Generations of Our Robot
Throughout our journey of this 2022-2023 season of FTC, we have gone through many ideas for our robot, including a ton of attachment prototypes, rebuilding chassis, and consistently changing strings for our linear lift. For us to finally choose our current robot design, it took tons of trial and error, and pros and cons lists.
Here are a few of our ideas and their pragmatism rating:
Pros:
The linear lift allowed for our robot to easily place cones, consistently and quickly.
The lift gave us the flexibility to score on every junction.
Customizable, so string could be swapped to a stronger string negating a con.
Cons:
Due to the fixed position of the lift, our drivers would have to keep turning the entire chassis to place the cones.
The linear lift’s string would constantly snap.
Viper Slide
Pros:
Allowed us to pick up cones.
The parts were company friendly to our robot.
Easy attachment and detachment from robot when needed.
Cons:
Drivers would have to be extremely accurate when getting cones.
Limited options for tele-op
We were unable to get cones from the side stack.
Pros:
Required one servo.
Custom CAD parts, decreasing shipment time and giving personality to the robot.
Allowed for a more flexible game strategy.
10x stronger grip.
Allowed for the cone to be picked up from any angle.
Increased margin of error.
Cons:
We had to 3D print adaptable parts to attach the claw.
It broke a few servos in design process due to burnout.
Pros:
Streamlines autonomous (40 point autonomous).
Dismisses stress from drivers.
Flexibility amongst other alliances.
Allowed for more efficient game strategies involving cycling and ownership.
Overall, more points we gained.
Cons:
Very difficult to attach.
To exploit max potential, we had to radically change chassis size.
Unstable weight distribution in design process.
Very expensive to execute.
Pros:
Small size makes it agile and fast.
The small size makes it possible to play with junctions everywhere.
Gave more area available for the attachments.
Allowed for the rotating base to fit.
More overall points in game.
Cons:
The size made it hard to fit the motors.
Had to take longer to go to cones and pick it up.
More time to align with the junctions.
