2018 Season – FIRST Power Up 2018 Season
FIRST Power Up
Tipsy may have looked like it was going to tip over - but with some skilled driving, it stayed upright through all our official competitions. This robot was our first foray into in-house advanced manufacturing, featuring our first laser cut parts. Tipsy used a custom bezier spline path following, and, while not always the most accurate, it was one of the few robots in the world that ever managed to place 3 cubes on the scale during auto in official competition. Tipsy was able to place cubes on a scale tipped in the opponents' favour, which made it a great robot for mounting a comeback.
FIRST Power Up is the name of the 2018 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) challenge. The game involves two alliances of three teams each trapped in an arcade game. To earn points, robots place "Power Cubes" on their side of a large scale in the middle of the field to tip it in their alliance's favour. Teams can also use the cubes to secure two other smaller scales (known as "switches" — one on each side of the field) for points, or trade them in for various temporary advantages during a match. Additionally, at the end of a match, robots can climb on a rung attached to the scale for even more points. More information can be found on Wikipedia.
Tipsy – The Robot
Quick Facts
- Name Tipsy
- Status In service
- Size 30" W x 27" L x 53.5" H
- Weight 119 lbs
Competitions
Robot Abilities
More information on each of Tipsy's subsystems can be found in Meet the Robot.
- Drivetrain:
- 6 wheel West Coast drive, with flipped drive gearboxes
- Wrist:
- Motorized intake that flips down to intake Power Cubes
- Arm:
- Flips up over the elevator to quickly place cubes on the scale
- Grippers:
- Pneumatic fingers with 3 grip states
- Elevator:
- In low gear, the elevator acts as the climber. In high gear, it helps the arm place cubes on top of the scale
- Ramp:
- Used for lifting a second robot while climbing
- Climbing Bar:
- Hooks onto the rung on the scale
- Auto:
- Path following with waypoints, followed with feedback from encoders and gyroscope
- 3 cube scale
- 2 cube switch
Achievements
Meet the Robot
To learn more about Tipsy's subsystems, click on the green pins. Click through the radio buttons to adjust Tipsy's mechanisms!
What's in a Name?
Tipsy got its name due to its immense height — when it's fully extended, it looks a bit unstable! (Despite this, Tipsy only tipped once at an offseason event.) To fit with the 8-bit theme of this year, our practice bot, Clyde, was named after the orange ghost in the classic arcade game Pac-Man.