting to know others. Now we are doing other things such as a team wide rock paper scissors game, with those who lost their round following the others and cheering. At first you might think this idea would be a bit silly but you wouldn’t believe the difference in the team dynamic that these activities made at bringing people out of their comfort zone.

Team REV

Thanks to our business team we are super thrilled to be a part of #TeamREV again for the 2023-2024 season.

If there are any questions or suggestions for our OA posts you can always feel free to let us know. You can also reach us away from CD through email: [email protected]

[IAmGrif]

Week 1 Update

Hello everyone, welcome to our week one build season update!

Kickoff

This year’s kickoff session was overall very successful, with one of our biggest meeting turnouts so far. Once the game was revealed, the team broke into groups led by our student leadership in order to read the manual, and discuss initial thoughts about the game. Each group made their own list of things that would be ideal to have this season, things that we want to have this season, and ideas that we should explore (this format brainstorming had already been introduced to the team during our mock kickoff this past December). These ideas were then presented to the team as a whole, where our thoughts were compiled into a master list in order to have something to refer to later. Here is the document with our day 1 thoughts for those that would like to take a look.

Initial Ideas and Inspiration

When looking at Crescendo, our team’s mind went towards Ultimate Ascent (2013), Steamworks(2017), Infinite Recharge (2020), and Charged Up (2023). These games helped to guide our first ideas when it came to prototyping. Something that we found interesting was that the part of our intake from Charged Up for cones was able to intake the notes.

Prototypes

Currently we have four main launcher/scoring/intake designs, and have a team working on testing different hook designs for a climber. The launcher/scoring/intake designs have been physically tested. The climber prototype has not been physically tested, and we are still working on other ideas to both score in the trap and climb. Here are some images and videos of what we have been working on:

Launchers and Intake

Vertical Wheels

Video

Horizontal Wheels

Video

Intake

Video

Amp/Trap

Amp/Launcher

For a majority of our early prototyping we have been using these 3D Printed Quick Build Clamping Blocks and the Spectrum 3847: FRC Prototyping Blocks. These have made it much easier for members with less technical experience to get involved with prototyping as it requires minimal tool experience.

Practice Field

This week, we have made a lot of progress with our practice field. We have completed a full list of materials needed for the field, and have an assembled amp. A group of students and parents have been working super hard at the shop of one of our sponsors to get our field elements built.

Other

Our swerve base has been finished and debugged, which is now available for our programming team to work with.

Video

We are creating a test for our team to promote reading the game manual, which will include things such as rules for the robot, gamerules, and tournament rules. We will share that test as well as our drive team test as soon as they are done. The business team has written and finished a grant for Costco, and our graphic design team has been making buttons in preparation for the competition season.

Here is a preview of 2 of the pride buttons that we will have at competitions this year

Scouting

This week we created a first draft of our pit scouting with things that we would like to know about teams at competitions. These things include:

• Dimensions of robot without bumpers
• Weight with no battery
• Starting height
• Where they score
• If they score in the trap, and if they can score in multiple
• If they can climb, and is so, can they with others
• Average notes scored per match
• How many working and tested autos they have
• Drivetrain
• If their drive coach is a student or mentor
• The reliability of their human player

That is the end of our week one update. Please let us know of any comments or suggestions you may have or if you have questions about anything that we are working on. As always you can reach us here in our build thread or through our email: [email protected].

[IAmGrif]

Week 2 Update

Hello everyone! This past week, we continued to work on prototyping. We focused on collecting data from each prototype and putting the ideas together into one central idea.

Prototypes

Vertical Wheel Launcher

We continued to work with the idea of wheels stacked vertically to shoot the notes. This week, we are going to manufacture plates to more accurately test the design. We found that from the approximate height of where our launcher will be mounted on the robot that we will need a range of about 30-50 degrees to be able to shoot from pressed right against the subwoofer to right behind the podium. We have been running our tests so far off of a single NEO as our Vortex’s were occupied having their runout checked.

Video

Intake

Along with the vertical wheel launcher, we are working on a vertical wheel intake. As we tested angles, we found that if the wheels are at a 30 degree angle from the ground with 1.75 inches between them, they easily pick up the notes.

Climber

Currently, we are looking at using hooks on the end of a telescoping arm to achieve the climbing aspect of this game. We came up with four different hook designs, got them manufactured, and are currently in the process of testing them out. We did a quick test using our 2020 robot. While we were unable to do a full test because of the chain being too low we were able to confirm that the hook design with the slot is what we will move forward with as it grabs the chain securely.

Combined Intake/Launcher

With the data and effectiveness of the vertical wheel launcher, our cad team came up with the idea of a combined intake/launcher that would travel on an actuating arm. This week, we cadded two different plates for this design that we are going to test.

The main difference between the two plates is the second plate will have the ability to shoot the note from inside the frame perimeter. The main modifications that were made were we angled the nose down, made the structure shorter, and moved the connection point closer to the middle. Both of these designs have the ability to intake from the ground, shoot into the speaker, score into the amp and score into the trap.

