The purpose of the Smart Field Controller is to stop the robot when it reaches the time limit. This is meant for the autonomous period which is 15 seconds and the driving period which is 1 minute 45 seconds. The Smart Field Controller connects to all four robots in the playing field and when the timer stops the Smart Field Controller stops all four robots so they cannot move anymore.

After deciding that the Mecanum drive was not suitable for this mission, we decided to change to the Tank drive. We made a 3d model on Fusion 360 and we debated about where the six wheels would be used in our drivetrain. Eventually we settled on 4 omni wheels that are placed on the corners of the drivetrain because it would be able to turn easier and we put friction wheels in the middle because wheels in the middle can turn easier.

Pros of the H-drive Due to its additional support systems, which make it more robust and balanced than other drive trains, it is first and foremost significantly more stable and simple to manage than the X-drive.This implies that it can move around during the autonomous phase more steadily. The wheel in the centre gives it greater manoeuvrability than the tank drive. The extra wheel serves as a pivot, enhancing the H-drive’s ability to turn with greater agility.

Our team created a tank drive to understand the basics of a drivetrain in order to create more complex drivetrains in the future. A Tank Drive is a simple drive train consisting of c-channels, 4 traction wheels or 2 traction and 2 omni wheels. The omni wheels that may be on the robot are locked since locking an omni wheel will optimize turning. How we built the X-drive We researched the x-drive and its structures.

The mecanum drive was the first ever drive we built with the vex parts. First, we created a simple tank drive but after that we added different sensors and the mecanum wheels. The sensors we added were the optical sensor, the gps sensor, and the rotation sensor. The mecanum drive is not our actual robot and is only used to testing. For example, right now we are testing the gps sensor for the vex autonomous skills challenge.