2024 FRC Season Robot

The 2024 FRC game was Crescendo, where you had to build a robot to manipulate rubber disks (“notes”) and score them in different field elements. Our goal as a team was to make a robot that could consistently collect and accurately shoot notes into the speaker goal from the baseboard.

My design was heavily inspired by Cranberry Alarm’s Ri3D robot. The design included an over-the-bumper dual-spinner intake with a custom static chain-driven active shooter. We started by prototyping mechanisms individually by 3D-printing fixtures and laser cutting plates out of plywood for assembling quick test subsystems using spare parts. This helped us iterate on geometry, compression, and power transmission before committing to a full design.

Once we were satisfied with the subsystems’ functionality, we could commit to a full design. The final intake was CNC-machined from 3/8” polycarbonate plates and the shooter out of 1/8” aluminum plates. The subframe came together with aluminum extrusion and 3D-printed parts.

The intake used a 9:1 Banebots reduced gearbox with a belt-driven end effector. The shooter was direct driven with two manually tensioned chains and sprockets, which let us maintain consistent wheel speed while keeping the system simple to service.

Here is some early test footage we took in the shop for both the intake and shooter mechanisms:

In the end, the design proved reliable and we performed well in competition. We played effectively as a support bot and ended up winning the NE District Greater Boston Event in Revere as part of our alliance, as well as qualifying and competing at the New England District Championship in Springfield. This was the first time our team had qualified for that competition since COVID.

Here are pictures from that event:

Overall, I was happy with the robot’s performance given some of the limitations our team had this year. Aside from some electrical issues, we had close to no critical mechanical failures.

Below is recording of one of the matches we played in the NE District Greater Boston Event in Refere (2024):