Week 9 Update
Week 9 for Manning Robotics marks the first of two regional competitions. The expectation for the team’s first competition in Victoria was to be able to:
- remove the robot from the trailer
- pass inspection
- head straight to the practice field and matches
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
Problem #1
The first problem to arise was the elevator wasn’t moving.
Holding the motor that drives the elevator up could be done by hand, which meant something was not right in the gearbox. Upon disassembly, it was found that the shaft key was not engaging the coupler.
Fortunately, this meant the planetary gears were okay despite the poor compatibility between these two parts. After a quick fix, everything was reassembled and the elevator moved up properly.
Problem #2
The second problem was discovered when trying to move the climbing clamp up and through the pulley system while the robot also moved up.
Again, the team needed to disassemble a gearbox. This time, though, it was not a simple fix. The team’s smart idea to weld a gear to its shaft to allow for locking of the gearbox was foiled because the gear was made of aluminum.
After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to stake the failed weld to the gear, the team decided to seek external support. The gear assembly was rushed to a nearby machine shop while a temporary gear set was reinstalled.
Lesson learned: don’t attempt to weld steel to aluminum.
Problem #3
During this disassembly, a student noticed one of the drive motors was loose. It was almost to the point of falling out of its gearbox.
The side of the chassis was quickly disassembled and set aside while the loose bolts were fished out of the gearbox. This would have been rather detrimental if this bolt had managed to find its way into the moving gears. By this point, the first practice match had been missed and all the mentors present were thoroughly freaking out. Finally, after reassembly, everything was up and running.
Lesson learned: use correctly-sized bolts.
Raise Before Raming
Following the three problems, the robot worked almost perfectly for the rest of the event.
An inexperienced drive team resulted in a bent intake. It was a good lesson for the drivers to remember to always raise the intake before trying to ram another robot.
On the bright side, the drive team did not miss a single climb in match play, which was extremely valuable from a points/ranking perspective. The Manning robot’s climb actions performed exactly as designed, even for the unlevel climbs.
Heart Breaking Results
After two and a half days of qualification matches, Manning solidified second place entering Alliance Selection.
After not being chosen to join the first alliance captains, Manning was forced to form the second alliance. The team handily and confidently made it through quarterfinals but faced two heartbreaking matches in the semi-finals.
Shortly into the first semi-final match, an opposing robot shaped like a wedge managed to flip the Manning robot on its back. No penalty? No yellow card? The mentors were livid.
Most importantly, the robot was not available to attain those precious climb points.
Team Manning needed to succeed in the next match. After an intense battle, all eyes were on the scoreboard waiting for the final score. All three robots were climbed on the switch and it looked like a level climb. 90 points should have been there for the taking. Unfortunately, another team was victorious by a single point.
Team Manning was out and that was the end of that competition!
Back in Calgary
On the homefront, families gathered at a local pub to watch the playoff action.
Tensions were running high with everyone concerned about how the team was dealing with the pressure. Thankfully, the camera captured footage of Manning’s drive team laughing and dancing; chatting with other teams and staying in the spirit of the competition.
It was a great reminder of what this event is all about.
Check back next week for another update on Team Manning Robotics’ progress in the 2020 FIRST Robotics Competition.
