The 2022 Robonauts Everybot Low Resource Build

FIRST General Forum
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#1

The Robonauts Everybot, costing less than $1000, is an affordable, competitive, and elegant robot that can be built with only basic tools and items found in either the kit of parts, purchased from your local hardware store, or an online retailer such as AndyMark, VEXpro, REV Robotics, The Thrifty Bot, or McMaster-Carr. We hope to help students and teams find their stride in FRC regardless of their circumstances or practical limitations. In the 2020-2021 season, over a hundred teams built off of the Robonauts Everybot concept, and we are excited for what the 2022 season holds.

Everybot’s mission is to improve FRC students’ experience by enabling any team to field an inexpensive robot capable of competing in local finals and championship-level tournament matches.

In our analysis of RAPID REACT, we’ve found that a short list of robot capabilities accomplishes these goals. We stuck to the most valuable and basic scoring tasks.

The 2022 Robonauts Everybot Robot Will:

  • Score 1 pre-loaded Cargo in the Lower Hub
  • Taxi from the Tarmac
  • Pick up Cargo from the floor
  • Hold two Cargo
  • Score Cargo in the Lower Hub
  • Hang on the Mid Rung
  • Play defense while holding two of the opponents’ Cargo

Next weekend, a short video, CAD, bill of materials, software, and documentation of how we built Everybot will be posted here and on our website.

Right now you can join the Everybot Community Discord where you can make friends with other teams building Everybots, ask for help, and share your progress.

99 Likes
How much spin is nessesary?
#2

Will it be able to also do low rung hang? May be helpful to be able to do the low and mid rung for getting the RP with two other Mid bar hangers.

Also any word on if it will be able to drive under the low rung?

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#3

No floor pickup, correct? Love this priority list. Any team with a solid mid climb is in my good books.

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#4

i don’t see how you can legally hold 2 opponents cargo without floor pickup
edit: sniped

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#5

This was a typo, we are picking up from the floor.

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#6

Not planning on it hanging from the low rung. While it would be nice in that situation, we don’t think it will happen often enough for it to be worth putting resources into it. If it comes for free, we’ll have it (or a clear path to it).

Driving under the low rung is not a requirement we are working under at this time. Another nice to have, but the other mechanisms will take priority.

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#7

Called it.

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#8

We’re thinking about a design that’s similar to the 2019 Everybot but with a dual wheel shooter at the conveyor exit.

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#9

Once you have decided on the chassis configuration (long, wide, square), would you consider publishing that choice ahead of your final release so rookie teams can get a head start on the chassis part?

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#10

The chassis is 32.3" long and 26" wide. Make sure the belt orientation is mirrored left/right symmetrically.

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#11

Thanks, Ethan.

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#12

Asking this now before the reveal. As a thought experiment, do you feel you could make a high goal shooting bot within the same budget of $1000 @Ethan_Reed? Would you go for a passive low rung climb instead if you were to go high? I understand its not in the spirit of the Everybot to go high and strategically with this game, but I ask from a technical perspective. There is a lot of simplification done on the design side so I wanted to know if you thought that could transfer over to a shooter.

#13

I think it’s totally possible to build an upper hub shooter for less than $1000. We considered it but ultimately decided to go low since a slow high hub shooter as a third partner at champs is not as valuable as a fast low hub scorer that has optimized for quick intaking and driving. Third robot is probably playing defense at that level. Scoring more cargo in the low hub also give Everybot the ability to pick up a few extra RPs in qualifications. If well-driven, probably enough to be a picker at most district events and regionals.

On the note of the hanger, I think all the Ri3D teams are overthinking the complexity required to get up to the mid rung. You certainly don’t need a $400+ COTS collection of tight-tolerance components. I do think mid is much more valuable than low at a championship level. There will be a lot of robots you can pick that can collect cargo and play defense. You don’t want to be removed from a pick list because you decided reaching up 8" was too difficult.

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#14

This is a really critical point that Ethan’s made here. Cost isn’t the only driving factor; complexity matters. A low goal robot in this game is going to be inherently easier to maintain and tune than a high goal shooter. So by going with a low goal robot, you’re not only getting what should be a simpler and cheaper build process, but you’re going to be spending much less time tweaking it, meaning you can spend more time on everything else on the robot, but more importantly you can get more practice in. That would be invaluable in any game, but especially in a game in which there’s going to be huge variance in what you’re doing on each cycle.

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#15

Time is a far more scarce resource than money. Always.

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#16

One of our mentors said on day one :

Invest the time now, you would pay anything to have that extra hour right before we leave for competition.

… and low resource teams can make a lower hub mock-up way easier and with looser tolerances vs a team that is at the noise floor of their crude high hub when attempting to tune a shooter with a narrow working window. Consistency and robustness win out :+1: .

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#17

I love the Everybot ideas, how are you guys planning on unloading into the low goal??
Is anyone thinking of a passive roll off idea or will we need a motorized roller??
Thanks

#18

I’m not part of the Everybot crew, but if the 2019 and 2020 Everybot were any indication you should probably expect a motorized solution. You can only get so cute with non-motorized mechanisms before they either become expensive or difficult to duplicate. (Thankfully, COTS planetary gearboxes are getting more and more accessible to teams, cheap enough that I don’t feel bad telling teams to buy them ahead of Kickoff on spec.)

Looking forward to seeing the finished product whenever it’s released!

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#19

Based on the amount of time it took most teams to line up in 2020(1) I wonder if a good scoring team wouldn’t get more than 2 pts in the extra time. I wouldn’t think it would change pick list much.

I do think the middle hang is important for the ranking pt especially at a champs level where I would expect every team to have a climb.

1 Like
#20

1758 says yes, it would. Fourth-most balls in the upper ports at the 2020 Palmetto Regional, slick under the trench run, but the lack of a climber let them slide to the very last pick of alliance selection into the waiting arms of 694 and 4020. (Those two were dominant enough to win the event alone, but add 1758 to the mix and everyone else’s chances of winning drastic go down.)

I guess one lesson you could take from that is “fake everyone out, climb low, get picked last, win regional”, but trying to shoot that gap is so dangerous that I can’t recommend it as a strategy.

1 Like