Articulation
The articulation subassembly has gone through many iterations, each addressing a different issue. The biggest issues we constantly encountered involved staying in the frame perimeter, avoiding collision or interruption with other mechanisms, and how the game piece was manipulated once we had ahold of it. Other issues we encountered included how we would reach the amp and trap.
Since the start of our prototyping phase, this mechanism was constantly modified for the sake of fine-tuning the design. We spent a lot of time this year running prototypes to test our ideas, and the model of the articulation system was updated constantly to account for those changes.
We also used 2x4 wood pieces to construct our proof-of-concept prototypes, which led to the use of laser-cut plywood prototypes and eventually machined metal parts. We use wood because it is readily available, inexpensive, and easy to adjust. Machined metal parts are used once we decide on parameters so an Alpha robot and competition-ready robots can be constructed.
The team established parameters for their articulation system, ensuring it remained within the frame perimeter and had a maximum height of 27 inches to fit under the stage. After multiple prototype tests, additional parameters were set to maintain control of the game piece. These parameters guided the design of the articulating arm's side plates, dictating the positioning of hex shafts, round stock, pulleys, gears, rollers, motors, and bolt circles.