High Altitude 9280 | Build Thread 2025 | Open Alliance

[DagnusFRC]

¡Hola, ChiefDelphi! Team 9280 Reporting In

We’re Team 9280 from Toluca, Mexico, and we’re thrilled to join the Open Alliance for the 2025 FRC season! As a fairly young team, we’re excited to share our journey, challenges, and triumphs as we build, iterate, and compete in this year’s game REEFSCAPE.

Through this thread, we’ll provide updates on our robot design, strategy, and lessons learned along the way. We hope our experience inspires others, and we can’t wait to learn from all of you, too. Please, do not hesitate to share any feedback! We are also new in Markdown, any recommendations are appreciated!

Stay tuned for some fun posts, behind-the-scenes action, and maybe a few surprises along the way. Let’s build something amazing together!

Aim Higher!

[joaq]

Day 1: Kickoff!

Our team had an exciting kickoff event! We played a Bingo themed game during the stream, marking items if we saw any fish, pirates or ocean themed things. We enjoyed a traditional Rosca de Reyes too! The highlight was watching the Dean Kamen and Mark Rober crossover, which was truly inspiring for our team.

Then, we divided into groups to read sections of the manual and summarize the most important aspects of the challenge.

Apologies for the Spanglish hehe

All students are required to read the manual over the weekend. After lunch, we had another meeting to define our main team goal, we did an analysis of the scoring table to understand the game. Our goal was to answer the question: What? We reached the following conclusions:

• Simple: Prioritize ease of repair.
• Adaptable: The robot will adjust to different strategies and support alliance partners.
• Scalable: Build a modular robot capable of increasing complexity without losing performance.

We broke scalability into three stages: Basic Chassis, Elevator for Coral scoring, and Intake for both Coral and Algae.

That’s right! We chose not to build a climb mechanism due to its complexity and our team’s experience level.
We’ll prototype four mechanisms:

• Intake for Coral
• Intake for Algae
• Intake for Both
• Elevator

Since we can’t meet at our school on Sunday, students have been tasked with researching previous robots, sketching mechanisms, and creating simple prototypes (using Legos, paper, etc.).

On Monday, we’ll continue prototyping and work on the field, with mentors leading the field construction for proper testing.

– Joaquin

[DagnusFRC]

Field Building: Let the DIY Fun Begin!

This year, field construction has been a mentor-led effort with help from some amazing team members. Using FIRST’s Playing Field resources, we built the Coral Station, Reef, and Processor. Our guiding principles? Reusing materials from past seasons and optimizing costs. Spoiler alert: PVC pipes became our best friends!

Coral Station

The base was mostly pre-built, so we adapted it to match the DIY dimensions. Simple and effective!

Reef

Building the reef was hands-down the most fun. We added a wood piece at Level 1 for extra stability, but this needs tweaking to avoid interference. It’s functional, though—Levels 2, 3 and 4 coral placement works well.

Processor

Almost there! All that’s left is cutting out the front panel hole, and it’ll be good to go.

We’re now planning to replicate two more reefs, which will give us half the setup. This will let us test auto paths from different starting points. Up next? Constructing the net and brainstorming cage structure ideas (Ri3D climbing concepts, we’re looking at you 👀).

Big shoutout to Demian, Emma, Alfred, Joaquin, Pato, and Estefi for making the field construction happen! --Dany

[joaq]

Prototyping: Turning Ideas into Reality

We’re back with updates from Days 2 to 4 of build season! It’s been a whirlwind of brainstorming, prototyping, and field construction—and the whole team has been buzzing with energy. Let’s break it down!

Once we nailed down the WHAT, it was time to tackle the HOW. We identified four key mechanisms to prototype, and our team hit the ground running with rough/dummy builds to explore how these pieces would interact.

Coral Intake Prototypes:

We explored three different versions of intakes to pick up corals and tested their efficiency and durability. For Coral Intake 1 and 2 we design them on Solidworks and cut them on our Home Laser CNC.

Coral Intake 1 (left) & Coral Intake 2 (right)

Coral Intake 1

This was a direct replica of intakes from teams 868 and 2383, using compliant wheels of 2.25 inches. While functional, this version proved less durable during testing.

