Mechanical Progress
Month 1
Immediately after Kickoff, our team got to work on creating a general design for this season’s robot. After much discussion, we finally decided on an elevator design connected to a virtual 4-bar lift. These bars would be attached from the elevator to a compliance wheel intake, allowing it to open and close via pneumatics. This would allow it to pivot almost a full 360 degrees. The entire design would be mounted onto a swerve chassis, as this style of chassis would be extremely beneficial for drivers to accurately pick up and place game pieces.
Throughout this month, Utsav created a CAD of the swerve and elevator design, and the pieces required to assemble the design were cut using our in-shop CNC machine. Together, our mechanical team works hard; everyone is important in the building process. Some members were assigned to build the robot’s bumpers, cut metal for both our practice bot and the final bot, or were tasked with designing. Finally, we completed the swerve chassis, indicating that it was time to move onto mechanism assembly.
Finished Swerve Chassis
Month 2
This month, our priority was to finish the assembly and to perfect it, leaving no room for issues in the final robot. However, an issue we ran into with the design was its weight. Simply put, the intake was too heavy for the arm to support. To solve this, we switched the gear ratio to 34:28, allowing the motors to be strong enough to carry the arm and intake, as well as a game piece. This change made a drastically positive impact on our design, as the arm was now rotating smoothly and steadily.
The rest of assembly went according to plan. The intake could take in game pieces, pivot, and be carried by the elevator. The practice robot is perfect, so at this time we are ready to assemble the main robot (Muhkeighnzeigh).
(Pictured Right) With our newest sponsor, American Stripping Company, almost every component of our bot was colored, making our bot even more satisfying to build and visually appealing.
Month 3
This month focuses on finishing any last changes to the robot, because our first competition begins on March 18th. Again, the only mechanical issue presented this month was weight, so we made the decision to completely remove the intake’s compliance wheels along with the neo attached. This made a huge difference to Muhkeighnzeigh’s performance, the arm is now running smoother than it ever has before. In replacement of the wheels, we wrapped foam in anti-slip matt. This has been working equally as well in testing, and we are feeling confident for our first competition!
