FTC 2019

For the 2018-19 FIRST Tech Challenge competition, Rover Ruckus, my team was challenged to design, build, and test a robot capable of solving a strict set of challenges. The robot was tasked with landing from a "landing unit" and collecting gold and silver minerals from a mineral depot inside a simulated crater. The teams robot used a collection bucket at the end of a linear slide to extend down into the crater and retrieve these minerals.

As a CAD manager and 3D designer, I was tasked with taking the ideas of the design team that could not be built out of stock parts and machining them using a variety of manufacturing techniques.

For example, the bucket on the top of the robot was used to capture the "minerals" on the game field. These minerals were held within two craters on either side of the play area. Due to the relatively low ride height of the robot, climbing the 9" crater walls would be inefficient and runs the risk of the robot becoming stuck. To solve this, a set of linear slides was used to extend the bucket a full 3' 8" away from the center of the robot. The linear slides are able to pivot using a system of ropes and torsion springs towards the front of the robot so that the bucket extends both straight forwards and directly up at a 95 degree angle depending on the needs of the drivers.