Making a Robot
The first thing to making a robot is the drive train. This is made up of the wheels and channels which allows for movement of the robot. The mecanum wheels have to be placed so that they form an "X". This allows for sideways movement in addition to the standard forwards and backwards movement. There are many drive trains out there, and all have different upsides and downsides. We chose mecanum due to its ability to move sideways to help us make the adjustments we need. Next, we need to consider the challenge and the ways we can conquer them. This year, for instance, we need to place objects in a place higher than the 18-inch limit, so we needed linear lifts, made from extrusions, to extend our robot past the 18-inch limit. For the robot to function properly, rev-expansion hubs are connected to our robot in order to allow motion of the motors and servos. The motors and servos then move components such as compliant wheels and channels to score points.
This is our robot, Thoth. It was named after the ibis Egyptian god knowledge. We use compliant wheels as an intake system, which, when powered by our neverest motors, can pick up the cube-shaped-glyph at a quick rate. The glyph are then fed into an plastic box which are moved up and down via a linear lift, made from extrusions, to be put into the scoring box in order to give us more points. For our drive train, we use mecanum wheels so that our robot can move in all four direction without turning. This is especially helpful due to the need of little adjustments in the plane perpendicular to the direction the wheels are facing. On the side of our robot is our phone, which links up to our rev-expansion hubs and controls the motor and servos on our robot that do everything and also our autonomous. Our autonomous is a big part of our robot, also, because of it's ability to knock down the gems and park in the safe zone (triangle in front of the scoring boxes), which consistently scores us 40 points. Although we don't have a method of using the idol, that is also a big part of the game. The idol is only allowed to be picked up in the last 30 seconds and can give big points when scored in the idol zone. Typically, the idol would be picked up and then, via a system of linear lifts and slides, moved onto the idol zone, giving the scoring team up to 40 points.
Links to help you build a robot
https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc
- The FIRST robotics website can help
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYsfk5cl7to
- Every year, FTC hosts a game reveal in each state/ region to reveal the new seasons' field and the rules
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHZ3zejfZbI
- Here is a link for how to build a basic, two-wheel drive
https://ftcforum.usfirst.org/
- This Community Forum is a good way to communicate with other teams and clarify the rules and regulations of the new game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUfZnZ_0Cb8
- This video shows the differences between torque and speed in gear ratios
servocity.com
- This website allows you to buy robotic parts
andymark.com
- This website allows you to buy robotics parts
revrobotics.com.
- This website allows you to buy robotic parts
http://ecgrobotics.org/ftc/team-10195-night-owls/ecgrobotics.org/ftc/team-10195-night-owls/
- Our homepage