Our Robots

2008 Competition Robot: Nemo

View a video that showcases Nemo's abilities:


Nemo
Our most sophisticated robot to date, Nemo does it all.
Some quick specs:
  • Nemo can dislodge 40" trackballs from the overpass effortlessly.
  • Nemo hurdles and places trackballs using automated processes, triggered by the driver or arm operator.
  • The hybrid mode is capable of dislodging either one or both trackballs in 15 seconds.
  • Nemo uses a total of 13 pneumatic cylinders to pick up trackballs, deposit them on top of its platform, and elevate them to within an inch of the overpass.
  • Top speed is around 12 ft/sec.
  • This year we revised our holomonic drive system from last year, using AndyMark's new 6 inch mecanum wheels. The new wheels provide a much improved ride quality compared to the 8 inch wheels we used last year, and the new design saves weight and lowers our center of gravity.


2008 Protoype Robot: Dory

Dory
We built a prototype robot to experiment with ideas for functions for Nemo before committing to these functions on the final robot. Dory is a fully functional prototype of our competition robot, Nemo. We built her quickly using 80/20 which is easy to work with and strong, but it’s not the lightest stuff around. As a result, Dory as about 15 pounds over the limit FIRST imposed on competition robots. To remedy this problem, we used 80/20 Quickframe and other lighter materials to build Nemo so he would fit under the weight limit.





2007 Competition Robot: Fowler

Statistics and Features:
Fowler
  • Weight: 109.8 lbs
  • Height: 4 feet 11.5 inches tall
  • Bumpers: Battle hardened polycarbonate and aluminum panels at bumper height.
  • Drive System: 4 wheel holomonic (learn more) drive; this allows the robot to drive both in standard 'tank' style and also move directly sideways or diagonally in any direction.
  • Ringer Capabilities
    • Speedy ringer placement
    • Ringer Manipulation:
      • A pneumatic claw for grappling rings
      • A high-speed two stage lift for placing rings on all levels
  • Software Enabled Capabilities:
    • Low speed positioning mode
    • High speed 'turbo' mode
    • Arm height presets for automatic height adjustments
  • Excellent ramp climbing ability on any reasonably designed ramp. Fine-tuning our alignment before climbing ramps provides an excellent opportunity to take advantage of our holomonic drive.
  • Small, maneuverable size: our robot is about four inches shorter than the length limit allowing it to fit through small spaces and maneuver around other robots very well.
  • Evasive Action:Teams have frequently noted (and complained) it is very hard to defend against our robot.

The Fabrication and Design Perspective:
Mechanically, Fowler is a robot with many different compact and interconnected systems. The design and fabrication departments have worked long and hard on putting as much functionality into as small a package as possible. Another focus this year was reliability and serviceability. All of the systems and components of our robot this year were designed and built to be easily accessible and durable. Because we knew we were attending two regionals we needed the robot to be more durable than our previous robots which were very near giving up the ghost at the end of the PNW regional. This reliability and serviceability has paid off. In over 40 competition matches we have not missed or been broken for a single one. Additionally, our small team contingent that attended the San Diego regional won the 'Motorola Quality Award' for the robustness of our robot. With our five person San Diego team, any large scale failures would have been devastating so our mechanical reliability was a definite bonus. This year's arm design was built as an improvement over the design from our 2004 robot. We again chose a vertical slide for simplicity and reliability. A specially engineered winch system and 750 lb test spectra cable allow our arm to reach all the way to the top level of the rack very quickly and easily, resulting in many rings placed by the end of the match. Another important decision this year was our choice to use a holomonic drive system. During our team meeting on kickoff day, we decided to test uncharted waters and try building a holomonically driven robot. In one week from the idea's inception our design and fabrication team had pumped out our drive train and at 7:00 on Saturday, one week after kickoff, we had it spinning and sliding all around the lab. Software got to play with the drive train for a week while we worked on prototypes for the arm mechanisms. The rest of the robot continued from there, with prototypes morphing into final parts, and the robot taking final shape by the end of week 5. We then gave the software another week with the robot, and then had the final weekend open for final testing and practice.

The Software Perspective:
This year, the hardest part of programming our robot, excepting autonomous mode, was what is usually the easiest: basic drive code. Arm height-presets are great, but we did those in 2005. Maintaining a arm height using an encoder is essential to the robot's success, but we did almost exactly the same thing in 2006. Never before had any of us programmed a set of Mecanum wheels (holomonic drive). We played around with sketches, built a semi-accurate computer model and then programmed it. Stunningly, it worked on the FIRST TRY when our drive train was ready to test, exactly one week into build season. Other than that, software went swimmingly. This year's autonomous effectively uses the camera to score ringers on the lower spider leg benieth the green light. We had a bit of trouble with image clarity from the shaking of the robot inherent with mecanum drive. To combat this we would stop the robot, get a reading from the camera, then go again. Each time, we would stop the robot completely still until the robot ceased shaking, then moving on. This year's code is based off Kevin Watson (of NASA)'s slightly old camera code with command terminal.

