Ascent Upgrade · 2022 Competition Upgrade Concept
A from-scratch CAD revisit of FRC 4079's 2022 Ascent competition robot.
Overview
Ascent Upgrade was a CAD practice project where I went back to the original 2022 Ascent competition robot and redesigned it with better structure, better documentation habits, and several major mechanism upgrades.
The project heavily used the modified 254-style part naming scheme and the FRC 4079 COTS Parts Library. It also used a basic master sketch to lay out the robot before modeling individual mechanisms. This helped me think through geometry, packaging, and subsystem placement before committing to detailed SolidWorks parts and assemblies.
The redesign reused as many components from the original Ascent robot as possible while adding new concepts that the team had not built before, including a variable-angle hooded shooter, a smoother intake path, improved electrical access, pre-planned camera mounting, and clamping plates for the telescoping climber tubes.
Outcome
Ascent Upgrade produced a cleaner and more complete CAD revisit of the original 2022 Ascent robot. The project kept the identity and major goals of the original robot while improving the shooter, intake, climber tube interface, electrical access, camera mounting, and CAD organization.
The model was not intended as a completely finished competition rebuild, but the majority of the concept was completed. It served as a strong CAD practice project and a realistic offseason upgrade concept that could have helped the team improve competitiveness while still reusing many existing parts.
It also gave me valuable practice using a master sketch workflow and designing a hooded shooter before I had built one on a real robot.
Problem & Goal
The original Ascent robot was a major step forward for the team, but its CAD and mechanisms left room for improvement. The goal of this project was to revisit the robot with more experience and apply better design practices without treating it as a completely unrelated robot.
I wanted to keep the overall Ascent concept, reuse as many existing team parts as possible, and improve the areas that were hardest to package, tune, or maintain during the season. The concept was also meant to be a realistic upgrade path if the team wanted a stronger offseason robot for events like Beach Blitz.
Design Requirements
- Reuse as many parts from the original Ascent competition robot as possible
- Use parts already available in-house where practical
- Limit new purchases mostly to items like 1x1" tubing, bolts, standoffs, and fabricated plates
- Use the modified 254-style naming scheme for cleaner CAD organization
- Use the FRC 4079 COTS Parts Library for faster and more consistent modeling
- Start from a basic master sketch before modeling detailed parts
- Add a variable-angle hooded shooter, which the team had not designed before
- Use a mix of COTS parts and fabricated parallel plates
- Design around 6 NEOs and 1 NEO 550 instead of the original robot's 4 NEOs and 4 NEO 550s
- Create a shooter concept capable of a 65-85 degree hood range
- Add motor controller mounts and improve electrical access
- Include pre-planned mounting holes for a Limelight or other camera
- Redesign the slapdown ground intake for better Cargo centering
- Create a smoother path from the intake to the indexer and shooter
- Keep a similar spring-extend and winch-retract intake deployment method
- Improve the telescoping climber tube interface to reduce denting, bending, warping, and binding
Process
- 1Reviewed the original Ascent competition robot and identified areas to improve
- 2Set the goal of reusing as many original and in-house parts as possible
- 3Created a basic master sketch to lay out the robot geometry
- 4Rebuilt the CAD using the modified 254-style naming scheme
- 5Used the FRC 4079 COTS Parts Library for common parts and hardware
- 6Designed the variable-angle hooded shooter with fabricated parallel plates
- 7Added a custom rack and pinion hood adjustment concept
- 8Planned the shooter around 6 NEOs and 1 NEO 550
- 9Added motor controller mounts and improved electrical access
- 10Added pre-drilled mounting holes for a Limelight or other camera
- 11Redesigned the slapdown intake with additional mecanum wheels
- 12Smoothed the Cargo path from intake to indexer to shooter
- 13Added clamping ASCENT plates to the telescoping climber tubes
Technical Decisions
- Used a master sketch to plan subsystem placement before detailed modeling
- Reused as much of the original Ascent robot as possible
- Designed the shooter around fabricated parallel plates and COTS components
- Added a variable-angle hooded shooter because it gave more control over Cargo exit angle
- Used a custom rack and pinion to pivot the hood
- Designed for a rough 65-85 degree hood range
- Used multiple 2" rollers to reduce backspin on the Cargo
- Changed the motor layout to 6 NEOs and 1 NEO 550
- Added motor controller mounts to make the electrical layout cleaner
- Improved electrical access so the shooter did not need to swing out for basic service
- Added pre-drilled camera mounting holes for a Limelight or other camera
- Redesigned the intake with more mecanum wheels for better centering
- Kept the spring-extend and winch-retract intake deployment concept from the original robot
- Added clamping plates to reduce the risk of telescoping climber tube denting, bending, warping, and binding
- Organized the CAD using the modified 254-style naming scheme and FRC 4079 COTS Parts Library
Master Sketch Workflow
This was one of my first projects using a basic master sketch to lay out a full robot concept before modeling the detailed mechanisms.
