Spectrum 3847 | Build Blog 2025

[TallGuy]

Thanks. That is helpful to know. This part-timer appreciates all the work you share.

[AllenGregoryIV]

@Hadi379

do you see any benefit in being able to hold both pieces at the same time? With this current design, it doesn’t allow for it.

We don’t think we ever need to hold both pieces on our manipulator but we do think there may be value for holding game pieces lower on the robot. If you hold them both on the manipulator you are moving that weight to score the game pieces each time which will slow you down.

Our current plan is to have our ground algae intake act as a storage for algae while we are currently scoring coral. We have room to put a coral holder as well but it will have to be something that we place there from the arm, we don’t know if we need it but it’s nice to have the option.

[Michael_Corsetto]

@AllenGregoryIV

I’m old enough to have been a human player in the last season HPs had to throw kickballs into a goal (2004) and that was a much longer distance shot into a much smaller goal and I was still able to make a good number of them consistently.

Allen, I think your experience and my experience were quite different as Human Players in 2004. I couldn’t image why though…

[AllenGregoryIV]

Day 8: CorAl (Coral & Algae) Rev 2

We made a 2nd revision of the CorAl mechanism it holds the algae much better. The next version will have a wider Coral section to test centering the Coral.

[AllenGregoryIV]

The PantherBots Climb

For anyone not following 2582, they posted some videos of what we think is one of the simplest deep climbs yet. Using the top flange of the cage it appears very easy to pull the cage back and over the robot’s center of mass.

2582 PantherBots Build Blog | Open Alliance | 2025

More details of today to come later, but I wanted to share a video our PR crew edited of our deep climb prototype. We affectionally know it as RA ̶M̶P̶ ̶C̶A̶GE or RAGE climber. It was inspired by the Rust Hounds. We did not have the drive train set up, but think it will not take too long to line up. [PantherBots 2582 Deep Climb Prototype FRC 2025 Reefscape] Fail [PantherBots 2582, Climb Fail, Reefscape 2025] Full speed: [PantherBots 2582 Fast Climb, Reefscap…

[AllenGregoryIV]

Day 9: What will define the top robots?

Basics needed to be great

• Fast alignment and intake of Coral from feeder stations (feed on one side, score on the other)
• Fast alignment and scoring of Level 2-4 coral
• Lvl 4 auto scoring (3-5 probably)
• Deep climb

Top teams will do one or more of these

• Pick up Algae from reef to net scoring
• Algae ground intake and score in net (maybe intake from lollipop)
• Level 1 Coral scoring (there will be some very good teams that are bad at this)

Elite teams will do all of the above, and some of these

• Coral ground intake
• Coral level 1 intake and score higher
• Able to score coral on two sides of the robot, so you never have to turn fully around from the feeder station.
• Able to hold algae while scoring coral
• Able to hold coral while scoring algae

[flametek]

@AllenGregoryIV

Elite teams will do all of the above, and some of these

• Coral ground intake
• Coral level 1 intake and score higher
• Able to score coral on two sides of the robot, so you never have to turn fully around from the feeder station.
• Able to hold algae while scoring coral
• Able to hold coral while scoring algae

Well I know we aren’t an elite team. The only thing our design skips from here is ground coral. Have we overscoped?

[Eliot]

@AllenGregoryIV

Coral ground intake

I don’t know if elite teams will need to do this, and I think this is similar to trap in 2024 (with 2056, an elite team by all standards, skipping it)

[AllenGregoryIV]

Correct, that bottom segment isn’t needed, just things some elite teams will do well.

The third list are things that are often only advantages in certain matches/situations. They may be marginal gains on already very high scoring robots.

[AllenGregoryIV]

@flametek

Have we overscoped?

Possibly but that’s something your team has to decide.

The other part we left off of this is how fast all of these things have to happen for them to be useful by elite teams. Everyone of these actions has to be extremely fast, consistent, and well practiced for it help make a team better.

[LaviRZ]

@AllenGregoryIV

Lvl 4 auto scoring (3-5 probably)

What’s that metric? Seconds or cycles?

[AllenGregoryIV]

Cycles, or number of coral scored in auto.

[s-neff]

Fun math, it’s actually both… 3 sec scores 5 coral, 3 coral can take 5 sec each

(I concur that 3-5 L4 coral is the auto goal. I don’t think 6 by a single robot will happen.)

[BryceHanson]

@s-neff

I don’t think 6 by a single robot will happen.

Inb4 citrus posts it tomorrow

[MARS_James]

Do you also do everything in the lists above it?

[flametek]

[AllenGregoryIV]

Day 10: Coral Centering Prototypes

We’ve been working on learning how the coral can center itself inside a mechanism.

We saw a couple of videos last week, including the Quokkas robot that could center coral between two flat plates.

We built a test rig to see if we could learn what causes this centering and how we can use it on our mechanism. While also maintaining access to the coral pipe openings to be able to places them on the reef branches.

Here are some videos of the tests

From our initial tests, the coral only likes to have one surface in contact with it that has a friction material, so it is the compliant wheels in this case.

[Eliot]

That’s super cool! I didn’t expect the coral to interact that way at all

[Dominick_Ferone]

And here I thought being able to hammer a frisbee consistently to score every match was impressive. (Except for the terrible form😂)

Now if you set up a 2004 goal, can Allen still score? Will muscle memory kick in?

[Dominick_Ferone]

What happens if you come perpendicular to the coral? Is there a certain degree that it’ll grab and readjust the coral?