08/06/2026
[wheely troublesome]
CORE MIKE came into RCAP TJI with their best robot yet.
After solving some sensor geometry issues on their rebuilt robot midway through the SG Open event, oscillations on their line following were much reduced.
Coupled with some improvements to their evacuation zone strategy, the team was much more confident in their evacuation zone performance.
Unfortunately RCAP TJI threw up a whole new set of issues.
Most notably, the foam used for the tiles were constantly shedding, leaving a powdery layer on their new silicone tyres which struggled for grip.
The team cycled through different tyre permutations but could not find something that worked well.
Lighting at the venue was also unkind, with sunlight glancing over the tiles earlier in the day.
The TCS34725 sensors, with its almost 180° effective field of view, threw up vastly different readings depending on the orientation of the robot, making even basic line following a nightmare and line gaps next to impossible.
While they struggled through the line segment, CORE MIKE has finally performed a successful rescue in competition after coming really close at the RoboCup Singapore Open.
Finding and picking up 2 live victims, they held their breaths as the robot looked well on track to deposit them.
Unfortunately, fate had other plans as one victim landed perfectly on the edge of the evacuation point where it stayed for the rest of the run.
While not the performance CORE MIKE was looking for, there have been some positives to take away and the actualization of real problems that the team will need to consider and solve for going forward.
Back for a week, the team has already picked my brains on what went wrong and started redesigning various bits of the robot.
Looking forward to the next iteration of their robot with most of the team sitting out WRO this year!
CORE MIKE
RoboCup Asia Pacific Tianjin Invitational
RoboCup Junior Rescue Line U19
2nd
ft. 400m NSG gold medalist trying to outrun my camera
