The Craft Academy Robotics Project

To begin, the team’s research project consisted of a robot that could compete on a 12-foot by 12-foot playing field alongside 3 other robots. The robot had to fit within an 18in-by-18in limit, it could be made of a variety of materials and motors specified in the game manual to help it achieve the most amount of points possible. There are many ways to earn points in Freight Frenzy divided into 3 sections, Autonomous, Tele-Operation or “Op” for short, and End-Game: In the Autonomous section, the match starts with a 30-second Autonomous Period where Robots are operated only via pre-programmed instructions. Teams are not allowed to control Robot behavior with the Driver Station or any other actions. The Control Hub is placed in a hands-off location during said Autonomous Period so that it is evident that there is no human control of Robots. The robots can obtain points by parking in the Alliance storage unit, parking in the closest to the robot’s alliance, moving freight into the shipping hubs, or alliance specific storage unit, with an additional bonus of using a camera to recognize and move a rubber duck or Team Shipping Element to a randomized part of the shipping hub. During the Tele-Op part, teams can score points by going over or around the PVC barrier to obtain whiffle balls or different weighted plastic cubes and placing them in either the Alliance Shipping Hub or Shared Shipping Hub. Finally, in End-Game, Teams can put the custom capping element on the Alliance Shipping Hub, spin the Carrousel to get up to 10 ducks, or park in a Warehouse.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/celebration_posters_2022/1043/thumbnail.jp