Robots > 2006-2007 > FRC - Ringo

2007 FRC Robot - Ringo

Tasks: 

Picks up inner tubes and places them on a central scoring structure. Also unfolds a ramp for other robots to drive on at end of game for bonus points.

Features:

  • Fiberglass framework
  • Six wheel drive with two-speed 2nd Gen AndyMark transmissions
  • Claw system actuated by pneumatic cylinder
  • Pneumatically actuated ramp
  • Motor-driven single-jointed arm (BB motor)

Autonomous:  N/A

Record:

Phoenix Regional- 

  • Record: 12-4-0 
  • Rank: 4
  • Finalists

Davis Sacramento Regional-

  • Record: 6-7-2 
  • Rank: 17
  • Quarterfinalists

Awards:

  • Judges' Award (AZ)
  • Regional Finalists (AZ)

Media:

 

The Story of RingO

Coming into the 2007 FIRST season, we had much more experience as a team than our previous year. With this experience and an eagerness to build a competitive robot, we set out to construct our robot for the 2007 FIRST game, Rack’n’Roll. This game required the handling of inner tubes in an attempt to place them on a giant rack for points. As a bonus, teams would get extra points for elevating their alliance partners at the end of the match.

Concept

We knew right off the bat that a competitive offensive robot was what we wanted to build; and we figured that we might as well go for the bonus points as well.  Design began for a robot that was capable of scoring rings with a simple jointed arm as well as a deployable ramp for our alliance members to drive up on.  After the first three weeks of the build season we had a design pretty well hammered out, and we were able to begin construction.

The Drive Train

After the nightmarish drive train from our rookie year, we decided that this years drive base would need a very high priority in order for our robot to remain competitive. We decided to go with a rocker style 6 wheel drive set up, which was used commonly on many other great teams’ bots and gave a nice balance of maneuverability and traction. We also decided that the game would require two speeds to allow the robot to be quick offensively and strong defensively, allowing us to complement any alliance.

Our wheels of choice were the new and improved IFI wheels, with a 6” diameter and a 1” wide tread.  The center wheel was lowered an 1/8” to give the maneuverability we needed; later tests on carpet showed that this was just about perfect. We ran the six wheels via the Gen 2 Pneumatic Shifter from AndyMark, which was much stronger and easier to maintain than the DeWalt transmissions we had previously used. The final gearing gave us a low speed of 6 ft/sec and a high speed of 15 ft/sec, which seemed very suitable for this year’s game.

The material we settled on for the chassis was pultruded fiberglass from Creative Pultrusions.  This was used on our previous robot, which managed to survive 3 competitions without any frame members braking.  We once again used I-beam side rails for easy access to all of the drive components and c-channel on the ends to hold everything together.  The final product was an extremely robust, maneuverable, high traction drive base that sets a good template to follow for future years.

The Arm

After much discussion, the arm design was settled on as a single-jointed arm with a flip-down pneumatic claw.  The height of the robot (again, after much discussion) was decided to be in the 5 ft, putting the robot in the 110 lb class.  This meant that the arm had to be very light yet and very durable.  After much design work, a suitable approach was devised that put the entire weight of the arm under 15 lbs with the Banebots motor, pneumatics, and camera mounted.  The main ‘mast’ of the arm is constructed of 3” diameter aluminum tubing which is held onto the robot with a single bolt.  The top end is made out of a 2” lexan tube in order to withstand any abuse.  All of the brackets were constructed with aluminum sheeting and held on with hose clamps, giving the assembly quite a bit of room for adjustment.

The claw on the end of this arm is powered by a ¾” bore, 4” stroke pneumatic cylinder and designed with speed in mind.  The shape of the claw allows tubes to fall completely in its grasp by simply driving at them, making the robot much easier to drive.  Several claw designs had to be made, however, after the initial claw design suffered severe damage in the first regional we attended.  Subsequent claws were designed out of lexan and were very survivable.

The Ramp

Perhaps the most stylish part of the robot, the ramp is designed to be as lightweight as possible and still perform its job.  Made from shaped aluminum sheeting and a bunch of rivets, the ramp weighs in at a whopping 12 lbs and is deployed by means of a gas spring and a pneumatically actuated pin.  The many holes that fill the surface of the ramp serve multiple purposes: not only do they make it lighter, but the flanged holes provide more grip to climbing robots and make the ramp surface stronger.

The Final Product

The overall robot turned out quite well compared to our first one.  With the weight and maintainability of the robot in mind, we were able to design several systems that all worked well together and could be removed/repaired with ease.  Events that used to be large catastrophes during competition were now easy to resolve in just several minutes.  This build season certainly taught us a lot about building a competition worthy robot, and the experience gained will only help more next year!
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