ROBOTS
INFINITE RECHARGE 2020: SANDCRAWLER
Officially named Sand Salacious Beavertronics Crumb Crawler, this robot was not afforded the chance to compete due to the Coronavirus outbreak. However, during the build season, we learned valuable lessons about manufacturing and controlling vertical flywheel mechanisms, pneumatically-actuated climbing arms, four-bar ground intake, and a three-power-cell capability conveyor belt mechanism.
DEEP SPACE 2019: OOWA
There were two iterations of this design, where the manipulators were radically different for both competitions we went to. At our first competition, we had a roller intake and a “beak” to pick up cargo and hatches, respectively. These manipulators were on a large rotating arm, allowing us to collect in the front and deposit in the back. In our next competition, we redesigned our robot because the motorized large arm was spinning too fast and it was a complex programming issue to fix. Because of this, we simplified our design, where we could only pick up hatches with our “beak” on a four-bar design that let it move in and out of the robot to pick up and deposit hatches.
POWER UP 2018: REVY THE RIVETER
In our third year, we tried an elevator controlled by a motor. This was our most complex manipulator built in our team’s history. Although it wasn’t consistent, it was still quite an accomplishment for us. However, we had a consistent drivetrain for defense and a winch-based climber that helped us succeed in competition.
STEAMWORKS 2017: HANGRY
Hangry is the most famous robot on our team because it brought us all the way to the Houston World Championship. It could be fed gears by the human player and bring them up to the airship. It could also climb very quickly and consistently using a winch that pulled the robot off the ground. The entire robot climbed in just under three seconds! It couldn’t launch fuel, but the consistency of all the other tasks made us stand out in competitions.
STRONGHOLD 2016: SPANISH INQUISITION
This was our first robot ever, and it’s simplistic design helped us in competition. It had wheels with puffy tires to go over obstacles while being short enough to drive under low-hanging bars. To shoot balls up into the castle, it had a roller to intake them and used a flywheel to shoot it six feet in the air.