Super Structure

Because we want an arm on a pivot, we had to make a structure to support the mechanism. Below is what we have come up with so far. This plate will mount on the outside of the chassis and run the entire length

As we combine these ideas, this is what we have come up with so far as we have started to throw everything together in one model which you can look at here.

Chassis

We have finalized the dimensions for our chassis and are currently in the process of getting the parts made. Our 2024 robot will be 25x27 inches to keep it small.

Programming

Our programming team worked hard this past weekend to get our half field of carpet taped out with all of the proper markings. They were eager to start testing auto paths now that we know roughly what the robot will look like and be capable of.

T-Shirts

This week, we have started our process of drafting ideas for our 2024 team shirt. We had four designs that we are currently voting on.

Next week’s update will include our final design for our t-shirt.

That is the end of our week two update. Please let us know of any comments or suggestions you may have or if you have questions about anything that we are working on. As always you can reach us here in our build thread or through our email: [email protected].

[Jus]

I would trade for a shirt w/ that 1st design in a heartbeat

[Huskenator]

All those TShirt designs are fire

[IAmGrif]

Week 3/4 Update

Hello everyone, welcome to our combined week three and four update.

Drivetrain

We completed and finalized the CAD for our 2024 drive base and have started the assembly. Our base is 25 x 27 inches with the longer side being perpendicular to our intake. In addition to assembling the drive base, we also have begun cad for swerve covers and blocks that can be inserted into the max tube to add extra structural integrity. Below are some pictures of the CAD as well as the assembled frame.

Climber

We attached some of the various climbing hooks to our 2020 robot, High Ground, because the climbing mechanism is very similar to what we are planning to use now. When we did this, we found that the hook with deep notches works the best as it rotates the chain and slots into place so the design pictured below is what we will be moving forward with.

While we were testing, we ran into a problem with the three stage telescoping tube mechanism that we currently have implemented. We will not be able to reach the trap with our current design unless we can get a few more inches off the ground. The two solutions that we have come up with so far are adding a fourth tube to allow more retraction and to drop the entire mechanism so that it is sitting flush with the belly pan rather than two inches above it. The purpose of hooks on both sides is so that we are able to climb quickly despite the direction the robot happens to be facing.

Intake/Shooter

A new design for our intake/shooter plate has dropped and we feel that it is going to work much better than the previous design. We made the plate shorter, reducing the weight of the structure, as well as changing the shape and the way it will mount onto the elevator. We just received the new plates and have not yet had a chance to test them yet but we have been busy testing V1. While the shape of the plates is different, the main ideas, including the distance between the intake wheels and the shooter wheels are the same so we will be able to transfer our findings over.

This week, we worked on testing the optimal angles that we will need our elevator to be at in order to shoot into the speaker as well as the speeds of the intake wheels and the shooter wheels. Here is what we found. Below are some pictures and videos of v1 of our intake/shooter testing as well as the CAD outline for v2.

Video

Video

Elevator

Originally, we were going to use a single stage thrifty bot elevator outline to create our elevator but have since switched to a belt - pulley system. The CAD for the system has not yet been completed but there will be a single central belt that will be bolted to a mobile piece of max tube that will carry our mechanism in and out. There will also be two stationary pulleys that will be powered by a NEO 550 motor.

This is an image of the single stage elevator sans the mechanism that actually powers it.

Programming

Our programming team has been working on various projects; programming the subsystems, continuing work on photon vision, and testing autopaths. Without a fully built robot and knowing how long different systems take, our swerve base has been a stand in for programming to work with. This means that autos are not exact, and do not currently take into account exact time for pick-up and scoring.

Video

Outreach

We have finalized our t-shirt design after a team-wide vote.

FRONT:

BACK:

The pride buttons have also been finished, and we are currently working on bulking up our stock for competitions

Business

Our business team has finished and submitted a grant to Costco Wholesale and requested funding for outreach efforts. They have also been working on the Impact Award executive summary essays, in addition to brainstorming big-picture topics to the main Impact essay.

Strategy

Scouting wise, every year up to this one we have done a simple paper scouting inputting into a google sheet. This year we are trying to set up an online scouting system, preferably one that doesn’t need to be connected to the internet. Currently we are looking into QR Scout, which is a locally hosted system created by team 2713 iRaiders. They go over it more in detail in their 2022 build thread. The general idea of it though is to have scouters use their phones to collect data and then transfer that data to a laptop via QR code. This will then be put into Excel so we can mess with pivot tables and filter data hopefully similar to how Statbotics shows theirs.

We have also finalized our drive team with a drive team test, and consideration from other factors such as the skill level of positions. Here is the link to the test if you are interested in taking or looking at it. (FYI the human player and driver/co-driver sections have some repeat questions in order to make sure that if someone is only applying to one of those positions, they would still get specific questions)

[Ty_Tremblay]

Hoping QR Scout works out for you! We made a more detailed writeup here: QRScout: No code, no app, no internet, no problem