Pink Robot

She’s done :) I have finished the Pink Robot and it’s time to Ship my project. I’m really glad to see how things turned out.

I drilled some holes to tie the net for the hopper onto. I’ll start organizing electrical next.

I tested the intake and shooter together and they work! The indexing was improved and there’s little jamming. Next I will put the electrical components into the belly, decorate, and then I should be done.

Is there anything better than getting your hex shaft early? No there isnt. This means I get to test earlier and hopefully can finish the project soon. I’m thinking of naming her Stacy, but I’m open to suggestions.

I did some more CAD and 3d printing in hopes of refining the way the balls are indexed into the shooter. I’ve also been doing enough 3d printing that I probably need to make a container to catch all the filament poop.

I created a ramp on top of the ramp to the shooter to help guide the balls better, I will perfect it in the future, but for now it’s a temporary way to improve the indexing. I would’ve done more, but I stopped after a ball got jammed and it made scary noises. Watching a horror tv show and working alone for 9 hours is not for the weak.

I made the holes in the net smaller, so the ping pong balls would stop slipping through. I also got the shooter working, but I will have to cad and print something to make the balls go in easier, so I don’t have to manually feed them like in the video.

I printed some new spacers for the hex shafts that don’t come until friday 😭 and then I added a little temporary ramp to help the ping pong balls get over the bump to the shooter. Its made out of a cut up firework coupon, happy 4th of july to those who celebrate!

I was adjusting small things such as testing code, organizing wires, and tightening bolts when I shocked myself and apparentky melted part of a bolt. Always be safe and wear safety glasses kids 🥲

I fixed some bad wire connections and then coded both motors to run at the same time. I’m really only waiting for my hex shaft to arrive :/

I tested the net to redirect the ping pong balls, but made the holes a little too big where they were slipping through. I added some more yarn and it seemed to work fairly well. I will make more adjustments soon.

I’m the previous post I showed how high the ping pong balls go when I turn on the intake. To combat that, I made a net out of yarn to help redirect the balls. I will post a video to show if it worked soon.

I got the intake working! It was just a wire connection issue like I mentioned in the previous post. It shoots the balls up a little higher than expected though…

I tried testing my code, and the first time I ran it the motor spun correctly, the 2nd time it ran the other motor, and the last time nothing moved 🫠. I’m wondering if there’s a disconnected wire and if its not a code problem since it worked the first time.

The pink robot’s shooter was assembled, but it really does take way too much time. Both of my hands can barely fit in the shooter and it’s an annoying place to be putting on a pulley with a belt. My idea is to make the hex shaft with the sushi wheels longer so it extends outside the shooter. Then I can put the pulley and motor pinion on the outside similar to the intake shown in the picture. I’ll order the hex shaft and try that soon. Then for the issue regarding the intake motor touching the dividers in the hopper, I would reprint the dividers to be shorter, but am out of filament, so in the meantime I’ll use a boxcutter to shave it down. Really hope I’m able to test things soon!

I managed to attach the motor to the shooter despite the tight space. Soon I will attach the hex shaft with sushi wheels on the shooter like the intake shown in the picture. My priority is to test if the ping pong balls will make it over the ramp to the hopper when the intake sucks them in. An issue I’m concerned about is the panels that are attached to the shooter (which are meant for funneling the balls in) might contact the motor running the intake. There is about 0.125 in clearance, but it still worries me. Hopefully things go well tomorrow!

I’ve started working on a Pink Robot inspired off of the FRC 2026 theme, Rebuilt. This robot will intake ping pong balls and shoot them. This is the shooter when I was assembling the motor on.

The hex shaft with sushi wheels hasn’t been put on yet, so that’s why there isn’t anything in the bearings. To the right you can see the pulley where the motor is attached on the other end. I was bolting it on, but it’s in such a small tight space that it took a while. I might change that in the future to be more accessible for me.

Hopefully things go well when I test it for the first time!