First Robotics Competition Robot 2020

I was the Lead Engineer in charge of the design and manufacturing of the entire robot for the 2020 FRC competition. I also was in charge of the drive team that operated the robot during the competition. I mainly prototyped and designed the hopper, ball intake, and shooter of the robot. I oversaw the design of the drivetrain, color wheel mechanism, and climber. I also manufactured over 70% of the parts using a CNC with MasterCAM.

2020 FRC Robot Overview

The Objective:

This year’s objective was to launch balls into a target and climb a metal hanger structure.

The different parts of the robot:

  • Drivetrain: In charge of the robot driving and all main assemblies are connected to the drivetrain

  • Intake: Collects the balls from the floor

  • Hopper: Stores the balls and feeds them into the shooter

  • Shooter: Shoots the balls at high speeds into the structure

  • Climber: Elevates the robot off the ground

Video of the robot

Drivetrain

I oversaw and helped design the drivetrain and manufactured the CNC for every aluminum piece in the drivetrain.

  • west coast drive

  • 6 neo motors

  • 6-inch tread wheels

  • 6061-T6 Aluminum

  • CNC all parts for weight savings

Intake, Hopper, Shooter

I designed and manufactured the intake, hopper, and shooter which was in charge of completing the mission of shooting the ball into the target structure.

The intake would first start upwards to keep the ball inside the hopper. Then would retract into a position where it could intake into the hopper. Then the hopper would use the wheels to direct the ball into the shooter. The shooter was prototyped many times to find the perfect angle, speed and compression for the ball to make the most accurate shot.

Climber

I oversaw and helped design the climber and manufactured all the pieces for the climber. These particular pieces needed a couple of thousand inches of tolerances because of how they needed to be connected. The climber used a motor that connected to a winch that spooled a rope to bring the layers down. There were gas shocks at the back that would put enough pressure on the layers to bring it up to its full height.