DEWBOT X Ball Handling

File:DBX auton.gif

Loading ball in autonomous

The team designed a very effective Roller Frame to control ball movement. While originally envisioned primarily for the purpose of picking the ball up off of the floor, the finished system performed the following functions:

• Rapidly gaining control of the ball on the floor and loading it into the robot's shooter
• Holding the ball securely in the shooter during aggressive play and maneuvers
• "Packing" the ball into the shooter to facilitate accurate shooting
• Rolling the ball out of the shooter and passing to an alliance robot
• Passing directly to an alliance robot as an inbounder
• Rolling the ball out of the shooter and scoring into the low goal
• Loading the ball into the shooter at the start of autonomous
• Facilitating catching the ball - from a truss shot (rare) or from a human player (very common)

A lot of utility for a single, simple mechanism!

As the only part of DEWBOT X to extend beyond the frame perimeter, the Roller Frame was also subject to an enormous amount of physical abuse. The design had to accommodate this.

While the Roller Frame itself is a simple mechanism, a great deal of mind-time went into the details of its design; especially in terms of materials selection, roller drive, specific geometry and mounting arrangements. Minding those details ended up making a huge difference, especially in reliability & durability.

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