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==Robot construction== <gallery perrow=2 heights=300px widths=350px> File:45845 - 1996 kit of parts.png|Some of the materials available in the [[kit of parts]] [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/45845] File:45648 - 1996 kickoff kit of parts.png|Teams inspecting kits of parts at the 1996 [[kickoff]] [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/45648] </gallery> Similar to previous years, robots were primarily constructed from items included in the [[kit of parts]] and $425 worth of materials from the [[Small Parts]] catalog with a handful of outside allowances. Fasteners did not count against the price limit as long as they were actually being used as fasteners. Like in [[1995]], no more than four pulleys and/or sprockets and 10 feet of belt and/or chain from outside sources could be used, and these components had to be used in the drivetrain. Building custom "suction cup" devices to hold onto balls was allowed in the rules, although all other pneumatic components had to come from the kit and could not be modified. The kit included a variety of raw materials and components such as several types of shaft, aluminum, wood, polycarbonate and rubber sheets, four small wheelchair wheels, a selection of hinges, pivots, and magnetic catches, ball bearings, and springs. Allowed outside materials included some additional sheets of aluminum, polycarbonate, and a few varieties of pipe. Robots had to display their sponsor and school name so that judges and referees could identify them during a match. Canonical team numbers were assigned, but were only used to order from Small Parts and pick up kits of parts. Robots must fit unconstrained in a 36 inch cube at the start of a match and weigh no more than 120 pounds including batteries, almost doubling the 70 pound weight limit from [[1995]]. ===Control system=== <gallery perrow=2 heights=270px widths=350px> File:4744 - 1996 control system kickoff.jpg|The receiver and relay box (center), with RNET radio (above), drill motor and cooling fan (upper right) and Tekin speed controller (right), batteries and battery holders (below), pneumatic pump (lower left), and Delco seat motors (upper left) [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/4744] File:3827 - 1996 build control system frc171 robot.jpg|The receiver and relay box, Tekin speed controllers, and drill motors on [[frc171|team 171]]'s 1996 robot [https://www.frcarchive.com/index.php?q=post/view/3441] </gallery> Two off-the-shelf PC flight sticks from CH Products were included in the [[kit of parts]]. These plugged into the bespoke Transmit Box and allowed for three axis of proportional control from each joystick (two for the joystick itself and a third for a thumb wheel) with two digital buttons on each joystick. An additional port on the transmit box could be used to wire in an additional custom controller at the expense of some of the controls on the joysticks. The receiver and relay box functioned similar to the individual receive and relay boxes used in [[1995]], with relays being used to control the Delco seat motors and air pumps and PWM outputs driving the Tekin speed controllers. The transmit and receive boxes contained no software-programmable hardware, with joystick and button inputs just passing directly to the robot where the signals could be wired to speed controllers or relays. As in previous years, DIP switches allowed different buttons to control different outputs from the receive/relay box and limit switches could be wired in to automatically turn a motor on or off when hit or released. The transmit and receive boxes could communicate wirelessly using a pair of [[RNET]] radios or a tether cable and adaptor plugged directly between the two boxes. RNETs would be surrendered before competition began and operating in the pits required use of the tether and tether adaptor. Four Delco [[seat motors]] and two Milwaukee drill motors with gearboxes were included as well as two Tekin reversing speed controllers. Two Textron pneumatic pumps and a selection of pneumatic hardware including two pistons and two solenoid valves were also included. A computer-style muffin fan was provided to blow cool air over, typically, the drivetrain drill motors. If used, drill motors had to be paired with a Tekin speed controller. Drills could not be plugged directly into the receiver or relay box and the seat motors, air pumps and valves, and muffin fan could not be plugged into the speed controllers.
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