Intake Omnis

By Ben

Task: Add omnidirectional wheels to intake arm

We need to add omniwheels to the intake arm to allow the arm to rest on the ground, while still maintaining the necessary height for collecting the minerals. If the height is too low, the minerals wouldn't be able to move through the intake. If the intake was too high, it wouldn't be able to grip onto the minerals and pull them through. We decided to use omnidirectional wheels as they would allow us to drive forward and backwards with the arm extended.Our first challenge was finding space on the intake arm to attach the wheels. We had a few options:

• Attach the wheels parallel to the arm
To do this, we would have to have a "u" shaped component, which we could mount off of a threaded extrusion, then attach that to the servo mount.
• Mount the wheel perpendicular to the arm
This would give the same degree of maneuverability. To attach this, we would have to use an elbow bracket and attach that to an extrusion at a 90° angle.

Both of these present a similar challenge, leaving enough room for the intake to function properly. With about 2.5in. to work with, we mounted the wheel perpendicular with a 1.75 in. extrusion. We threaded the extrusion and used an elbow bracket to mount the wheel; this ensures the strength of the wheel. This left about 0.5in. between the wheel and the "corn on the cob" intake.

Image of wheel attached to intake arm

Next Steps

Our next steps are to perform testing on the wheels to determine if they are durable and low enough, and improve the performance of the robot. One issue that may arise is rubbing against the gears, as they may shift over prolonged usage, along with twisting of the extrusion.