2025 Season
Brought to you by the 2025 Chief Technical Officer Isabella "Bella" Warmington and our wonderful technical leads!
Code Purple, Team 5827, is a veteran team founded in 2016. Our members and mentors are proud to have participated in FIRST for nine years thus far. Code Purple’s mission is to create a safe space that fosters innovation and creativity in students through STEM education. We strive to provide a place for everybody, regardless of experience. We believe that everyone has a place in STEM as we work to highlight our students’ skill in our interactive and engaging learning environment, allowing students to solve real world problems through adaptation and collaboration.
Presenting our 2025 bot: Jacques Roo-Steau
Our robot is named after the famous French oceanographer; Jacques Cousteau. Cousteau is famous for his contributions to marine science, conservation, and underwater exploration. Some notable achievements of his include:
- Co-invented the Aqua-Lung, the first self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA).
- Invented a decompression chamber for simulated dives.
- Invented equipment for undersea television.
- Produced over 120 documentaries, including The Silent World.
- Promoted environmental activism and marine conservation.
- Raised global awareness about the fragile state of the oceans.
Every season during kickoff after the game is revealed the first thing we do as a team is gather together to discuss and dissect the game rules. We examine how we are able to score points, the fouls and how we might lose points, as well as how to gain ranking points and robot design restrictions such as weight and size. We break off into small groups to do an in-depth analysis and come back together as a whole team to discuss important rules and cover how the game works. Once we feel that we understand those topics, we then go into examining what we want to be able to do in the game that will make us successful. As we discuss possible strategies and what to focus on during matches, we consider what the robot must be able to do in order to accomplish our goals. We list our priorities and then rank them on what we deem to be the most important to focus on in the designing and construction of our robot.
Directly after the 2025 game was announced, our team gathered as a group and studied the game manual to collectively gain a deep understanding of REEFSCAPE. We then split the student population into 3 main groups discussing:
- The Algae Game piece
- The Coral Game piece
- Defensive Strategies
Based on what they discussed, we decided to focus on scoring the coral game piece, as its:
- Easy to handle and score
- Needed for TELEOP
- Ranking point and scoring bonus during AUTON For the algae game piece, students decided to put any algae manipulation onto the "want" list for out robot.
These groups discussed the most efficient and high scoring strategies to determine our main goals for our robot design, further splitting the analysis with the focus of having an outcome of "what not how" when deciding what we want our robot to accomplish in-game. These groups compiled their knowledge of the game manual to determine what we need the robot to do. These groups were then formed to focus on any strategy the team may have missed:
- Defensive Strategies
- Scoring
- Ranking points
These breakout sessions and brainstorming led to us creating an abundance of "priority lists" to further solidify our team strategy.
Our final priority list is the following:
Need:
- Coral (L1, L2, L3, L4?)
- Climb
- Ability to remove algae from the reef
Want:
- To score algae (processor rather than net)
This led to the creation of a more "in-depth" list of what we need our robot to do by the time we head to competition, especially since we have a week 1 and week 2 competition.
Coral (must have by week 1)
- Find (Need: Ground intake or direct from human player station)
- Obtain
- Manipulate (Need: Can’t get stuck, need high margin of error)
- Place (Want: place all 4 levels, fast and reliable. Need: Can place on a level)
Climb (Want for week 1, must have by week 2)
- Find (High tolerance, take into consideration spinning cages)
- Grab (Quick grab, something to tell the driver if the cage is grabbed)
- “Pull” (naturally fast)
Going into the build season and the start of the robot designing process we designated some goals to focus on during the process to ensure that our robot met the standards we aimed for this season as well as priorities discussed earlier. In order to visualize these priorities, we created a list with all these goals ordered from first to design, and last to be designed.
General:
- Speed (approx. 11 second cycle time)
- Stable (Low centre of gravity with no tipping)
- Robust (Needs to take hits)
Manipulate abilities
- Able to reach L2, L3, L4
- Simple to code
- Needs to allow room for climber
- Allow for wiring of the end effector
Coral End Effector:
- Direct control of the Coral
- Fast (Drops in <.5 seconds)
- Score with bumpers against Reef
Intake
- Pick up off the ground
- Large effective intake area (+- 6 inches)
- <3 second from Coral contact to driving away.
- Transition must be smooth to end effector
- Remove Coral against Coral Station
Climber
- Able to achieve DEEP climb
- Large effective capture range
- Robot stays up when disabled
- Align + capture 10 seconds
- Climb 5 seconds
- Protect sensitive areas
Algae
- Needs to be able to remove algae in >2 seconds
The use of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) is an extremely useful strategy for our team, it has been an integral part of our design process. New members are trained in basic CAD skills during the offseason, and continue learning as the season progresses. We use CAD for preliminary dimension checking, proving concepts, and ensuring that components are precise. Additionally, it allows us to machine parts with less errors and more ease. We also use our CAD models as blueprints for prototypes, to find any interferences in our designs, and to ideate and redesign easier.
