2025:Game Piece

Week 1 1/5/25-1/11/25 

After watching the Reefscape kickoff video, our sub team got right to prototyping. We split off into groups focused on prototyping Coral acquisition/scoring mechanisms, on prototyping Algae acquisition/scoring mechanisms, and mechanisms capable of acquiring/scoring both game pieces. We also ran material testing to see what would be best for handling and holding both the Coral and the Algae. Currently, we are planning to use an elevator mechanism, and as a result, our prototypes helped us analyze what mechanism would best mesh with our design and strategy parameters. Our prototypes are

• A passive Coral grabber with a ramp 

• An over-the-bumper Algae intake mechanism 

• A two-wheel Coral acquisition/scoring mechanism 

• A “Calgae” capable of acquiring and scoring both Coral and Algae

Current goal is to review and test prototypes that we have at our next meeting to settle on a "final" design to move forward with into CAD and fabrication

Week 2 1/12/25-1/18/25

1/14/25 The Decision

We have decided to go forth with an elevator mechanism. Had a meeting deciding between the following options after prototype testing

• "Calgae" mechanism: A mechanism with two external wheels and four coral intake rollers. This mechanism would have a wrist to change the vertical angle of the Calgae relative to the ground.
• A passive grabber with a ramp: With this mechanism, our robot would acquire coral directly from the Coral station. Coral would slide down the ramp into a holder where our passive grabber can pick it up. This grabber is designed specifically to pick up Coral, and along with this passive grabber we would have a separate over-the-bumper intake to acquire and score Algae.
• A Calgae with a ramp: A combination of the previous two ideas, except the Calgae is at a fixed angle (no wrist). The ramp is the same, so we would have to pick up Coral from the Coral Station, but with the "Calgae" mechanism we could be able to also manipulate Algae. 

Our sub team gathered to discuss pros and cons of all mechanism, and after reviewing our mind map produced by our strategy sub team we ultimately decided on the Calgae mechanism (without a ramp). Our plan for the rest of the week is to reevaluate the original Calgae CAD to reduce weight and determine if there are parts of the mechanism that need to be adjusted to better manipulate game pieces according to our design and game strategy parameters. In addition, we will continue to work with our Cage sub team to determine the best placement for our and other mechanisms on the robot.

Week 2 Summary

Our current order of operations for our mechanism design is to design our grabber, then our wrist mechanism, and finally our elevator and how it will attach to the drive base. This week, we created another iteration of our design focused on reducing weight. we ran into issues as we constructed it for testing because the belts we are using are both pulling it out of the hole the bearing sits in. We have fixed this for in the future

Currently, our grabber mechanism is in what we believe is almost its final stage and is 20 inches wide from orange wheel to orange wheel, it also currently weighs 12.2 pounds. The most recent iteration (pictured belo

w) is planned to be our final with only some minor changes.