Robotics

Alex Montello | Robotics Projects

FTC POWERPLAY season robot: the goal was to move plastic cones 5 inches tall, one at a time, onto increasingly tall, sprung poles
Mecanum drivetrain with color sensors, deadwheel odometry, and heading lock
<4s cycles onto highest possible pole
Virtual 4 bar arm (belted) with horizontal geared claw
>1m of vertical extension with vertical slides, assisted by constant torque springs
Robust shell and walls

Controlled by 2 stepper motors with GT2 belts
Operable manually using a joystick, or automatically
Adjustable size using custom 3D printed clamps located on the belts and bases
Single servo end effector for X, Y, and Z movement
Uses an edge detection based approach to convert color images into minimal traceable paths with a pen fully autonomously
Graphs mathematical functions or parametric equations accurately
Random DFS based maze generation algorithm and optimized tracing paths to draw large mazes

4 mecanum wheels (geared with 19.2:1 DC motors for speed)
3 stages of linear slides on each side with >1.3m of horizontal extension
Multiple modes of control possible, including one joystick for each side of the drivetrain, one joystick for translation and the other for rotation/extension/contraction, and 2 controller mode
Scissor linkage and mesh tube for wiring

Turret driven internally with a 4.32:1 gear ratio and unlimited rotation
Powered by batteries and controlled by Arduino
Inner link of arm powered directly by 2 servos, outer link powered by 1 servo indirectly via a 4 bar linkage
Uses inverse kinematics to calculate angles(absolute for arm links and relative for turret) to any point in 3D space reachable by the arm
Effector mounts a small camera module

FTC CENTERSTAGE season robot: the goal was to intake plastic, hexagonal 'pixels' in pairs and output them on a tall board angled 30 degrees from vertical
2 stages of rubber spinning wheels chained together to flip the game pixels into the robot, mounted on a belted arm to be able to intake stacked pixels
Triangular conveyor belt transfer mechanism to carry pixels from the intake to the output pockets
970mm of vertical extension using linear slides, as well as a second belted arm housing 2 plungers to precisely score the pixels
<12s cycle time from intake to output
Paper airplane launcher
Parallel plate mecanum drivetrain with 3 deadwheel odometry pods
30s autonomous programming using object detection, and a finite state machine
Driver assists with distance and touch sensors
Mechanism for suspending robot from elevated bars

First uses 1 bevel geared wheel and a breadboard on a rack and pinion to balance in 2 dimensions
Second uses 2 wheels to balance in 1 dimension (I had no picture)
Proportional and derivative control loops with accelerometer data to balance in response to disturbances
Battery pack and Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller
Only somewhat effective, the 2 wheeled version was significantly more responsive

2 wheels and a caster
Hyperboloid rubber band intake into a vertical storage system holding >15 objects (for 1 inch diameter balls and larger foam cubes)
Completely autonomous maze solving ability using 2 ultrasonic distance sensors and recursive depth-first approach
Rotating bristle mechanism to intake from tall towers
Assists for driving straight and automations

2 wheels and a caster
Plow with stabilizing arm movable to either side of the plow
Elastic defensive scissor linkage system to blockade opponent's scoring, deployed by a rack and pinion mechanism at the start of matches
Completely autonomous control using 4 photoresistor color sensors
Battery operated and controlled by a Raspberry Pi Pico