Day 40 – Mail to Robot Pipeline (2/12/2020)

Authors: Andrew Georgioff, Ritik Mishra

Bumper Construction

Today we received the fabric needed to construct bumpers. As such, we started construction and completed our first set of bumpers today. We will use these bumpers on our practice robot and for our upcoming week zero competition on Sunday. 

Fun fact: This is the first year that the week zero competition will be hosted at the Eden Prairie High School. For the past 2 years (2018 and 2019 season), it was hosted at the Central Middle School, and the first year we hosted the event (2017), it was hosted at one of the elementary schools (!).

Above: Team members working on the construction of bumpers

Electronics Panel

The electronics panel was attached to the top of the hopper today. This location is likely to be final, though there will be a panel on top for protection from loose balls and other hazards. One advantage of this location is that the RoboRIO is easily accessible, meaning that we are easily able to deploy code at competitions. One disadvantage of this location is the proximity of the router to the flywheel, which will potentially vibrate the barrel plug (for power) out of the radio.  

Above: An image of the robot with the electronics panel and new bumpers attached

Roller Hardware

Above: A picture of our intake rollers, hex shafts, and roller hex hubs

We finished fabricating all of the necessary hardware for our rollers today. Much of the fabrication of these parts was done in the shop upstairs using the lathe. 

The rollers consist of a latex tube stretched over an aluminum tube. This is described in more detail in yesterday’s (2/11/2020) blog post. The hex hubs consist of two parts: an outer section of tube with 1.12” OD 1” ID, and an inner section of tube with a 0.5” hex bore and a 1” OD. This inner section is made from an appropriately sized hex tube (McMaster P/N 9063T37) that has been turned down to be round on the outside. The outer section is a press fit into the intake roller’s aluminum tube, and the inner section is a press fit into the outer section. The press fit will keep everything in place until it is finally installed onto the robot, at which point we will cross drill through the intake roller, hex hub, and hex shaft for a screw that will lock everything together. 

As a note, it would probably have been easier to buy a VersaRoller hub from Vex. However, they are out of stock for the remainder of the season, so we have to make do with what we can. 

Quote of the day: I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m saying that 27 + 1 does not equal 20 – Nathan Seelig, Fabrication Lead