17861 CSH | Behind the Bot | FTC DECODE Robot

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:07]Hello everyone. Reporting today for Fun Robotics Network. I'm Abhas and with me here is team 17861 CSH from Romania.

[00:00:13]They were your Romania 2025 2026 Inspire award winner coming into the Houston World Championship with a 200 plus OPR and currently undefeated. Just absolutely fantastic robot. Easily one of the fastest close robots here in Houston, but also absolutely deadly from the far zone. I can't wait to get into it coming up on Behind the Bot. All right, guys. So, first question has to be about the drivetrain. You know, at Romania, you ran the Swerve. It was really good, but here you went complete switch to the mechanum. Why do that?

[00:00:40]Okay, so a big thing for for us was the speed of the drivetrain. Uh the swerve was not that agile on the terrain because it was very hard to control and the precision was not there. So we moved on mechanum because uh it's more rapid and uh the the ratio that we use is a 1 to12. So the 500 premium really helps us to to make the robot really fast.

[00:01:02]>> Yeah, let's talk a little bit more about that ratio. You know, usually we see teams directly connect to the motors, but you guys are running a very very small gear right here uh with going up to a larger gear. So is that a nine to gear, 8 to gear? What is that?

[00:01:13]>> So the small one is a ninth gear, a 9 to gear and the big one is a 108.

[00:01:18]>> Okay. So we we choose this because we wanted to use a bare motors because we wanted to uh to not use motors with uh with gearbox because they are way heavier. So that's it.

[00:01:32]>> Awesome. Yeah. And as far as like uh backlash or having to apply like grease or lubrication or anything like that. Is that something you guys have had a concern with or it's been really smooth?

[00:01:40]>> So we are just using a WD40 for this. So it's not really a big problem for us.

[00:01:46]Before we get to our next segment, we'd like to thank the following. Studa Robotics is inspiring teams to build better robots with their new array of FTC team options. Check out their updated bevelgearss and Maverick hex shaft motors, planter gearbox options, and 6mm hex components and shafts for extreme power transmission. Go to sudica.com/root to learn more and apply for discounts.

[00:02:08]Ketaring University's cutting edge programs in their experiential co-op model seamlessly blend the professional and academic worlds, offering hands-on, future focused learning that empowers students pursue new ideas and inspires other institutions to follow their lead.

[00:02:20]Don't just be ahead of the curve, create the curve. Get more information at ketarine.edu/first.

[00:02:28]>> Awesome. Yeah, let's let's turn to the intake now. We'll talk about the uh climb PTO later, but right now I want to talk about the intake. Uh you guys are just so so smooth with having like all of the artifacts come into your intake.

[00:02:38]I think we can show like a quick cycle.

[00:02:40]Let's talk about funneling. How do you guys make sure that when you take in three artifacts, they funnel properly every single time?

[00:02:46]>> So for this, we are using these springs which guide the balls really well from every corner of the terrain. So it's really easy for us to to collect from everywhere and it's very constant.

[00:02:58]Are those like passive rollers that you guys have had uh been on the robot the entire season or did you add them at some point?

[00:03:05]>> We just added them at some point. Like we iterated a lot on the intake. We had a lot of iteration of the robot. We have like four robots this season.

[00:03:13]>> Wow.

[00:03:13]>> So each one had a different intake. So we iterated a lot on on this.

[00:03:18]>> Wow. Yeah. That's that's incredible. And talking a little bit about the springing you guys have here as well. So is that uh via like rubber bands via spring? How are you doing that springing?

[00:03:27]Yeah. So, um basically we're using these two springs on the side so that when we are intaking three artifacts at the same time, um they usually keep the third ball inside so that we cannot actually control multiple artifacts like this.

[00:03:41]And after we collect the third artifact, the intake raises up a little bit so that it does not touch any other artifacts that are on the ground.

[00:03:49]>> Yeah, that that makes a lot of sense. I also see a couple sensors over here. I see some wires going over here. So, what sensors are you using and how? Yeah. So, uh we use three beam brake sensors for autoon and for teleyup. For teleyup, we mainly use it for this LED right here so that uh even if the robot is uh turned away from the driver, the driver knows when he has three. And in auto, it's uh for when we collect from the gate so that we know when to leave. I see. Yeah, that that makes a ton of sense. Is there any like filtering you've had to do uh with those beam brakes to make sure you're getting good data or like I know teams have had issues with the beam break going through the hole in the artifact. Was that a concern you guys had or not an issue?

[00:04:26]>> Uh uh the fact that the beams go through the holes is uh something uh we do have but it doesn't really matter because uh we uh from the way the beam bras are positions we can't get false positives.

