2014 – Aerial Assist

The Troll

Project Lead:

  • Arielle “Brownie”
  • Chris “Mostasa”

Events Attended:

  • Central Valley Regional – Rank 13 (Earned the Woodie Flowers Award for Alfredo)
  • Los Angeles Regional – Rank 40

Drive Team:

  • Driver: Aly “Fluffy Headed Friend”
  • Co-Driver: Amaris “Noodles”
  • Human Player: Mario “Chickimoo”
  • Coach: Arielle “Brownie”

Autonomous:

  • Capable of driving forward, pushing the ball into the low goal
  • Capable of clearing baseline

Overview:

  • Mecanum drive base
    • All of the mechanisms were mounted sideways, so the robot tended to strafe more than drive forward and backwards
  • Active ball collector
    • Design 1: “The Hugs” featured two arms with fly-wheels on top that would pull in the ball and “hug” them in, keeping the ball in the catapult until launch
    • Design 2: A more effective system after the hugs continually broke, the second design featured a bar that had a roller on it wrapped in grippy rubber. The bar would fit over the ball and pull it into the catapult to be launched
  • Catapult system designed to shoot into high goal
    • Initially planned to allow for passing the ball, resulting in additional points, the idea was ultimately scraped for focusing on scoring and defense
    • Featured surgical tubing to allow for power power when fired
  • Programmed in C++