2022:Intake

Leaders: Nick V. and Kadence O.

Prototyping 1/9/2022-1/12/2022

Right after kickoff, we divided into groups and started brainstorming intake ideas. We looked over all of our ideas and found the common denominators between all of the designs; over the bumper intake designs and using wheels (either single axil or double axil). Since we decided on a swerve we drive base, we knew that cutting into the bumper would force us to compromise overall stability- something our strategy team determined was very important. We thought that a double axil could help guide the ball to storage and it might be beneficial in getting it over our 6" (off the ground) bumper. Next, tested each wheels impact on the cargo and discovered that compliance wheels worked the best. Finally, we launched into prototyping and set up a to-scale drive base with a bumper for reference. We prototyped both 4" and 2" compliance wheels of different densities and decided on 2" black compliance wheels and then made sketches and a 3D CAD model to help us determine the height of the intake.

Prototyping 1/13/2022

Today, we picked up where we left off and went back to the CAD drawing, adjusting angles and measurements as we learned more information. After finding out that 9.125" from the ground to the center of the axil and 10.625" from the inside of the bumper to the center of the axil, we began to create more accurate dimensions based on our strategy teams long/skinny robot goal. We estimated that the front of our robot would be roughly 22" (not including bumper), so we reduced the intake to 16" and tested it. Once we got that working, we worked very closely with the storage team and integrated our ideas together, working on a way to transfer the cargo from intake to storage. we decided on a funnel, made from a Lexan-like plastic and began prototyping. We are still trying to get the right angle/arc for the funnel.