The master sketch helped define important geometry such as:
- Drivetrain and frame space
- Intake pivot location
- Cargo path
- Shooter location
- Hood geometry
- Roller placement
- Motor packaging
- Electrical access
- Camera mounting space
- Climber tube clearance
- Overall subsystem packaging
Using the sketch first made the CAD process more intentional. Instead of placing parts one at a time and hoping everything fit, I could block out the major robot geometry and then build the detailed parts around that layout.
Modified 254-Style Naming and COTS Library Use
Ascent Upgrade heavily used the modified 254-style part naming system and the FRC 4079 COTS Parts Library.
The naming scheme helped keep assemblies and parts organized as the project grew. The COTS library made it faster to add common hardware, bearings, shafts, belts, pulleys, wheels, motors, and other FRC components without remodeling or redownloading the same parts repeatedly.
This project was an important step in applying the team's CAD infrastructure to a full robot redesign rather than just isolated parts or small support projects.
Variable-Angle Hooded Shooter
The biggest mechanism change was the addition of a variable-angle hooded shooter. This was the first hooded shooter concept I designed for the team.
The shooter used a mix of COTS components and fabricated parallel plates. The hood was designed to pivot using a custom rack and pinion system, allowing the shooter angle to adjust across a rough 65-85 degree range. The goal was to create a shooter that could theoretically score from more locations on the field instead of being limited to one fixed shot.
Multiple 2" rollers were added to reduce backspin on the Cargo as it exited the shooter. The concept also used more full-size NEO motors and fewer NEO 550s than the original robot, moving from the original 4 NEOs and 4 NEO 550s to 6 NEOs and 1 NEO 550. This reduced the total motor count by one while also freeing up more backup NEO 550s for the team.
This design gave me practice thinking through shooter compression, roller placement, hood curvature, motor packaging, and how the adjustment mechanism would fit inside the robot.
Electrical and Camera Access
The redesign also improved serviceability around the shooter and electronics. Motor controller mounts were included in the CAD so the wiring layout could be more intentional instead of being handled after the mechanism was built.
The layout also allowed easier access to electrical components without needing to swing out or remove the shooter. Pre-drilled mounting holes were added to the shooter plates for a Limelight or another camera, making vision integration part of the mechanical design instead of an afterthought.
Redesigned Intake
The ground intake was redesigned from the original Ascent slapdown intake. It kept a similar spring-extend and winch-retract deployment style, but the roller and wheel layout was changed to improve Cargo handling.
The new intake used more mecanum wheels to help center Cargo as it entered the robot. The path from the intake into the indexer and shooter was also smoothed out to make ball transfer more reliable.
The goal was to preserve the parts of the original intake concept that worked while improving the areas that affected consistency.
Climber Tube Plates
The upgrade added clamping ASCENT plates around the telescoping climber tubes.
These plates were designed to help prevent denting, bending, warping, and binding in the stationary stage of the climber. Instead of relying only on concentrated contact points, the plates helped distribute clamping loads across a larger area and gave the climber a cleaner, more intentional interface.
This was based on a common reliability improvement used by other teams to strengthen telescoping climber tubes.
What I Learned
- How to revisit an existing robot design and improve it without starting completely from scratch
- How to use a basic master sketch to lay out robot geometry before detailed modeling
- How to design my first variable-angle hooded shooter
- How rack and pinion geometry can be used for adjustable mechanisms
- How intake wheel layout affects centering and Cargo transfer
- How to combine COTS components with fabricated parallel plates
- How motor selection affects packaging, serviceability, and spare parts strategy
- How to design around camera mounting and electrical access earlier in the CAD process
- How clamping plates can reduce tube damage and binding
- How the modified 254-style naming scheme and FRC 4079 COTS Parts Library help organize a full robot CAD project