9280 REEFSCAPE PROTOTYPE | Coral Intake 1 and 2 Showcase

Coral Intake 1 with Algae

9280 REEFSCAPE PROTOTYPE | Coral Intake 1 with Algae

Coral Intake 2

Coral Intake 2: This intake maintained the same compression as Intake 1 but incorporated 4-inch ThriftyBot wheels. We created two variations:

Version 1: Four 4-inch ThriftyBot Squishy Wheels. (First video)

Version 2: Two 4-inch ThriftyBot Squishy Wheels and two 4-inch Compliant Stars.
The second variation (with Compliant Stars) performed better overall, showing great consistency in picking up both balls and corals. Additionally, it proved to be more durable than Intake 1. (Second video)

9280 REEFSCAPE PROTOTYPE | Coral Intake 1 and 2 Showcase

Coral intake 2 with Algae

9280 REEFSCAPE PROTOTYPE | Coral Intake 2 with Algae

9280 REEFSCAPE PROTOTYPE | Coral Intake 2 with Algaes

Coral intake 3

This was a quick and simple prototype built with materials we found around the workshop. It used three 4-inch ThriftyBot Squishy Wheels, and we experimented with different compressions. The best results were achieved with a compression of 0.55 inches ± 0.05 inches.

9280 REEFSCAPE PROTOTYPE | Coral Intake Compression 0.55" +-0.05"

9280 REEFSCAPE PROTOTYPE | Coral Intake Compression 1"

Algae Intake

For algae, we built a prototype using 4-inch Blue Compliant Wheels, which showed promising results during testing.

9280 REEFSCAPE PROTOTYPE | Algae Intake

Elevator

A big shoutout to Yare and Mafer, who built their very first elevator prototype! This homemade elevator marks an incredible effort from them, and the team couldn’t be prouder of their dedication and hard work.

9280 REEFSCAPE | Prototype Lift

9280 REEFSCAPE Prototype | Lift Mounted

Final Results: Progress on the Horizon

After some long hours and plenty of problem-solving, we successfully mounted the elevator onto a KOP chassis for better visualization. Progress is progress, and we’re excited to see where the next few days take us!

Stay tuned for more updates from our build season journey—we can’t wait to share more with you! – Joaquin

Bloopers:

[armando_mm09]

Heyyy team,

First of all, congrats on joining the open alliance, and your beautiful build thread, I know it will be of huge help through out the season for different teams.

I just wanted to ask about the Coral Intake 2 with algae, it doesn’t damage the algae itself? Either way it looks pretty cool and with a little bit of feedforward for sustaining it, it should work just about right.

Good luck and congrats again

[joaq]

Hey Armando,

Thank you for your kind words and support!

As for Coral Intake 2 with algae, we haven’t tested it enough to know if it could damage the algae, at the moment the algae remain in perfect conditions. Right now, we’re working on a prototype intake with 3–4 rollers that can handle both coral and algae, and we’re also planning to intake from the coral station with a hopper.

We’re taking inspiration from designs like Team 254’s 2019 intake, Team 2056’s 2023 intake, and Cranberry Alarm 2025. I’ve attached a photo of these concepts for reference.

Thanks again for your feedback—good luck to your team this season!

We’ll share more about our Intake development soon

–Joaquín

[Bini]

Hi, guys!!
So happy to hear about you this soon into the season! I am amazed of the progress you’ve done in less than one full week since kickoff!! Congrats for reaching OA!! You absolutely nailed it

I loved your shoutouts, and the early inspiration you have in mind, those are certainly good concepts with few things to polish, and as now, you are in a very good track!

Coral intake 3 is just (cheff kiss**) Have you had time to think about a wrist mechanism to strive for the high nodes? I am really sure you’ve already seen it, but just in case, take a look at Penn State’s RI3D concept: https://youtu.be/OwnkyOrcR3U?si=JDmS0tAK-xGV5MF8 Hope it helps!

Also, this is really cute, loved the title color yayyy.

Keep up with this amazing work, @joaq !!! Your thread will be very useful for many starting teams!

With lots of GP , Bini

[g4bs]

Hi, Bini!!

Thank you so much for your kind words and for always bringing so much GP to our thread! We’re super hyped to hear you’re enjoying the updates and our colorful titles (they’re as fun to make as they are to look at, we promise).

And yes, spoiler alert for our next post: we’ve been diving deep into Penn State’s Ri3D concept—thanks for pointing it out! It’s been a great source of inspiration for our designs. As for the wrist mechanism idea, you’re right about its potential for those high nodes, but we’re a bit cautious about adding extra complexity. That said, testing is always on the table, so we’ll definitely explore it!

