Change Up

Objective: 

The overarching goal of the game was to de-score all the balls of one color while scoring the other color. This meant that the balls had to be transported from the bottom to the top of the robot and then shot out. There would only be virtual solo Skills competitions (no team matches) in this game due to major COVID restrictions. Thus, we focused on making a maneuverable robot capable of clearing the entire field by itself. Additionally, we needed a relatively simple design because we had a severely restricted amount of build time under the pandemic and wanted to finish building quickly to focus on programming in an effort to optimize our autonomous skills score.

Brainstorming process:

In order to make the most out of our limited time, I created multiple different CADS of the drive base and other components of the robot so that we could use our time as efficiently as possible in the lab. To achieve increased mobility, we settled on an X-drive (a unique wheelbase that allows the robot to strafe in any direction). This capability was very useful for de-scoring the balls, as it allowed us to more easily line up with the goal. We also decided to use rubber band rollers to transport the balls before shooting them out of the top of the robot.

Assembly:

Assembling the drive base was very easy, as we replicated the CAD that we had previously made. Then, we constructed the motorized rubber band rollers that lifted the balls from the ground into the goal. We also added a mechanism that allowed the robot to dispense balls of the incorrect color out of the back, using a color sensor to automatically detect the color of the ball and determine if the ball should be scored or thrown out. Finally, we built the intakes, which had to flip out in order to fit within the size constraints. This mechanism took a long time to build. Once the build was complete, our team utilized proportional integral, and derivative feedback control in order to know at all times what position on the field the robot was in. This allowed our code to be very precise.

Results:

Success! We met our goals of having good mobility and building the robot within 3 months. Our code also functioned really well and we tied for 5th at the NJ State Championship.