Team 5687 Outliers competed in the 2023 FIRST Robotics Competition: “CHARGED UP”!, presented by Haas.
About Sophie
The Swerve
Our differential swerve is similar to a traditional swerve where it uses two Falcon motors, however we have designed and programmed our differential swerves to use both motors for both translating and rotating. Using two motors for both purposes allows us to have higher levels of torque. Higher levels of torque give us the ability to achieve higher speeds and push other robots, despite being smaller. We custom make 95% of each swerve module, in which the majority is 3D printed. For example, we 3D print our compliant wheels out of PCTPE that is semi-compliant which help us go over bumps. We also 3D print our wheel tread out of TPU, which allows us to get the peak amount of friction with the carpet. By custom making so many parts, it allows us to fine tune each part specifically.
The Intake
• Intake is a modified Everybot design featuring two counter-rotating rollers powered by a BAG motor on a 180 deg wrist powered by a Johnson electric motor.
• Active cone centering intake.
• Can score without rotating the robot by flipping the wrist 180 degrees.
• Able to shoot onto the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd levels.
• Designed to decrease our hybrid nodecycle times.
• 2nd intake is a four-bar intake/cube shooter featuring two counter-rotating 3 inch polycarbonate tubes
Vision
Our robot uses two different systems of vision, which are a stereoscopic camera mounted high up and a suite of monocular cameras on the bottom. The stereoscopic camera uses two individual cameras to provide depth perception. Combined with a machine learning algorithm, this lets us detect game pieces. The suite of cameras can view the AprilTags located on the field, which informs it of the robot’s position on the field, known as localization. When we use these systems together, we can perform some actions like picking up and placing pieces automatically, which saves drivers precious time.
Autonomous
• Sophie’s autos use a combination of vision and odometry to find and place game pieces.
• When picking up game pieces, we use stereoscopic vision to identify game pieces, and then autonomously drive toward the piece and pick it up with our intake.
• When delivering game pieces, the robot uses mutiple cameras to determine location on field and autonomously drive the robot to deliver pieces to the grid.
• During the autonomous section of the match, the robot has a variety of routines to compliment our alliance partner’s autonomous routines. These include a 3 piece scoring auto and one that scores 2 game pieces and levels on the charge station.
2023 Event Results
Team 5687 was 41-17-2 (Wins / Losses / Ties) in official play and 55-23-2 overall in 2023. As a member of the New England district, Team 5687 ranked 9 having earned 271 points.
(2023) FIRST World Championships
Curie Division, 7-7-0 record
Innovation in Control Award
(2023) NE FIRST District Championships (MEIR)
Winner, Meir Division
Autonomous Award sponsored by Ford
(2023) NE District Greater Boston Event
Semifinalist, Captain, 3rd place alliance
Autonomous Award sponsored by Ford
(2023) NE District Granite State Event
District Event Winner
Autonomous Award sponsored by Ford