The Controls side comprises an Embedded and Electrical approach to working our robot. The “brain” of the robot, a custom development board created in house runs a custom Embedded Linux Distro with ROS as a middle layer to interface with our hardware. From there, the programmers create nodes to run our robot controls code and interface with the server and client that manage the game state on the field.

If programming is the brain, wiring is the heart and veins of the robot. The team not only works towards powering the robots but abides by a strict rule set of exact power Wattages in their creation of our systems. On top of this, the team also designs custom PCBs, slip rings, and is currently working on a Supercapacitor power banking system.

The Computer Vision team focuses on the critical task of identifying enemy robots and assisting in target acquisition, leveraging real-time object detection. Our technical framework integrates Docker for efficient containerization, ROS (Robot Operating System) for robust robotics middleware, and employs TensorRT for optimizing neural network models through quantization. This combination ensures that our system is both high-performing and scalable, enabling us to process and analyze visual data with precision and speed.

The hardware design sub-team serves an important role in solidifying connectivity between subsystems on each robot, verifying the proper function of various electronic modules/circuits, and developing hardware-based solutions for supporting the unique features of each robot. As a bridge between the controls and mechanical sub-teams, the hardware design sub-team communicates extensively between the two disciplines to create specifications for custom PCBs/circuits, design ideated solutions using ECAD tools like Altium Designer, and employ unique testing methodologies to ensure solutions can be properly integrated.