Thanks again for the encouragement and ideas—your support means the world to us! Keep spreading that GP magic!

[DagnusFRC]

High Altitude 9280 Linktree

Prototype Progress: Algae, Coral, and Conveyor Chaos!

This week has been all about testing, tweaking, and learning from our prototypes. Here’s the scoop:

Algae Intake 2.0

We built a frame with 4-inch wheels and ran compression tests to ensure the algae stayed snug in the intake. After some trial and error (and a bit of laughter), we captured some fun test footage. Shutout to Caro and Tania for their prototype!

9280 REEFSCAPE | Prototype algae intake 2

Stay tuned for “Algae Intake: The Sequel”!

Elevator Evolution

Yare and Fer, our senior wizards, took charge of the elevator prototype—a simple 1x1 structure with a rope mechanism. It’s been great for understanding behaviors, and they had a lot to say about its quirks.
Quote of the day: “This is definitely a love-hate relationship!”

9280 REEFSCAPE | PROTOTYPE LIFT

Conveyor Crew

We experimented with transferring coral from the station to the scoring mechanism. Cardboard to wood, we tried it all! Inspired by airport luggage rollers, we thought passive rollers could smooth things out. Spoiler alert: Pato aka David Lobo shut that down with, “DO NOT ADD ROLLERS, PLEASE!” Weight and complexity were a no-go. Next stop? Testing vertical rollers with bearings.

9280 REEFSCAPE | Prototype conveyor 1

- YouTube

9280 REEFSCAPE | Prototype conveyor 3

Combining Forces

What if algae and coral could share one intake? After analyzing the prototypes with our mentors guidance, we mounted everything on the elevator prototype. Testing was intense, and we’re starting to see the pieces fall into place.

9280 REEFSCAPE | Prototype lift + Algae intake 1

More videos of this final prototype in action – coming soon!!

Next Steps

CAD designs for intake and elevator.
Build a second iteration of the conveyor.
Nail down how to retract the intake for compliance for Starting Config. - Any ideas or suggestions are welcomed!!

The journey’s heating up! Keep an eye out for more updates and plenty of videos to follow.

Shutout to Marco and Gaby for designing the build thread header, setting up our linktree and editing the youtube videos! – Dany

[ef.cerwinka]

Hey guys! Your thread looks awesome!

I ran into this variable gripper that Team SCREAM is prototyping. It’s a spring loaded gripper that can pinch both coral and algae (like a pair of pliers), and I thought it might interest you after seeing your hybrid coral/algae intakes.

Rooting for you,
Emi

[joaq]

Ri3D Analysis: Crafting Our Concept

After analyzing several Ri3D teams, we’ve developed a clear concept for our robot: Simple, Scalable, and Adaptable. Here’s the vision:

Core Must-Haves:

1. Fast Elevator: A rapid lift mechanism to minimize cycle times.
2. Rear Intake, Front Scoring: Efficient hopper intake from the back and scoring in the front for seamless gameplay.
3. Coral Scoring: Capable of scoring coral on L1, L2, L3, and L4.
4. Algae Scoring: Deliver algae to the processor.

Nice-to-Haves (Scalability Goals):

1. Scoring algae in the NET.
2. Climbing the Deep Cage.

Ri3D Inspirations:

• Cranberry Alarm & Bumbotics: Their efficient intakes and minimal transitions between the funnel and outtake are key inspirations for handling coral.
• Penn State: Their robust climber is a major influence as we aim to scale up our robot’s capabilities.
• RUST Hounds: We loved their funnel system, algae floor intake, and overall scoring efficiency.

Our ultimate goal is to integrate the ability to handle both game pieces simultaneously and score them independently. This will maximize efficiency during matches.

We’ve already started prototyping some of our ideas and are excited to test how they perform on the field.

Visualizing Our Game Strategy

Here’s a quick visual representation of how we envision our cycles on the field:

No turning when scoring so we are faster!!

Future Tasks

Here are some of the key tasks we’re planning to tackle next:

• Define the chassis size for optimal maneuverability.
• Decide on the material for new bumpers to balance durability and weight.
• Iterate and refine the design of our Manipulator for Both Game Pieces.
• Build a new cascade elevator using COTS components for simplicity and reliability.
• Determine whether the pivot for efficiently scoring corals will use pneumatics or a motor.

