RoboLoCo
Driving you crazy since 2013
Founded in 2013, we are Team 5338 - better known as RoboLoCo. We are a FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC) team competing in the Chesapeake District and the only FRC team in Loudoun County. RoboLoCo, Team 5338, is one of several thousand FRC teams across the globe.
New CAN PCBs
Created 3 years, 2 months ago by Paulson M
One hundred new black-and-gold CAN Hub PCBs have arrived. They feature a black board, white lettering (aka silkscreen) and gold colored soldering (aka ENIG soldermask).
The CAN Hub PCBs will be bagged with the required screw terminals and given away to anyone that requests one and at competitions.
They should be legal for others to use for the 2019 season and are the same design used on RoboLoCo's 2019 Robot.
For robot cost accounting: Cost per board was $3.08 plus $0.90 for the headers. More information is available upon request via contact@roboloc.org.
Links
Photos
Design
Robot Sensors
Created 3 years, 2 months ago by Paulson M
The RoboLoCo 2019 Robot includes a number of sensors. These include a number of limit switches connected directly to the RoboRio and a set of optical distance switches.
The optical distance switches, WORLD-BEAM QS18 Series, are used on the main arm to help determine its exact position. The sensors operate at 12VDC (or more) which is above the 5VDC max the RoboRio's DIO pins can take. Two sets of four optocouplers are used to take the 12VDC from the sensor's and turn it into a pull-to-ground on the RoboRio's DIO pins. The RoboRio's DIO pins are normally pulled high by an internal, high value resistor to 3.3VDC.
In the image below the two four-way optocouplers are visible in the middle above the PDP attached to a bit of lexan. The boards are green with the green screw terminals being most prominent in the photo.
In the image below four of the WORLD-BEAM QS18 Series sensors are shown attached to a half-moon piece of lexan. The limit switches have not been installed in the photo.
Battery-Breaker-PDP Wiring
Created 3 years, 2 months ago by Paulson M
For the 2019 season RoboLoCo is using 4 AWG stranded copper wire (welding cable style) for batteries and wiring between the battery connector, PDP, and main breaker.
The welding cable in use is very flexible despite the heavy gauge and also features insulation that handles high temperatures very well. Where "high temperatures" would be at least those experienced when soldering connectors on with a propane torch.
This heavy wire will both reduce loss due to wire resistance (smaller gauge=higher resistance=more loss as heat) and help reduce the risk of brownouts. Although given the 14 motors plus compressor in use, nothing FRC-legal will prevent brownouts fully without code-based controls to prevent too many from being used at once.
For more information see the many posts about using wire gauges larger than the FRC recommended minimum of 6 AWG.
Battery Mount
One of three rows of talons
Robot Vision Systems
Created 3 years, 2 months ago by Paulson M
Vision on the robot is being handled via a Limelight v1. This device has an integrated camera, LEDs (green), and a processor to run the vision pipeline. The software interacts with the RoboRio via NetworkTables.
RoboLoCo is using the Limelight to provide video back to the player station for the sandstorm period and to enable automatic steering when approaching targets.
Attaching The Claw
Created 3 years, 2 months ago by Paulson M
The claw being attached to the main arm above the limelight.
