The motion lab will be a tool to teach and experiment with motion controls. It will have four main components:

• upturned swerve drive
• elevator
• arm
• flywheel The swerve drive is the core driving component, and the other three are the three basic controlled mechanical subsystems that are controllable by feed forward systems.

All four components should be programmable as a standard robot via a RoboRIO. We can use old Neo motors if we purchase Krakens, with one note for the elevator.

The four devices can be linked, or be separate items (in which case we should have longer cables to ensure portability).

Lesson learned from 2024 season: mechanical instability can contribute to difficulties in control. The components here need to be constructed to move smoothly with minimal sticking, wobbling, or gear backlash.

Upturned swerve drive

Any upturned single wheel swerve drive will work for this. If we upgrade the main robot's swerve drive modules, one of the current ones will work fine in this application.

Needed actuators/sensors: drive motor, steer motor, steer encoder.

Elevator

Small single-stage elevator with adjustable non-motorized arm. Ideally belt-driven. Elevator should carry an arm that can be set at different positions (ideally locked at certain points) and should be able to carry an adjustable amount of weight at its end.

Needed actuators/sensors: drive motor, absolute encoder (relative encoder if elevator reliably homes; can be drive motor's encoder). If any Kraken motor is used in the motion lab, this should be the one.

Arm

Small arm with adjustable weight.

Needed actuators/sensors: drive motor, absolute encoder (relative encoder if elevator reliably homes; can be drive motor's encoder unless gearing or belts are used).

Flywheel

Motor with adjustable spun weight.

Needed actuators/sensors: drive motor, relative encoder (motor's relative encoder)