FTC Teams 24484 and 24485
ELECTRICAL SUBTEAM
The Electronics team takes the assembled robot and connects the various motors, pistons and any other vision or movement device to their respective controllers. We enable the robot to be controlled by our Drive Team, as well as autonomously during a match. We are responsible not only for designing, connecting, and troubleshooting the electrical and pneumatic components, but also for working together with the Build and Programming Teams to eventually build a fully functioning robot.
Members don't need any prerequisite knowledge in electronics as we will provide you with resources and workshops for you to learn the necessary skills, but enthusiam and willingness to learn are important characteristics.
How to get Started
If you are interested in joining the electronics subteam, there are many different online resources you can use to get a head start. There will be workshops to help new members learn. We suggest checking these links below in your own time for a better understanding of the way FRC electronics works.
The intent of this document is to teach you (the reader) enough to go and do your own research and make your own informed decisions using the muscle between your ears about motors and their use in FRC. It is not an end-all-be-all but hopefully will introduce you to the tools we’ll be using throughout and teach you to use them yourself.
Something to note is that we program in C++, so references to classes like “Encoder” and our sample codes are written in C++. However, classes are interchangeable in Java and C++, and there are topics covered in this guide that are not language-exclusive like the roboRIO and the Driver Station itself. We hope this is guide serves to be useful for you!
This document details the wiring of a basic electronics board for bench-top testing. Some images shown in this section reflect the setup for a Robot Control System using Spark motor controllers. Wiring diagram and layout should be similar for other motor controllers. Where appropriate, a second set of images shows the wiring steps for using PWM controllers with integrated wires.
The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) pneumatic components are outlined in this document. It is being provided as a courtesy, and therefore does not supersede any information or rules provided in the FIRST Robotics Competition Manual.
Major Components
The motors are used in a number of different components on our robot. They allow our robot's claw to pick up pixels and place them high up on the board. They are also used to innitiate our hanging sequence. These motors allow us to do heavy-duty work.
The control hub is basically the brain of the robot. It allows us to manipuate the entirety of the robot with much effectiveness. It connects our inputs from our driver hub, and turns these instructions given into brand new instructions for other parts of the robot, allowing it to innitiate a number of important sequences.
