FIRST | Ultimate Ascent
GRT 2012-2013
Ultimate Ascent is a frisbee game where the goal is to score as many points as possible by shooting frisbees into designated goals at either end of the field. The game is played on a 27' x 54' field with two pyramid structures located ~1/3 of the way from each alliance wall. The pyramid structures are used as an additional goal and to facilitate the endgame.
Teams start with up to 2 or 3 discs on the robot at the beginning of the match. Robots which begin touching the carpet behind their colored Auto Line may have three discs; others may have only two. They can score these in autonomous or wait for the teleoperated period. Only the 6 discs of an alliance's color count when scored on top of its pyramid; white or opposing colored discs will not count. Since the human players may not put any colored discs in play until teleoperated, scoring in the pyramid is not possible in autonomous. Teams can score points as follows by scoring discs into goals.
The 2013 robot.
Shooter
The shooter used in this year's robot consists of a horizontally-mounted single flywheel that rapidly propels the frisbees at the goals. The frisbee is fed into the shooter through a hopper, which stores the frisbees until needed. The shooting mechanism is mounted such that the whole shooter can be moved into a flat position when needed, allowing the robot to drive below the pyramids to take a more direct path around the field or to avoid opponents.
Pickup
The pickup mechanism used on this year's robot used a chalupa design in order to pickup the frisbees and drop them into the hopper.
Drivetrain
2013 marks the second year that GRT's drivetrain team pushed to engineer a compact drivetrain system. This year, the team used a single-speed bevel gear drivetrain to move the robot. This gearbox worked very well and allowed the robot to move quickly and efficiently around the field. The bevel gear system allowed the gearbox to be very compact and were placed right next to the wheels. This gives more space for the pickup and shooter mechanisms on the robot.
The team
GRT had a great season this year GRT was able to get into the playoffs at all of the regional competitions we attended. We won the Utah Regional and were able to advance to the U.S. Championship in St. Louis (Galileo Division). In addition, the team was awarded the Excellence in Engineering Award at Utah. Our robot was well built and shot frisbees quite consistently, allowing us to score goals efficiently.