The Control Systems Perspective:
Control systems had a particularly daunting task this year. The design and fabrication team wanted as compact a control board and system as was realistically possible. We spent a week laying the components out on a table and re-arranging them in many different configurations to fit the many requirements of the other departments. Software wanted the program, tether, and radio ports easily accessible this year so that they would have an easier time whenever they needed to plug in. The design department wanted the terminal block and main switch as close to the battery as possible to keep the main battery leads as short as possible and also wanted the shortest wire runs possible to keep weight down, and keep everything looking neat. This left us with a major organizing job for the control board. We designed five or six iterations before all the departments were satisfied with the layout. Then we mounted all the components to a final board and gave it to the fabrication department to put in the robot. Meanwhile, we worked on the wire pigtails on the robot connecting the motors to the control board. One great feature of the control board is that all wires connecting to it have modular connectors allowing the removal of the entire board without un-wiring individual components. This year's control board is also especially easy to understand because of the well-designed layout and clear power and control paths. Because of the clear layout, it is very easy to trace electrical problems back to their source and to correctly diagnose and quickly remedy them. We are honored to have our control board showcased front and center, in full view through its polycarbonate safety shield.

2006 Competition: Free Ranger

Some quick statistics:
  • 119.5 lbs and 132.5 with bumpers.
  • 6 wheel drive and high traction wheels generate pushing power and allow the robot to turn in place.
  • Angle adjustable launcher scores in low and high goals
  • A helix style hopper prevents ball clogging
  • Hopper stores 18 balls and allows for human loading.
  • Robot can retrieve balls from the ground and store them in the hopper.
  • Robot can scale the ramp

 

The Fabrication and Design Perspective:
Mechanically, Ranger is a robot with many different systems. The fabrication department has grown significantly, enabling us to build a complex robot. This year's robot is a versatile and reliable machine. We have a loader that lifts balls into the hopper. In a match where other robots are unable to auto-load, this will be a crucial advantage. Our 2 foot diameter hopper has high walls and is easy for the human player to shoot into. It stores upwards of eighteen balls. The angle controlled launcher's high rate of fire will allow us to clear out the hopper quickly. The six wheel drive configuration uses high traction wheels but also turns well. We developed the drive system in the fall on a full scale test robot, and its drivability made it the obvious choice for this year's drive train.


The Software Perspective:
This year's robot proposed a dramatic increase in complexity from the software view. The Software department's project this year uses the Camera, EEPROM (to 'learn' how it's shots are doing), and a few other cool tricks that posed a new challenge this year for our team. Overall, we've very satisfied with our project thus far.

 

The Control Systems Perspective:
This year's robot has a considerably more complex control box than last year. As the robotics season progressed, we realized that we would need more buttons and switches than we had thought. After long hours of troubleshooting for the software department, we even added a button that could turn off the irritating buzzer on the box (used for warnings).

 

2005 Competition: Rocky

Summary Specs:
  • Height: Arm deploys to 11 ft in 8 seconds (fully extended).
  • Weight: 119.3 pounds.
  • Speed: 7 ft/s with blazing accceleration and 'Turbo' mode.
  • Software Features:
    • Arm height 'presets'
    • Multiple selectable autonomous modes
  • Other Features:
    • 6 motors used for forward propulsion equates to huge pushing force.
    • High traction tires with deployable rear wheels grab the floor.
    • Uses 1.5" retractable ball casters to help turn quickly and accurately.
    • Telescoping arm can carry two Tetras at once and reach up to 11+ ft.
    • Arm height presets makes tetra delivery foolproof
    • The Design Perspective:
    Rocky has an 11.5 foot forklift style arm, which lifts two tetras on two separate arms for greater versatility. The lower arm can pick up tetras from the ground, and both arms can use the auto loader or be loaded by the human player. The arm deploys to it's maximum height in 8 seconds, and can lift upwards of 30 lbs. Rocky's 6 drive motors allow a top speed of 7 feet per second, and gives Rocky incredible pushing power. The arm is driven both up and down, using spectra cable. Rocky uses 1.5" retractable ball casters to turn. Finally, Rocky weighs in at 119.3 lbs.

    Two Pence from Control Systems:
    The control systems department handles electronics and pneumatics (air-controlled systems). Since Rocky does not contain pneumatics because of its weight, we have spent all our time on electronics. We wired the Robot Controller to eight Victor 884 speed controllers and eight sensors, then connected the battery and circuit breakers. We also made a button panel for controlling the robotic arm and a y-cable to control our two joysticks.

    A Programmers View:
    This is a fascinating robot from a programming perspective. We designed the robot's arm to be fool proof. If you want to load a tetra onto the high goal, you simply press the high-goal button, and it handles speed, when to stop, etc. If there's a tetra stacked on top of the center goal, simply press the "+1" button at any time, and it'll go up one tetra heights (~6in.) further. All the while the arm operator can see on a display how many tetras it thinks are stacked on the goal. The programming also accounts for back drive. If several tetras are hanging from the arm, and the additional weight pulls the arm down, the software automatically corrects. Its a beautiful thing.