[00:04:37]So we if we get a signal from all three it means that we actually have three balls so we can just uh uh continue.

[00:04:43]>> I see. I see. Okay. Now one of definitely the most innovative things on your guys' intake is that PTO. Walk me through that. I think very few people know about this mechanism and I think it's really going to be a very popular implementation in future seasons. So talk to us about it.

[00:04:55]>> Yes. So how it works when you have two when you have three bolts in the robot uh and we are going intake uh the the lash roller is not rotating. So it help us to for the intake to not stall and we we want to shoot this uh this PTO engages and the luh rotates so we can shoot very fast.

[00:05:14]>> That's awesome. Yeah, that's so so clever. So what is exactly that engagement mechanism that you're using uh for the intake?

[00:05:20]>> So it's just a servo right here and a little arm that moves this print which has like a cross on it right here and it just engages with these uh screws right here and the last roller is rotating.

[00:05:33]>> That's that's awesome. As uh do you have any like fail safes like you know if like if the servo doesn't work or the spring doesn't engage like how do you make sure that the intake is always able to push through and transfer? Has that not been a concern? So we do not have felives for that PTO. The main idea with that PTO is to make it as simple as possible and to do constant maintenance on it.

[00:05:52]>> Uh that way we can also reduce on weight and make sure that everything runs smoothly.

[00:05:56]>> Yeah. And it since it's passively powered, if you ran your intake anyways, would the transfer just like continue up through the shoot?

[00:06:01]>> Yes, it would, but it would not shoot the last ball.

[00:06:03]>> Okay, I see. I see. That makes sense. So now talking about your shooter, you know, you guys are running the counter roller shooter. We've seen a ton of teams use it throughout the season. Have you guys had it since day one or was that an addition you made later in the season?

[00:06:14]>> No. So, actually we made this before the national championship in our country because we wanted to be more precise on the fire zone because of the swerve. So, we concentrated on only to be very precise and we we iterated a lot on the counter rollers. We tried with two rollers with one roller and this is the best uh the best way.

[00:06:33]>> Yeah. Talking a little bit about speeds and ratios here. Typically, how fast does your main roller run and how fast do your counter rollers run? So the main roller is about running at I think 3,500 RPM and the counter rollers are about 4,000 and a half I think something like that nowadays.

[00:06:49]>> Yeah. And you know I think concerns that teams have had with these is like increased friction and reduced efficiency. Was that something you guys faced or how did you overcome that?

[00:06:57]>> So yeah we faced that when uh when we changed the um >> compressor >> the compression of the balls. Mhm. But uh now the the compression is like seven seven mm and this works very well for us.

[00:07:13]>> I see. Is that seven mm on like the nominal like 5 in artifact or 7 mm on the 4.9 like smaller >> on 5 in on 5 in. I see. Okay. Okay. Very cool. Yeah. As far as um you know having your hood be very robust. It's it's super super stable. Uh how did you guys do that and what advice do you have for teams on that front?

[00:07:32]>> Yeah. So we have right here these two uh aluminum small arms that actually uh are rotated here from the servo for the hood. Uh it has here a mechanical block so that they cannot go out of position so that they don't disengage from the servo. And um they are held here by the screw.

[00:07:51]>> I see. And yeah, one thing that I think is really important with your guys' robot is you're very efficient with the servo usage. and I have seen teams that use two servos for the hood, two servos for the pivot, two servos for the flicker, like all these places where you guys only use one servo. How do you decide how many actuators you need and why did you decide to like keep it very uh you know bare bones and efficient on that front?

[00:08:10]>> Uh so because we iterated through so many robot designs and had so many robots built and tested on the the field, we knew how to make the most uh efficient and simple uh mechanisms for each of the subsystems. That's why we knew how to minimize the server usage. I see. Now talking a little bit about your guys' turret as well. How is it actuated? I think is it motorbased turret or is it a servo based turret?

[00:08:33]>> Uh yes. So it is a motorbased turret.

[00:08:35]>> Mhm.

[00:08:35]>> Uh it is a 4:1 ratio and it's uh uses a simple uh Andy Mark bearing.

[00:08:41]>> I see. And as far as homing and localizing this turret, how do you do that?

[00:08:44]>> Yeah. So it's mainly on uh the geometry localization.

[00:08:48]>> Uh that's how we localize the goal. We also have some shooting while moving which um moves the goal when we're moving. And in case uh something happens to our localization, we also have the uh limelight right here >> for which we can relocize with the April tags. And in case even uh that doesn't work, we can just uh turret lock. We can constant RPM and uh make sure we can still score.

[00:09:12]>> Yeah. And what about knowing where the turret is at the beginning of the match?

[00:09:15]How do you set that zero position?

