What is Project Gemini?
Prior to the start of the 2022 season the Student and Adult leadership of Team 1923 decided that in the interest of increasing student involvement we would start a second FRC team to help give our 170+ students more opportunities to actively participate both at home and at competitions. However, in breaking with the typical dual team models in FRC, Teams 1923 and 1914 are one and the same in that all MidKnight Inventors are registered members of both teams. The team has built 3 identical robots, one competition robot for each team and a third practice robot that is used for programming and development. At competitions each team will have a separate and distinct four-person drive team, but beyond that all work on the robots as well as scouting and strategy will be done collaboratively between both 1923 and 1914 by MidKnight Inventor students. We are excited to provide our students with more opportunities and hope that this improves the competition experience for our rapidly growing team. With that being said…
FRC Teams 1923 and 1914, The MidKnight Inventors are proud to present our 2022 robots: Outrage & Uproar
Robot Highlights:
- Full width, passively deployed Cargo Intake
- “Underhand” Launcher with powered hood rollers
- High Rung climber with potential to complete the climb after the buzzer
- Heavy use of laser cut Delrin and Chromoly steel with Markforged 3D prints
- No Pneumatic system
Primary Design Constraints:
- Easily travel anywhere on the field
- Small footprint for maneuvering in tight spaces
- Rapid intake of 2 Cargo
- Accurate scoring in both the Low and High goals from the fender
- Fast Mid Rung Climb with potential for further Rungs
- Easily serviceable design
Drivetrain:
- Custom 2-stage single speed flipped 3 Falcon 500 gearboxes utilizing laser-cut Delrin faceplates and Markforged spacers with embedded standoffs
- Gearboxes geared at 9.1 : 1 ratio for a theoretical free speed of 15.3 fps
- Flat, 6 wheel, west coast drive including:
- four 5” Colson outer wheels, with custom cut treads
- two 4.75” Colson center wheels
- 24” x 27.5” sheet metal WCD chassis with chain running on the cantilevered wheel side for ease of service
- .125” Delrin bellypan with .050” Chromoly steel reinforcement
Intake:
- Passively sprung double jointed intake utilizing gas shocks and surgical tubing deployed at start of match by rolling leading roller over a wheel chock
- Delrin and Polycarbonate construction reinforced with Chromoly side-plates
- Rollers made up of 72 2” Flex Wheels on thunderhex shaft
- Designed to collapse on impact to prevent permanent damage
Launcher:
- Full width “Underhand” Launcher optimized to score from the fender
- Launcher constructed with Laser cut Delrin and Chromoly reinforced side-plates
- Launcher combines hopper with active timing belt driven floor, gate roller, and launcher wheels into one unified mechanism
- Main flywheel is made of five 4” WCP Roller Wheels while the five hood rollers are made up of 125 2” Flex Wheels on thunderhex shaft
- Main flywheel is driven independently from the hood rollers, each with a Falcon 500 to allow for on the fly adjustment of each velocity to influence trajectory
- PID loop tuned to allow spin up in under 1 second
- Entire Launcher mounted on a pin joint as a clamshell to allow access to electronics and to change batteries
Climber:
- Single stage Mid Rung climber powered by two Falcon 500s
- Extended via Constant Force spring and retracted by a winch
- 3D printed spool with an integrated Cam that allows strap to be swapped rapidly while ensuring the first wrap under tension clamps down on the Cam to secure the strap from slipping
- Climber Gearbox is mounted above the main flywheel for maximum serviceability of the spools
- Passively deployed 4-bar High Rung climber utilizing gas shocks which are kept compressed during match play via two Delrin plates latched to the elevator
- Once the Mid Rung climber lifts the robot fully into the air, the High Rung 4-bar passively latches past the rung and onto it
- The weight of the robot is sufficient to back drive the elevator and release from the Mid Rung, theoretically allowing the Mid to High transition to occur after the buzzer so long as the robot is latched on both Rungs by T=0.
Autonomous:
- Multiple options for Drive Only, Single Ball, and Two Ball Autonomous for our first event
- Options for three, four, and more balls are under development
- Intake on opposite side from launcher helps greatly with reducing the need to turn the robot around to complete more complex autos
The MidKnight Inventors are excited to compete at our first event of the 2022 season this weekend at the FMA District Bridgewater-Raritan Event.
