FIRST Robots: Aim High

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IMPROVING ON

PAST DESIGNS

Every year, FIRST teams are challenged to create a robot

completely different from any created for previous competi-

tion. This variance in games levels the playing field for new

and experienced teams as everyone faces a new challenge.

Team

384, from Richmond, Virginia, has seven years of

FIRST history and a record of incorporating improvements

from each year’s competition. The team members name their

robots in succession as a reminder of the team’s progress

each year. Their

2006 robot, Sparky 7.0, is testimony to the

continuous learning process practiced by the team.

IGNITING AN

INTEREST IN

ENGINEERING

WITH SPARKY

7.0

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TEAM 384

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Industrial Design Award

Team 384 designed a robot that was

competitive in multiple aspects of the

game, from autonomous operation to

defensive and offensive strategy. The

team’s broad range of strengths

allowed to pursue a scoring method

that complemented its alliance partners.

Throughout the competition, the team

demonstrated that the best route to

success was through teamwork.

Determining the Impact

of the Center of Gravity

One quality of Team 384 was its reliance

on calculations to estimate the robot’s

performance. Such calculations, similar

to those used in commercial engineer-

ing, aided the design process by estab-

lishing limits and identifying possible

errors before they occurred.

Design parameters can often be

established based on estimates. Team

384 estimated the location of the

robot’s center of gravity (from a calcu-

lation) to determine how the robot

would respond when mounting the

ramp. If the center of gravity was too

high, the robot would tip when climb-

ing the ramp.

A graphical method was used to

examine the how the center of gravity

impacted the robot’s ability to climb the

ramp. The robot and ramp were drawn

to scale, and the location of the center

of gravity on the robot’s footprint was

estimated. A weight vector was then

drawn from different heights above the

center of gravity.

When on the ramp, the weight vector

had to stay within the footprint of the

robot to prevent tipping. As soon as the

vector pointed out of the footprint, the

robot would tip. Using this technique,

the team estimated the maximum

height of the center of gravity. By keep-

ing the robot’s center of gravity below

this height, the team could construct a

robot stable enough to climb the ramp

without toppling over, thus safely scor-

ing the extra points awarded to robots

on the ramp at the end of each match.

An efficient robot design is the result of

learning from past robots. Team 384’s robot

is a result of team growth.

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Improving the Drive Train

Incrementally improving designs was

another defining attribute of Team 384.

The team relied on its past experience

for initial concepts and modified those

designs to meet the specific challenges

of the 2006 competition, as with the

chassis and drive train.

The chassis for Sparky 7.0 was con-

structed from aluminum, as was Sparky

6.0, but with angles cut out of each cor-

ner brace. These angles prevented

interference between the chassis’ bot-

tom edge and the ramp. The frame was

designed to accommodate other robot

systems that could be easily bolted on

and still fit within the machine’s allow-

able footprint.

Detailed drawings help the team build an

aluminum frame with angled edges to account

for the angle of the ramp. All other robot compo-

nents are attached to this frame.

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