[00:09:17]>> Uh so we set it manually. uh we do not have a absolute encoder. Uh at the start of the season we thought that we would need one but after testing we realized that uh it doesn't really help us as a team and it just adds a little bit more weight that we can shave off.

[00:09:30]>> I see. So you just make sure the turret is like always straight at the beginning. That's it. Okay. I see. Uh yeah. Next thing we have to talk about is definitely the park. Is this something you guys have had the entire season or did you only add it in preparation for nationals and worlds?

[00:09:43]So, we added at the nationals the first time, but it was it wasn't a PTO back then. Uh, back then was just four servos that uh that lift us up. So, now we have two PTO's as you can see right here. Uh, you can see this this small print plate engages with uh by is engaged by by the springs with the gear and uh is sectionated by these two motors from the drivetrain. And this is how we we lift up.

[00:10:11]>> I see. And you guys made your own ratchet as well. Is that true? For this?

[00:10:14]>> Yeah. Yeah. So, it's a it's a custom ratchet that we made. Uh we wanted to to make it like this because because of the of the compact design and it's just very simple. Not not not a big deal.

[00:10:25]>> And are you guys using micros for the PTO engagement? Is that what I saw?

[00:10:29]>> Yeah. Yeah, there are micros.

[00:10:30]>> Okay. So, have you had any like load issues with that or they've been like really consistent and you would recommend teams use micros uh for PTO's?

[00:10:37]first time when you when we tried them, uh the the arms from the micros were were uh made out of print. So that's when we had problems with them because they were like warping and stuff. But then by but when we added the the aluminum arms and it's okay. I mean it's working pretty well.

[00:10:54]>> Yeah. And then talking a little bit about like 3D printing and different materials, I noticed you guys also have resin printed plastic pulleys over here.

[00:11:01]Why did you go for those instead of like FDM printed or like machined like aluminum pulleys? because they they are much smoother than the print and the resolution on the on the resin printer is much higher.

[00:11:12]>> I see that makes sense. Now, last thing I want to cover with you guys CSH is your drive practice and drive strategy.

[00:11:18]I mean, we just saw that match maybe 120 115 artifacts just absolutely lights out so consistent. What's the secret? What can teams learn from you guys?

[00:11:26]>> Yes. So, um from the beginning of the season, we knew that uh diver practice would be one of the key elements for scoring as much artifacts as possible.

[00:11:35]um uh as uh a strategy of the game. We used to play at our national championship only the fire uh part of the game. But after the national championship just like last year with the specimen uh strategy, we tried to be good at both because we didn't know what to expect here at the world championship. So we knew that by being good at both we can actually achieve the maximum uh potential of the robot. um with our intake PDO and our constant shooter uh we knew that by leaving the shooter as it was in national championship because it worked out great. Uh we knew that we can actually achieve both zones, the far and the close. Uh and from the far zone we usually just make as many cycles as possible and as fast as we could. And from the close zone, we usually just uh intake from the gate because if we have a um far zone robot that can actually score artifacts, we just have a big flow so that the gate cycles are extremely fast.

[00:12:31]>> Yeah. And but as far as like when you're on the practice field, are you guys running full matches? Are you guys running drills? How do you decide what to do and how to hone your skills best?

[00:12:39]>> Yeah. So um for even testing the um the robot we are usually practicing a lot at our hub and uh that way we can even see what works and what doesn't and our practice matches uh are basically made out of um two-minute practice tally up matches that are are like trying different strategies and just making different types of cycle and putting uh the the robot in situations that you might actually have in an official match. And that's like the perfect way to practice and to achieve like >> Yeah, absolutely. CSH, thank you guys so much. I mean, you've had such a fantastic season. Everyone was so excited to see you qualify for the World Championship and you guys have been playing just so fantastic so far. So, best of luck for the rest of the competition. We can't wait to see how you guys do. Reporting for Fun Robotics Network, I'm Abhas and this is Team 17861 CSH. Thank you.

[00:13:32]>> Thanks for watching. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and click the bell to stay up to date on future fun videos.

[00:13:38]Ketaring University's cutting edge programs in their experiential co-op model seamlessly blend the professional and academic worlds, offering hands-on, feature focused learning that empowers students pursue new ideas and inspires other institutions to follow their lead.

[00:13:50]Don't just be ahead of the curve, create the curve. Get more information at ketarine.edu/first.

[00:13:56]>> Studa Robotics is inspiring teams to build better robots with their new array of FTC team options. Check out their updated bevel gears and Maverick hex shaft motors, planter gearbox options, and 6 millm hex components and shafts for extreme power transmission. Go to suda.com/roobots to learn more and apply for discounts.

[00:14:16]for you.