When we set out to prototype our different robot subsystems, we decided to brainstorm ideas for a basic robot while also choosing to follow the RI3D for Reefscape. Drawing inspiration from multiple RI3D groups and team member ideas, we gathered together to discuss which subsystem prototypes RI3D teams used for their robots. We used metrics such as speed (for completing its objective), ease of CAD, build, wiring, coding, and drive, as well as integrability (how easy it is to add to our robot and whether it obstructs other robot subsystems) and adaptability (how easily it can be changed or modified or how it could help with other tasks). After ranking them, we concluded that we would use the star-compliant intake and a conveyor end-effector, also known as Bingus and Sugnib, respectively. Because we chose to follow this ranking process, we streamlined our efforts, saving materials and allowing us to focus on prototypes we believed would succeed. This, in turn, gave us more time to make refinements. Through much trial and error, we were able to refine our CAD models, and our final products became better as a result.
Intake Designed by: Logan Schmidt and Vaughn Morton (Prototype)
Our “intake” is defined as the mechanism which allows us to translate coral in both the horizontal and vertical directions from the floor. This decision was made with strategy in mind. Understanding that much of the coral would be dispersed amongst the field, we believed that it was tantamount to having the ability to pick up coral from the ground. The intake also doubles as the scoring mechanism for algae into the processor.
The design of the intake is one that utilizes compliant AndyMark stars to center and orient the coral in a known position every time, the use compliant wheels allow for more contact with the coral. The mechanism is designed with 2 identical but mirrored halves each with a NEO motor for drive. A combination of custom and COTS pulleys was used to achieve the necessary gear ratios. The use of 3D-printed “backbenders” keeps the belt tensioned and straight.
4-Bar
Designed by: Vaughn Morton
The “4-bar” refers to the mechanism that translates the intake from inside the frame perimeter to the outside to pick up coral. The design of the 4-bar was to minimize space using 1 Kraken motor and a 90-degree MaxPlanetary gearbox. The exact shape of the bars was designed around space constraints with both the bumpers and the swerve drive. The use of tools like MATLAB allowed for easy solutions to complex geometry questions that arose with the mechanism.
End Effector
Designed by: Rocco Beto and Kaylee Young (Connections)
The “end effector” refers to what manipulates and scores the coral onto the reef. The use of a passthrough design from the intake was key to strategy, understanding that having scoring and pickup on opposite sides of the robot decreases cycle time was a main priority. Given that the pre-placed algae and scoring positions were so close, the decision was made to place a separate mechanism onto the end effector to remove algae The design of the mechanism revolved around the placement of each shaft to carefully align the coral to score at exactly 35 degrees relative to the reef. The mechanism itself was also designed to attach onto the elevator to easily translate vertically. The use of brushless motors also decreases electrical and communication constraints, but also weight. The added mechanism for removal of algae was also designed to save weight and complexity using servos.
Elevator
Designed by: Mitchell Hickey and Logan Schmidt
The “elevator” refers to the mechanism that translates the end effector vertically. The design was informed by strategic and geometric constraints of the carriage's travel, but also available COTS resources. The use of COTS bearing blocks allowed for much of the design effort on squeezing every bit of performance out of the elevator. The mechanism is driven by 2 Kraken motors for speed and control over the scoring positions.
Climber
Designed by: Vaughn Morton
The “climber” refers to the mechanism that is responsible for both capturing the cage and translating the cage vertically and horizontally to achieve lift of the robot.
Much of the design of the mechanism was driven by weight and complexity constraints, given the intense nature of the game, the climber was intentionally left for last, as mechanisms began to pile up, decisions were made to keep the design simple. Using both a constant force spring, and simple polycarbonate pieces the capture of the cage is done passively. The movement of the cage is controlled by a winch placed towards the elevator of the robot; pulleys allow for flexible placement of the winch to allow for electrical wiring.
Drive base
Designed by: Matthew Mansour
The “drive base” refers to the chassis and drivetrain.
The design of the drive base was to keep stability in mind while ensuring space and movement between rooms was easy. The drive base uses SDS MK4i modules to save space and allow for unparalleled control and speed when driving. Many anchor points for bumpers and mechanisms were mounted to the drivebase to allow rigid supports. The drive base features a recessed bottom to allow for just a little extra performance out of the elevator. The entire sub-system is designed to take and dish out hard hits on the field, ensuring the structural integrity of the robot is never compromised.
Lead: Aimal Samir
Pre-Season: Build worked on building the new swerve modules and completing the blueprints CAD/Design gave them for a "Swerve-bot". Build started by safety training everyone in the shop and beginning basic parts and blueprint reading skills with a new robot cart design. They proceeded to move around the shop, teaching new machines as the blueprints progressed.
Post-Season:
Lead: Logan Schmidt
Pre-Season: CAD/Design worked on design skills using a "mini kickoff" with practice sheets and old game videos. CAD also practiced their Fusion skills by CAD-ing the "Swerve bot" for Build. Post-Season:
Lead: Matthew Warmington
Pre-Season: Electronics began with simple wiring lessons and soldering lessons to familiarize the members with the basics of electronics. Electronics also began identifying different FRC components and build a "Board Bot", a hardboard sheet with every electronic component a FRC robot needs. This was later used for "Swerve Bot"
Post-Season:
Leads: Omkar Page & Jayden Hong
Pre-Season: Code worked on the website for our club, as well as gave the new members lessons on the basics of both code and the robot code. They issued a main project at the end of the lessons to refine their skills. Code also worked with electronics to update our Swerve-Drives and begin coding practice with "Swerve-Bot"
Post-Season:
