DEWBOT XI Maintenance

The purpose of this page is to describe the maintenance and upkeep of Dewbot XI starting with the offseason event "Midknight Mayhem."

DEWBOT XI Midknight Mayhem - June 27, 2015

Dewbot XI suffered no major breaks to its drive train or lift mechanism. The only major issue was with the intake rollers where the shaft couplings, used to connect the intake motors with the axles inside the intake arms, slipped because their keys fell out of their key ways. This issue was fixed once during qualification matches and then again during eliminations.

DEWBOT XI Indiana Robotics Invitational - July 17 & 18, 2015

In the first qualification match, Dewbot XI dropped a recycling can because it fell out the back of the robot. It was quickly decided in the pits that a backstop needed to be made in order to improve performance. After some hasty designing, borrowing of parts from Vulcan 1218[1] and a quick trip to Lowes resulted in a rough looking but very effective method to make the stacks more stable.

Mounting the Backstop: Media:Backstop mount IMG 2956.jpeg

Testing Clearances: Media:Clearance Testing IMG 2959.jpg

Final Result: Media:Finished Product IMG 2961.jpg

After a session on the practice field, the drive team requested that the "Can Bapper" used for DEWBOT XI 3-Tote Autonomous be adjusted so that when it was closed it would not interfere with lining up to the human player station. After a failed attempt at first to change the poly carbonate tab used in the "RC Can Tipper" the problem was fairly quickly resolved by removing the plastic spacers seen in .

There were several issues with the hooks used in DEWBOT XI RC Burglars. The superglue that connected the hooks to the fiberglass rods appeared to wear out causing the hooks to come loose. To repair the hooks, the superglue remaining on the fiberglass were removed by spinning the fiberglass in a drill and using a file in a makeshift lathe. The hooks were reattached with liberal amounts of glue and pins made from the backs of rivets. No major problems arose from the hooks until the first quarter final where the fiberglass in the right RC Burglar came loose from the metal collar that acted as a hinge. The remaining spare RC hooks were drilled and pinned before anymore broke. It was not until the final semi-final match when the carbon fiber rod of the can burglar broke in autonomous and was snapped off to prevent further interference in the match. The can burglar was not fully replaced before finals matches began.

There were no problems with the lift, intake arms and drive train throughout the course of the competition.