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Robotics Designs

Type

Mechanical Design Lead

This is a collection of the different designs I developed during my time participating in the FIRST Robotics Challenge (FRC) competitions. For the years of 2018 through 2020 I was the lead designer for the Game Piece mechanism, which often required the manipulation of a small/medium sized object in a wide variety of competitive scenarios. As part of being the lead designer, I oversaw a small group of other students who assisted in the design and fabrication of the design and was in charge of integration of the mechanism into the overall system.

2018 Claw

This mechanism was required to pick up milk crates from the ground and dispense them onto an elevated platform. It used a single motor to drive a set of two counter-rotating rollers which would grab onto the milk crates. The rollers were driven using timing belts, which were a new design feature for my team. Additionally, one side of the claw was hinged and preloaded using a pneumatic piston for improved manipulation.

2019 Hatch Panel Manipulator

The 2019 competition year involved two different Game Pieces, one of which was the Hatch Panel. The Hatch Panel was a circular polycarbonate plate with a hole in the center. The mechanism for the Hatch Panel was simple, utilizing a single pneumatic piston to actuate a polycarbonate hook that interfaced with the hole in the center of the Hatch Panel. The mechanism was mounted on thin polycarbonate plates, which provided compliance for hard hits and proved to be rugged and reliable in competition. During a competition, I was asked to share the details of the design with a different team who were impressed with the simplicity and reliability of the mechanism. That team then modified their mechanism to be more similar to the one I designed, and ended up becoming one of the winners of that year's competition.

2019 Cargo Manipulator

The 2019 competition year involved two different Game Pieces, one of which was called "Cargo," which resembled a playground ball. The Cargo manipulator utilized counter-rotating rollers to grab onto and dispense the Cargo during competition. Both the Cargo and Hatch Panel manipulators were mounted onto a lift, which required the mechanisms to be as light as possible for optimal function. Additionally, the rollers on the Cargo manipulator could swing outwards using pneumatics to create clearance for the Hatch Panel manipulator to function. The cargo manipulator was constructed using polycarbonate, which is not only a light material, but is also impact resistant.

2020 Shooter Turret

The 2020 competition required the design to manipulate small leather balls called Power Cells and launch them to a 9 ft. high goal. I was the lead for the entire manipulation system in the robot, which had three parts. First, the robot needed to pick the balls up from the floor using a deployable set of rollers, then it had to store the balls in a reservoir. Finally, the robot had to take the balls from the reservoir and shoot them into the goal. My main focus was on the shooting mechanism, which took the Power Cells from the reservoir and launched them into the goal. The mechanism used a total of 6 motors to feed, aim, and launch the balls, utilizing a flywheel to increase the launch speed.

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2020 Robot shooting 5 Power Cells into the goal

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