Currently our team has built and programed a our second robot iteration for this 2020 season Tower Takeover.
Here is a photo of our current robot.
Robot Idea Descriptions:
For this years vex game we have looked at a couple of different robot designs being the "arm bot" and "tray bot".
Arm Bot Description: - Double reverse four bar -flaw cube intake -mecanum wheel drive base
With this style of robot we are heavily dependant on our alliance partner to be able to place large stacks quickly while we score towers. This design is great for the playoff rounds because we are able to form an alliance with a team we know ill be able to do what we require. Although playing the support role can be a very good strategy we may find it difficult winning qualification matches due to the strong reliance on our partners.
Tray Bot Description: -four bar lift with tray mounted separate -roller cube intakes -xdrive or mecanum drive
With the tray bot design we would be able to place stacks in our designated alliance scoring zones and also be capable of scoring small to medium towers. Being the offensive robot during matches would allow us to be self sufficient on the field with scoring both stacks and towers.
Robot Desing:
After alot of discution with our team we settled on building the tray bot design for this season. The reason behind this decision is it allows us t be self sufficient during matches and not have to depend on an alliance partner especially when there are few reliable teams. In the end i think we made the right decision, so far this year we were able to win an award and claim tournament champion at the Shawnagain Island Qualifier tournament.
Current Iteration:
As of now we are running a tray bot capable of placing two 9 stacks in the double done and one 9 stack in the single zone. We are running a four motor 16.5" x 16.5" drive base optimizing maneuverability with mecanum wheels. Our robot also features a 7:1 gear ratio four bar arm lift allowing us to score cubes in both the low and medium towers. We currently have a tray capable of holding 9 cubes but plan to increase our cube capacity in the future.
Future Plans:
After winnig the Shawnagain tournament we sat down and assessed some of the issues we found with our current design. With our current drive base iteration being a C-1x2x30 in width we found problems when scoring stacks in the unprotected zone. Having our drive base so wide made it difficult to place stacks in the unprotected zones when being on an angle, this meant that we had to straphe against the walls of the fields in order for us to be able to place a stack. Although it did not take much time in regular matches to place stacks in thoese specific zones it resulted in a huge loss of time in stills runs. When doing a skills run you are only given 1minute to score as many points as possible on the field by yourself which means placing stacks fat is very important. After disscussing with the team we plan to narrow our drive base after the Winter Qualifier tournament this December at North Van Secondary.