We’re looking forward to the chance to continue making great resources for the FRC community! Thank you AndyMark for sponsoring our Ri3D build this year!
Introducing the UMN Robotics 2024 Ri3D Robot: Apollo! Thank you to our sponsors AndyMark and the University of Minnesota Student Services, as well as the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering Anderson Labs! We appreciate all the support!
While I admit I don’t follow every piece of Ri3D content out there, I totally agree with Ty that this robot is at the top of my all-time great list. You’ve put together a simple, elegant, and robust solution to a large share of the game’s most important tasks.
I really love some of the thoughtful details that make this a great design for a lot of teams:
The note collector doesn’t leave the frame perimeter so the robot is much less susceptible to damage and the mechanism is simpler to operate
The robot uses fixed points on the field for scoring so it probably doesn’t require any special cameras, sensors, or programming to score notes in the speaker or amp
The climber uses an available solution that teams can purchase already, spending more time building and tuning other parts of the robot
The note launcher handles the speaker and amp with a single fixed position, reducing mechanical complexity, increasing robustness, and simplifying programming without the need for sensor feedback or loop tuning.
I love the simplicity of the amp scoring mechanism, great job on the robot! Looking forward to your walkthrough and the other resources you plan to publish.
I’m always stunned that teams can build these in 3 days. Well done.
Did you, do you, have any concerns about notes getting stuck under the bumper on carpet?
Thank you
Thanks, we were really happy with the results of what we came up with this year! We didn’t end up doing any carpet testing, but there wasn’t much concern with anything getting stuck as the rules allow for 2.5" bumper to ground clearance (top needs to be below 7.5" and bumpers must be 5" min), the note is 2", so 0.5" clearance note to bumper should be plenty and it’s very compliant so I believe it wouldn’t be a problem.
Thank you to our sponsors AndyMark and the University of Minnesota Student Services, as well as the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering Anderson Labs! We appreciate all the support!
Pneumatics used only for the Amp. Would you rather recommend teams to go with a motor instead, especially if the rest of the robot wasn’t using pneumatics?
What is the benefit of pneumatic wheels? The field is flat with no obstacles.
We didn’t think of an easy and simple way to do the linear motion we wanted without pneumatics as we were very time limited, but if you’re not using pneumatics anywhere else that would probably be the way to go in terms of reliability and ease of use once installed. Unfortunately when reviewing the rules just now I realized we violated one with our system, I wanted to make the pneumatics as simple as possible by not running an onboard compressor or a pneumatics hub on the robot (we had these outside and just refilled the tanks when needed) because an extra tank is much lighter than the compressor and the rules allow you to trigger the solenoid off the PDH switched channel (R504 and R505). For some reason I never saw the requirement to have an onboard compressor if using any pneumatics, we would have installed one if I had but it would have made pneumatics even less reasonable if we had a motorized solution.
I see Markee typing, if he doesn’t answer the pneumatic wheels part I can