FRC 2017 Steamworks Robot Design (2023 Off-Season Practice Bot)

3D Render of an FRC Robot Design for the 2017 Game

This robot design was created by new FRC CAD members during the 2023 FRC off-season as a practice project based on the 2017 FIRST Robotics Competition game, FIRST Steamworks. It was also a retread of a previous practice project, making it useful for comparing how FRC design skills, CAD quality, mechanism choices, and robot integration can improve across different off-season training projects.

Since Team 4817 still had access to Steamworks game pieces, the project gave students a realistic opportunity to practice designing, CAD modeling, building, and testing an FRC-style robot. The main goal was not to create a fully competitive machine, but to help newer members develop core skills in FRC robot design, CAD workflow, mechanism integration, and mechanical problem-solving. 

Robot Design Concept

Designed by new FRC CAD members during the 2023 FRC off-season, this robot served as a testing ground for designing and integrating an FRC file. This very much was a retread of a previous practice project as the Team still had the game pieces for the 2017 FRC Game, Steamworks. 

Again, the focus was on building basic skills rather than functionality. Members were allowed to try designing mechanisms anyway they wished, even if the plan was rather ambitious. 

Robot Design Learnings

The idea was to create a robot that maximized its storage capacity for the Steamworks game. To accomplish this, an overbumper intake was chosen as this expands outside the robot. Then a moving floor indexer would filter the balls towards a flywheel. Finally, the single vertical flywheel would be on a turntable to allow shooting in any direction. To vary the shot for the flywheel, the robot would simply adjust its spin. 

What Worked Well

This time the retread of this project actually saw the building of a physical robot. In most off season projects that 4817 attempted, usually such projects for begginners would not be finished as learning design and CAD is very difficult before even discussing how it integrates with mechanical, electronics, programming, and fitting within a timeline. This was done by the new member tirelessly working through their fall break to hone their skills. 

This robot was able to effectively shoot Fuel once Fuel reached the flywheel. The turntable could swivel the flywheel to face different directions to aim shots. 

Despite using pneumatics for the intake, the intake was able to retract and extend successfully between its two key positions. 

What Could Be Improved

Despite the team's best efforts, the general ball flow through the robot was not fool proof. Fuel could get stuck when attempting to go up the final section of the moving floor indexer to go to the flywheel. Parts of the moving floor indexer were not jam proof and allowed balls to aimlessly spin in their position instead of moving to a new location in the robot. 

A key intended design element never got finished. Originally, the storage was meant to expand with the intake going down, creating a complete box with 4 walls. Instead extending the front section of the storage walls proved more difficult than was originally thought. In the end, this area was simply omitted. This would limit the robot's storage ability as with too many balls, they would simply fall out the front, over the intake.  

Some minor CAD errors were made that required improvisation by mechanical. For example, a rotating axle went through one of the side walls. To fix this issue, an extra hole had to be hand drilled, instead of it being part of the plate's design for the laser cutter to cut. 

This practice projection again ran out of time to complete both a climbing mechanism and a Gear mechanism for the Steamworks game. 

Steamworks Robot Comparisons

To see the more original iteration of this off-season project by Team 4817 refer to Ref 9. To see more full fledged designs for the Steamworks game, refer to Ref 13 and Ref 19.