Alpha was ready to start running cycles... until one of the belts on failed on a swerve module. They've seen significant wear over the past year, so that's not surprising. We ordered some new parts for it, but they won't be here until Wednesday. In the mean time, programming will be using 2022 comp to make autos.
Field Building
Devin worked with Enzo to make the REV Field (thanks Greg and co!), although they had to do some clever work with locating pins to make the 4' x 8' sheets on our 4' x 4' router. By the end of the long weekend, we had a full grid.
Gripper Testing
The "pinball wizard" gripper is coming together. The first version worked well on Sunday, but the two sides moving independently was a problem. The Pinball Wizard (V3) is a falcon powered & spring-loaded rolley-grabber claw where both arms pivot simultaneously to grab both cones and cubes.
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- V3 still centers and grabs pieces even when they begin by contacting the outer-most wheels
- Found that the pivoting actuated better with the arms beginning slightly angled from the pivot point (picture with clamp) as opposed to fully horizontal
- More testing with surgical tubing tension needed, but V3 is overall a feasible design for Beta :)
- Additionally, kudos to Mason for assembling the polycarb V1 claw and attaching it to Alpha to replace our (broken 💔) wood V1!
Starting on Beta
Beta's drivetrain started coming together today. We already know that we're going swerve, and that a 26" x 26" frame is going to work, so we can start building the chassis now. Last year Beta ended up being an intermediate robot design between Alpha and Comp, but this year we hope that Beta will be our practice bot.
CAD Work
Beta's climber forks are close to their final shape. We will need to do some detailed work to keep the carbon fiber tubes from having and sharp stress concentrations.
The over-bumper intake is taking shape well, too. This intake will mount to the first stage of the elevator/arm, so that it can come down on top of cubes to help push them into the pinball wizard claw, but can also pivot up out of the way of cones without getting in the way of the arm.