Robot shot basketballs have three different levels of varying difficulty in order to score points. At the end of the match, robots balanced with alliance partners on colored alliance bridges, or balanced on coopertition bridge in the center of the field to earn coopertition points. This year, coopertition was just as important as winning in determining your final qualification score.
Rose's chassis was welded from 1 inch aluminum stock. The aluminum used was hollow because of weight restrictions, and its thickness ranges from 1/8th to 1/16th of an inch thick, due to support considerations. Over 300 welds were made on the chassis. Lightening holes were used to additionally conserve weight. Strategic analysis of the game had shown that swerve, holonomic, or omni driving was not needed in order to achieve success. Instead, a standard four-wheel drive was selected with 6-inch wheels from the 2012 Kit of Parts. To power the drivetrain, a total of four CIM motors were used; two on each side, geared with CIMple Box. Chains were used to transmit the power from the motors to the wheels.
It was the most sport-like game yet! Because of the easy to understand game, Rose will be used for years for demonstration purposes.
Dr. Woodie Flowers, co-founder of FIRST and inspiration for the Woodie flowers award, visited out put in Connecticut! He picked up a few more signatures for his denim jacket, and graciously signed some of our team jerseys in return.
2705 teams competed in 50 regionals!
Rose used a unique, dual-sided collector. Quarter-inch polyurethane cord belts wrapped around 2 custom-made, aluminum axel-pulleys on each side. This system ran a 1000 RPM, which matched the linear speed of the robot. An angle in the pan center balls as they were transferred from both sides, a latex rubber sheet was used in between the two sides, forming a wall with just enough flexibility to maintain compression.
Rose used four flywheels on two axles to shoot the basketballs. The 6-inch diameter flywheels are chamfered at 60 degree angles, and powered by BaneBots motors in CIM-U-LATOR gearboxes. Encoders and Jaguars were used to provide speed control via the CAN bus.
Vertical angle control was provided by a lead screw powered by an AndyMark PGa e-71 gear motor. The CAN bus was used again to provide position control.
Horizontal angle control was achieved with a turn table, with a maximum of 200 degrees of travel. The turn table itself was machined as a large sprocket for #25 chain, and was driven by a motor, with CAN bus position control. (Shown on right)
The bridge actuator was conceptualized as a reverse cowcatcher in order to use the weight of the robot to lower the bridge. Many iterations of prototyping were used to finalize a design as various flaws were discovered: the original 16-pound estimate for the force required to lower the bridge was overly conservative, for instance. Our final design was a welded appendage that acted as a wedge. As a window motor was used to drive it down, a servo motor was used to drive a pin into the chassis, anchoring it. Orange tape was used to help maximize visibility for drivers.