Devlog 10

I have done a lot since the last devlog and this is my final log before shipping, I’m very exited.

completed

• pocketed everything
• assigned materials to a few things I missed
• finished organizing every part studio used in the final assembly
• prepared my repository and wrote a readme
• a bunch of other random stuff
• created an assembly to display balls in the path they would take from the intake to the shooter

Sadly the robot is still way overweight, its like 200 pounds but I’m just going to leave it for now. its just a pet project.

Stardance has been AWESOME and I’m really glad I was able to participate, thank you everyone!! Until next time Hack Clubbers!

Devlog 9

Completed

• re-added power chain to design
• added hopper element to cover power chain
• added camera mounts that work on the robot
• added belt between feeding path and conveyor belt because apparently it previousley had no way to spin
• went through half of the part studios and asemblys to organize them them
• added material and appearence to all parts without them.
• added radio and RSL (robot safety light)

issues

• its very boring sifting through everything you’ve done, naming and grouping it all
• the cover for the power chain clips through the power chain’s pulley

I’ve worked on it most of today and honestly Its come very far, I think I’m finally almost done.

Devlog 8

completed

• I added mounts for all floating parts
• added a wall to funnel balls into the main feeding path
• added all timing belts to roller floor
• created baseplate and added main electronics
• added fasteners
• fixed miscelaneous issues

issues

• my load times are taking longer and longer

honestly the sticky streak has really motivated me, for the past 8 days i’ve managed to squeeze in at least 15 minutes each night.

Devlog 7

completed

• made a cover for the PIcam I would use for PhotonVision,
• changed a few things on shooter to reduce height
• many odd jobs that I honestly cant remember

Issues

• I keep getting this “Operation failed because it would create cyclical references : Part Studio 2 Copy 1 <- Part Studio 1.” error while trying to derive my reference sketch from another document and I honestly don’t know how to fix it

I’ve had to go for multiple weeks without working on this project because I didn’t have access to a computer and now I’m struggling to get any real progress done, I’m almost done though I mainly just have to do a bunch more annoying jobs like pocketing all of the sheets, adding the electronics and designing a hopper, which shouldn’t be too bad, its just a few sheets of polycarbonate

devlog 6

completed

• redid turret mounting plate
• reworked feeding path
• make base of roller floor indexer
• miscelaneous changes

It really doesn’t look like much but, I’ve done a lot, I’ve been focusing on making something very simple that would work, I’m creating most of the parts that will be used and just not pocketing them or fully doing the assemblies or even adding mounting holes tbh, but I am making sure nothing clips and that all of the subsystems fit together and work in tandem.

Devlog 5

completed

• added energy chain for turret
• created basic intake
• started mount for intake

Issues

• I’m kind of scatter brained and did not complete last logs to due list before starting the intake
• I’m extending about .05 further from my robot perimeter than is allowed, its finneeeee
• I think the intake wont actually be able to come back into the robot because the kicker bar descends too low while being stowed
• it weighs WAY too much

the intake is very simple a rack and pinion sends it out then the kicker bars drop down because there will be a piece of surgical tubing tensioning them, pulling it down. then whenever the driver presses the assigned button two neo vortex’s will spin a set of rollers that will grab the balls press them against the kicker bars and shoot them into the hopper. it is just shy of a 5 ball wide intake which should allow for pretty high throughput. the energy chain assembly for the turret is also very simple. there is a freely spinning constant force spring attached to a bracket which pulls the bracket away from the shooter, the energy chain just loops through the bracket.

total current weight with bumpers: 129 lbs

Devlog 4

completed

• added structural support
• removed problem of turret scraping feeding path plates
• added indexing roller to top of belt sandwich entrance, will connect via belt to main indexing system
• added all fasteners to the superstructure, bolts, nuts, rivets etc
• fixed random errors
• changed which side the belts are located on the feeding path to allow for better packaging
• assigned materials and appearances to parts
• organized and named features in assemblies and part studios

issues

• my pocketing feature script is tweaking out, I still heven’t a clue what the problem is
• clipping, per usual I didnt account for the size of another part and they ended up occupying the same space, to be honest I just chamfered the edge of a plate to remove one of these issues. but hey it worked.
• I have no time :(

its been ages since I’ve been able to seroiusley spend time on this project, my summer has been really busy, there was one week where I cadded not even for 1 minute D: today was honestly really boring I was mostly just polishing up previous work, I’m almost done with the superstructure. the only things left to do is to implement a system to keep my power chain out of the way from tangling, that will be very simple, I also would like to add a set of compliant wheels to that vertical shaft on the right to funnel the balls from that side into the turret, then I think I just need to tighten it up before I will move onto either the intake or main indexer.

until next time!

Devlog 3

-changed the backplate on shooter
- fixed clipping
- created a very rudimentary feeding path, needs a LOT more work

i wasted a lot of time on the feeding path, changing belt positions ironing out belt lengths and pitch, I originally was using 5 mm but I couldn’t get the right lengths so I switched to 3mm. I also didn’t now how I was going to mount it so I spent a while figuring that out.

I’m using a belt on the top and bottom of the balls to funnel them into an array of compliant wheels that sends it up into the shooter

Yesterday I quickly knocked out the chassis and timelapsed me planning out the superstructure on paper. Today I designed the turret and I modified the shooter such that it can be mounted to the turret, this took longer than anticipated but oh well. my Laptop is so slow that Onshape crashed the whole computer like 3 times while making the turret, I suppose I have to keep my documents small. I’ve decided on a 30’’ by 25” chassis for this robot. This is to allow an intake about as wide as 5 balls, as well I did a rough estimate of my ball capacity based on rough numbers and it should be able to hold a maximum of about 80 balls. The drivetrain consists of SDS MK5Is powered by 8 Neo Vortexes.

over the past few days I worked on my launcher for this years game piece, fuel (little yellow balls). I spent about an hour designing a carriage style hood so “it would be packaged better” but then realized it would add about 2 inches to the back and be heavier, so I reworked how the hood moves up and down by moving the rack onto the dynamic portion and the pinion onto the static part. the hood has an adjustable angle of about 25 degrees up to 60 degrees so weather we’re passing from the other alliance zone or butted against the hub we should be able to shoot. combined the 2 neo vortexes powering the flywheel achieve about 13,000 RPM so it can really lob balls.