Steel Patrick Harris
Our robot for the FRC 2017 Steamworks game was Steel Patrick Harris. We competed with him at the Palmetto Regional and Rocket City Regional competitions of this year. Aside from using him in competitions, we also held demonstrations at the Florence Arts International Festival and plan to take him to the SCRIW off-season event in Columbia, South Carolina, and the Pecan Festival, held in November in Florence, South Carolina.
Drive System
This year, our robot was built with a tank drive system, allowing for quick and easy movement around the field by our drivers. We used four mecanum wheels, which enable our drivers to make precise adjustments when trying to get gears to the airship or aligning the robot with our ropes.
Gear Mechanism
Our robot holds gears with a gripping system that uses hinge-controlled metal flaps. The flaps default to a closed position, keeping the gear in control while driving around the field. When deploying gears, the robot uses pneumatic pistons to push the flaps outward, releasing the robot's control over the gear. We can then drop the gear on the airship pegs and back away, quickly going to retrieve another gear from the loading stations.
Rope Climb
Steel Patrick Harris used a winch-like system to climb our rope in the end-game phase of our matches. By using the teeth of the winch to grab knots near the lower end of the rope, our robot was able to maintain a firm grip on the rope and pull itself up to the scoring lightpad.