Our Analysis of Ri3D Teams

We decided to analyze as many Ri3D robots as possible, reviewing over 20 robots in total. From that extensive list, we selected this Top 9 and conducted a deeper analysis of these nine teams.

This in-depth analysis, created collaboratively by 14 team members, is available in the linked Google Sheet for anyone interested.

1. Rust Hounds
2. Penn State
3. Cranberry Alarm
4. Bumbotics
5. REV Robotics Starter Bot
6. Unqualified Quokkas
7. Alumni of Ninjineers
8. University of Minnesota
9. Bison Robotics

We’re attaching the link to the Google Sheet with our detailed analysis. Stay tuned for more updates, including CAD designs, videos, and prototypes, as we bring our concept to life!

Ri3D High Altitude Analysis

At the end of the analysis, we concluded that our final robot concept would be a combination of ideas from Cranberry Alarm, Rust Hounds, and Penn State.
–Joaquín

[DagnusFRC]

High Altitude 9280 Linktree

Prototype Testing in Action!

This time, we’re keeping it simple—less text, more testing videos! Check out what we’ve been up to and enjoy the chaos!

Algae intake Prototype

9280 REEFSCAPE | Prototype algae intake on elevator

9280 REEFSCAPE | Intake and elevator interactions

9280 REEFSCAPE | Coral scoring attempt

9280 REEFSCAPE | Coral scoring

9280 REEFSCAPE | Algae intake from floor

Coral Scoring

Key Takeaways

• One roller might just handle both Coral and Algae… in opposite directions!
• No need for extra wheels to manipulate Algae—shoutout to Ri3D Mexico for the inspo!
• Still figuring out how to keep our intake inside the frame at startup. Pivot? Pneumatics? TBD.
• Coral alignment is proving to be… tricky.
• Need a clean way to connect our Coral outtake to the conveyor.

Next steps

• Design a lighter, sleeker intake (final prototype coming soon in MDF!)
• Assemble the dual intake and mount it on our elevator.
• Motorize both systems—rope for the elevator and a single roller for intake/outtake.
• Build a conveyor frame to tie it all together!

Get ready for more updates soon!

Big Shoutout to Gaby, Marco, Yare, Fer, Demian, Quique, Itai, Richard, Ricardo, Joaquin and everyone else in the videos for your help with this update.

And also, keep an eye on future updates as we will be introducing our HARVlogs on YT!

Dany–

[AlanEsquivel]

It’s been great to see your progress—your videos and testing look very polished. Regarding the current Coral Scoring Prototype, we’ve been experimenting with different angles and found that a slightly more horizontal approach improves coral placement during our testing.

Looking forward to seeing more of your robot development!

[DagnusFRC]

@ef.cerwinka

Hey guys! Your thread looks awesome!

I ran into this variable gripper that Team SCREAM is prototyping. It’s a spring loaded gripper that can pinch both coral and algae (like a pair of pliers), and I thought it might interest you after seeing your hybrid coral/algae intakes.

Rooting for you,
Emi

Hi Emi! Thank you so much for checking out our Build Thread! We truly appreciate your comments and suggestions.

We had a discussion on that design, we are also following Team 7421 Overture Build Thread as they already did a prototype for a dual-purpose intake. After seeing their results and comments, we believe it would add more complexity to our intended mechanism.

That said, it was worth doing an analysis, we had a better picture of what we want VS what we can actually do.

Thank you again for bringing your recommendations! We will always take a look to all community suggestions. More videos of final protos coming soon!

Have a nice one!

[DagnusFRC]

@AlanEsquivel

It’s been great to see your progress—your videos and testing look very polished. Regarding the current Coral Scoring Prototype, we’ve been experimenting with different angles and found that a slightly more horizontal approach improves coral placement during our testing.

Looking forward to seeing more of your robot development!

Estimado! Gracias por visitar el Thread! Shoutout to team 4403!

We have a wonderful media team that has been working on selecting/uploading videos, thanks for your comment!

Thank you so much for your insight on the Coral Scoring Prototype, we tested angles closer to horizontal config and we saw a lot of improvement! We are now working to assemble the final proto to our elevator so we can test it with real robot movement on a kop config.

Wishing you the best to you and your team, looking forward to seeing you guys on the field!