FTC Build Progress
Over the past month, both FTC teams have been building their robotics. In this post, we’ll look at Team B, headed by Brian Pohl.
First, the team built the base of their robot, including the initial “street sweeper” to pick up balls. The first iteration of the street sweeper connected the gears of each of the robot’s wheels, inadvertently preventing the robot from being able to turn. This was resolved by cutting the street sweeper axle in half. The change did make the street sweeper less effective, and the team is still looking into improving the structure. Below you can see a video of the modified design picking up balls. The video also shows the servos mounted to the back of the bot, which will latch onto the rolling goals on the field and pull them around with the bot.
Next is a clip that shows the robot’s scoring mechanism in action. We used a plastic VEX conveyor belt connected to two axles, and rubber-supported duct tape cups carrying the balls from the base of the robot to the goal. In this video, a team member is holding the top of the belt up. Eventually, the bot will have linear bearing lifts powered by strings winding around TETRIX continuous servos. We were originally using LEGO parts for the lift, but due to several issues with sliding and staying connected, we have switched to generic drawer slides. Strings within the lift will pull the slides up to the extended position at the beginning of the match.
Both teams continue to work as the first competition approaches.