This year, the electrical team spent a little extra time with wiring electrical and pneumatics. We are hoping to make inspection easier, as well as troubleshooting during the events.
New this year for us is color coding the motor controllers and their respective PWM wires into the roboRIO. It should help. Also new is color coding the pneumatic tubing - black tube for stored pressure, white for regulated pressure, red for gear mechanism, and yellow for shifting gearboxes.
Any suggestions are welcome.
Good luck to all in the last two weeks and we will see you at Nevis Week 0, the Lake Superior Regional in Duluth Week 1, and the Wisconsin Regional in Milwaukee Week 4…and hopefully St. Louis in April!
I see a pneumatic tube that is very close to the compressor. As a rule of thumb, we never allow anything to rest against the compressor because of the heat level. In your case it appears to be resting against the body where the motor is, and that doesn’t get nearly as hot as the piston head does, but be careful!
Also, your pressure release valve is very close to an unprotected sprocket. I would be nervous if I had to reach in there to release that valve.
Thanks for the input! This was shared with the team and they agreed with your comments and are making the proper adjustments.
I also wanted to point out there are hints of a climber and shooter on the right of the picture as well as parts of the fuel intake and gear mechanism on the left…practice starts today, so 2 weeks of drive to find weaknesses and flaws in the design…
If the polycarbonate (I’m assuming it’s not acrylic) is where it appears to be, the main breaker button is rather far in. I suggest rotating it clockwise 90 degrees and moving it up a few inches so the cutoff button is nearer the access area.
Edit: looking at cable slack, you will probably have to swap the cables on the breaker to the opposite terminals to make them reach.
To add to the above comment: Add a conspicuous label in front of the Clippard tank pointing to the electrical main breaker. A volunteer looking to shut off the robot when it is on fire will appreciate that.
The terminals for the pressure cut-off switch will need to be exposed for inspection: They must slightly overpressure the system to verify your pressure relief valve is operating. (You need to adjust it if you have not done so).
Bundle and support wires as much as possible to ensure their weight is not tending to disconnect them. The robot will see a fair amount of vibration and shock. I’m mostly thinking of the PWM cables at the RoboRIO and the smaller wires from RoboRio to other components. The big wires off the PDP are fine.
At the far right be sure those sprockets have something to prevent inadvertent pinch points. Even very thin lexan will do.
Your inspectors would appreciate all the ends of the zip ties being cut flush with the locking head. Otherwise they can cut an inspectors hands, and a bleeding inspector is not a happy inspector. (Same for the student reaching in there to fix something…)
OUTSTANDING job on all the rest, the care and effort is really obvious!
Yes we are using polycarbonate rather than acrylic. We did question the main breaker and whether or not it was accessible enough. There is about 3" of clearance between the breaker and the poly so we were thinking(hoping) that would be enough to access the breaker. Also the breaker is about 2.5" down from the top of the poly so it isn’t down too terribly far.
We haven’t labeled our components yet. We will be sure to properly label the main breaker, the stored pressure, and the working pressure. I definitely agree the pressure switch is inconveniently located and we might have to create access. The polycarbonate sheet does come off in about 15 seconds so if we are able to remove it for inspection purposes is that an option?
Thank your for the advice on bundling wires. We haven’t had any disconnection issues yet but we aren’t finished with our practice robot yet so we haven’t encountered any defense. We will be sure to bundle and secure.
The sprockets on the right are inside the frame perimeter by at least 5"…is it required that they still be covered or just suggested? It will be easy enough to add something too.
I might do a few run tests to see if the heat from your compressor is enough to soften your pneumatic tubing to the point where the push connect fitting let’s go. We have found that putting all the brass we need right at the compressor holds that heat out of the tubing. Otherwise a slow leak can form and eventually the tube can blow out of the push connect fitting.
While you’re securing wires, I’d secure the power to your radio. 3d print a clip to hold it in place, or make up a passive PoE injector to back up your barrel connector. If your electrical team is done so soon, there’s no reason not to add some suspenders to go with that belt.
Looks like you will be able to hold all the fuel in the game!
You know the LRI’s here in Minny as well as I do…having a way to access that main breaker will be advisable. Also, include more venting near the compressor. Because you have a tank that is restricting air flow through the design, I would put some active cooling to help with the heat trap.
And the RSL may be a concern as it could be deemed not visible from all sides.
Man you guys know how to utilize your chains - I may send some of my students up your way to learn how to run chain properly. Looks good thus far sir - I cannot wait to see it in action in Duluth. Seems like all of our outstate friends are competing on that side of the DECC; kind of bummed we are not competing in the same regional this year!
The relevant rule there is “mounted on the ROBOT such that it is easily visible while standing three 3 ft. (~ 100
cm) in front of the ROBOT.” Which, you know, which way is front, really? Practically speaking, if it’s readily visible on the field in starting position, you’re probably not going to get any guff.
We used some of the small fans that have come in previous years kits (1.5" of so) and mounted them right to the top of the compressor. It really made a difference in terms of cooling. Might be worth putting one on to extend the life of your compressor. Just a thought.
Anything you can do to help the FTA figure out why your bot isn’t moving in real-time is a bonus. Having the RSL visible from the side of the field regardless of bot orientation is one of those things that can help (along with not burying the radio and roboRIO in the innards where we can’t see the lights).
They are literally working on the lights right now! That is an obvious priority!
As for the compressor and overheating, we will be using pneumatics very little on this robot. During practice last night, the compressor would turn on about once every 15 seconds (when doing what we do with no defense) and would run for 3 seconds before it was full. We only have one air tank so it fills fast. We ran for a solid hour and the compressor was barely warm. A fan might not be a bad idea just to circulate some of that air though. It’s an easy add.
Chief-
We are bummed to not compete with you again this year as well. You guys left us! We will have to swing over to see how things are on your half as well. As for the chain, buying the Dark Soul chain break from the DDM website that someone on CD recommended a few months ago is a life saver. If anyone uses 25 chain it is a must have!
We had no clue this was an option. We are definitely interested in doing this. We don’t have the tools to make our own cables, but if we were to buy one from Amazon, does the end on the power cable get cut and put into the VRM? I would be interested to see pics of anyone that has done this before. Like you said, a back up plan is smart. Last year we had a few issues with connectivity and would like to eliminate that.
