Offseason Infinite Recharge Robot

This offseason, we decided to build a robot to play a modified version of the 2020 FRC game, Infinite Recharge. We wanted to get more experience building robust linkage intakes and have a chance for the programming team to tune an adjustable-hood ball shooter.

The robot’s subsystems was primarily designed by first and second-year students, with minimal input and guidance from the upperclassmen, and were designed to be mounted on our new MK5n swerve drivetrain. We’re proud of the work that they were able to accomplish and believe that this training better prepares the entire team for build season.

Partially inspired by 1678’s 2022 and 2020 robots, we de-scoped the game and decided to focus on what would teach us the most while being able to be built in the least amount of time. For example, we decided to only store one ball and have the indexer be a passive funnel rather than a spindexer to save time and complexity.

For the intake, we attempted a few new construction techniques. On our front roller, we decided to float over a silicone tube with an air compressor rather than covering it with grip tape. From preliminary testing, the silicone tube has been more grippy and more durable than the cat-tongue grip tape.

Another major change with this robot is the use of Kraken x44s. In our 2025 competition robot, we exclusively used Kraken x60s, which made getting the robot under the weight limit difficult. On our offseason robot, we used x44s on the feeder and intake rollers where the greater sustained power was not necessary, saving us 0.9 lbs overall.

We also purchased a new polycarbonate plate bender, which heats up a thin strip of the plate evenly, allowing us to make much stronger and more precise bends than we could before. This new capability was necessary to bend the passive funnel indexer into shape, as it requires 3 accurate bends on one plate.

Overall, we’re really happy with how our offseason robot turned out and can’t wait for Rebuilt!