Description of robot

Caroline XI has a “simple, yet elegant design” (Eric Engebretsen, guest engineer from Rolls-Royce at Cyber Blue’s 2009 Critical Design Review). After debating several chassis designs, we decided to use the provided frame and create a four wheel wide style chassis for FIRST's 2009 game, Lunacy. It is driven by two CIM motors, each geared through an AndyMark GEM500 Planetary Gearbox. The lift is a dual conveyer, which means that one set of conveyor material off set eight inches from the other. These two rollers are set at an approximant sixty degree angle, with a hopper at the top portion of the robot large enough to hold between fifteen and twenty orbit balls. The door is opened by two, ten inch pneumatic cylinders when our “powered dumper” (mentor Kevin Kelly) comes within range of our target. Caroline XI is a straightforward, effective approach to Lunacy.

Strength(s)

One of the strengths that stand out with Caroline XI is that all the systems are incorporated together into one cohesive unit. For example, our drive system incorporates two transmissions direct driven to the back two rover wheels. These wheels are then connected to the front two rover wheels by means of #25 chain. What this means is that even if we lose both of our chains, which would mean probable demise in most circumstances, won’t necessarily be our down fall. This is because we will always have at least one wheel driven on each side, unless a motor or a gearbox would happen to fail. Another example is the effective lift system which picks the moon rocks off the floor. By having our two rollers, one in front, one behind, we can lift multiple moon rocks very, very quickly. It also gives us the unique capability to have one half the system fail and our robot still be able to compete effectively; namely, being able to score on its own.

Unique Feature(s)

The team undertook a project two years ago to make our autonomous mode the most competitive and adaptable in FIRST. After a lot of hard work and long nights, we were able to create the Autonomous Code Generator (ACG). What we have now instead of a few selections on a switch for autonomous that allow to alter our strategy on the field, we have an extra spot on the switch; a selection that can be picked that has a custom made code. This gives us the option to generate a specific code that can be used to disrupt, help, or avoid the other robots. Another key feature is our ability to do everything quickly: drive, pickup, dump, fix… All aspects of our robot are quick. While our robot might not have any single key, strategic advantage, the

Favorite Memory with Robot

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Robot Accomplishments

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