2023 - Charged Up

The Game:

Two alliances of three teams have to place cones and cubes onto nodes on their grid. Points are given for placing one on the matching node, and there are multiple levels of nodes, with more points awarded the higher your robot places a cone/cube. Points are also given for touching a charging station, or for fully balancing on top of it.

Game Animation:

Reveal Video:

Chassis and Drivetrain:

This year, we decided to stick with West Coast drive because of shortages relating to swerve drive. It uses six Colson wheels. The West Coast Gearbox has three stages, a final gear ratio of 9.4:1, a free speed of 5880 RPM, and a running speed of 13.9 ft/s. Our frame measures 24" x 30", which is smaller than the standard size. It also features a convenient pocket that facilitates the easy positioning and acquisition of game pieces.

Gripper:

We used a tapered flywheel grabber as our end-effector. It has a sensor on it to detect how far away the game piece is so the game piece remains in the grabber while driving. It also fits into the frame perimeter for secure game piece storing at the beginning and during matches.

Arm:

The arm is double jointed and can flip over the top to pick/place from the front or back. It's driven by sprockets/chains, and has rigorous connections to prevent structural damage from high torque. To get the torque we needed, we used chains and smaller sprockets in order to fit the equivalent of an 18” sprocket on our drive. Our arm also features an LED system to effectively communicate the driver’s needs (e.g. cone or cube) to the human player.

New and Interesting:

Aster's frame received black powder coating thanks to our new sponsor, PVA!

Technical Binder:

Team 20 Technical Binder - Aster.pdf