FIRST Robotics Competition

2019

In 2019, I was the primary mechanical lead for my team. On the robot, I designed the mechanism for manipulating the large plastic discs present in the game, as well as the mechanism to climb a series of platforms at the end. When manipulating the discs, a strategic decision was made to prioritize being able to retrieve the discs from the ground, rather than only at the loading stations, as we anticipated that many of the discs would get dropped throughout the course of a match. Because of this decision, the mechanism consisted of a row of small compliant wheels on an axle just above a thin sheet of plastic. When placed against the edge of one of the discs, the wheels could spin, pulling the disc into the intake. The entire intake mechanism was located on a pivot, which allowed it to go from the horizontal position required to intake the discs from the ground to the vertical position required to place the discs in the designated location. The intake also doubled as the first stage of the climbing mechanism. The pivot was geared with enough torque to allow the robot to lift the front end off the ground enough to place the front wheels onto the first platform, while the 10 wheeled drive base allowed it to not bottom out on the corner. A pair of curved arms on the other side of the robot served a similar function when climbing the second platform, while the disc intake propped up the back side of the robot to allow the wheels to make contact with the top of the platform.

2018

In 2018, I was tasked with designing a mechanism to both allow our robot to climb by holding a bar, as well as allow another robot to climb on our robot. The main challenge of the design was that the entire mechanism had to weigh under 7 lbs for the robot to meet the weight limit. To allow our robot to climb, a pair of hooks were attached to an existing elevator on the robot, which was geared to have sufficient torque to lift the robot. To allow another robot to climb our robot without requiring a specialized mechanism, a bar of the same diameter as the bar on the field was attached to the side of the robot. In order to have the bar reach far enough outside the robot for another robot to grab while still meeting the requirements regarding how far the robot could extend prior to the start of the match, the bar was attached to a cross bar which could pivot, and balanced so that it would passively fall into place against a trussed hard stop when the robot began to move.

2017

In 2017, I was tasked with designing a mechanism to shoot multiple 3 inch diameter whiffle balls. To shoot the balls, a flywheel was used to accelerate the ball against a curved surface. The final 3 inches of the surface were made of flexible plastic, which could be adjusted using a tensioner to fine tune the angle of the shot. To maintain the momentum of the flywheel through multiple shots without interfering with the balls, solid steel discs were placed inside the wheels. To ensure the balls entered the flywheel mechanism in a consistent manner, an indexer was used to sort the balls first. The indexer contained a rotating blade with 3 spots that would guide the balls around a cylinder, ultimately feeding them into the flywheel.

2016

During my first season, I was tasked with designing the climbing mechanism for the robot. The mechanism had to be able to grasp a bar and lift a 150 lb robot approximately 18 inches in the air. The final mechanism consisted of a length of square tube stock connected to the front of the robot and hinged in the middle and at the base so it could fold compactly into the robot. The deployment mechanism was locked in place using a pneumatic piston, and passive gas struts were used to automatically extend the mechanism when the latch was released. To catch the bar, a polycarbonate hook was attached to a short piece of square tube stock via hook and loop tape, as well as a rope that was wound around a winch. The bar stock was attached to the rest of the deployment mechanism via a spring loaded pivot, which could be released once the robot was in position. Once the winch was activated, the hook would release from the deployment mechanism, allowing the robot to lift itself.