FIRST Ultimate Ascent model robot

We created this robot to model what our full size robot will do at the FIRST Ultimate Ascent competition. There is a 30 point bonus for climbing the pyramid on the field and we decided that that was all we were going to do. As climbing 3 rungs is a somewhat perilous undertaking, we created this robot to help us work out the sequence of steps that need to happen. This is the "prettified" version that we are taking to the Colorado Regional (starts tomorrow, YAY!) that we will use to demonstrate what the full size robot is doing. While working out the programming this was actually controlled by a cRIO so this had a batch of wires hanging from it. We were able to do 95% of the programming that is being used on the full-size robot using this model. Basic functionality: - There is a "shuttle" that moves up and down via a lead screw. This is what lifts the robot. - The arm actually swivels on the body of the robot so that we can shift the CG of the robot and therefore guide the arm where we need it to go as the robot is climbing. - There is a latch at the bottom where the robot hangs while the shuttle is going back up to reach the next rung. - An optical encoder on the shuttle motor allows us to position the shuttle anywhere along its travel based on a count from the encoder. - Limit switches at the top and bottom let us know when the shuttle has reached its extents.