This year we did something a little different and created CAD for two robots. The first one is more complex and shown in the video. The second robot is simpler and mounted on a kitbot. We intended to build both but ran out of time. The CAD and related information is available here.
Major takeaways from this experience:
CG is very important
Smaller frame robots will be very helpful to alliances
Cubes are much easier to deal with than cones
Spending time on a good cone claw is valuable, the claw used in the video needed more refinement
There will be a lot of dropped cones in the scoring area.
Angled elevator on the CC would’ve been a nice way to reduce some parts or add the ability to score L3 cones
Practice driving will be invaluable this year
Swerve & mecanum drive trains will be amazing at lining up to each goal
Robots hanging off the bridge is a neat trick to get more real estate on the bridge. I feel it may be smart to add rubber to the underside of frames to stay on the bridge better.
I not only thank you for this work and incredible report, but I am excited that, while not unlike other things mentioned in other build blogs, the conclusions you drew echo the ones we have this far. Thanks again for sharing.
I would not recommend “shooting” the cone like we did in the video. It was for good fun, the robot as is can do L1/L2 cones and L1/L2/L3 cubes pretty well.
One of the things looking back in hindsight, we should’ve spent some extra time and tilted the elevator. Its an easy way to get extended reach. For teams that are looking to do elevator and telescopic methods of extension, please watch your overlaps! With the reach needed this year its easy to make this overlap small and have issues with wobbly/unstable extensions.
This looks awesome! I was wondering, was it ever weighed? I’d love to know how it holds up in terms of weight limit and how much room teams have to potentially modify it when it comes to FRC Limitations.
