Miss Daisy XXIII
January 2025 - May 2025
Miss Daisy XXIII was designed to compete in the 2025 FRC Season: Reefscape. Primary goals in included placing sections of PVC pipe and oversized kickballs into designated locations as well as lifting off the ground from a chain suspended cage.
Climber
With the complex dynamic system of a robot hanging off a cage which dangles from a chain, analytically solving for lever arm lengths, gear ratios, and motor selection as was the norm proved to be quite challenging. As such, I created a test base where the aforementioned variables could be controlled independently. With a plan to test differing configurations, my team was able to determine an optimal setup which allowed the robot to lift itself off the ground and resist backdriving while powered off experimentally.
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After ensuring basic functions with the test base, I was then able to use the same interface to iterate various cage acquisition designs with the robot operators having poor line of sight to the cages, eliminating human error was a key consideration. While much human error could be eliminated through programming action automations, cage acquisition proved a unique challenge thanks to its dynamic nature. Ultimately, I arrived at a large wing which over doubled the effective range of the mechanism while negligibly increasing weight.
Shoulder
A part of a three DoF system, the shoulder joint was of particular importance on the robot as improper control while the end effector was holding a kickball would lead to collisions with the elevator. As such, particular care was taken to eliminate all backlash and other sources of error so that the robot's superstructure had an accurate reading of the arm's position. By using a lantern gear an ensuring the encoder was tied to the final shoulder drive, the only uncertainty left in the mechanism was the minimal backlash in the motor and planetary gearbox which allowed for a system with extreme precision.
