If you are only using part of our design on your robot, you can still use this code to help you program! To find the code for each individual mechanism, navigate to:

Then, select one of the following subsystem programs to use

• ArmSubsystem.java- raising and lowering the intake and launcher, also controls the climb

• IntakeSubsystem.java - intaking notes and feeding them to the launcher

• LauncherSubsystem.java - stopping and starting the flywheels on the launcher

In addition to referencing the subsystem code, you will need to look at RobotContainer.java for information about button bindings, constant/variable names, and function names. To find RobotContainer.java navigate to:

Attach a 120deg bracket to the end of a 1/2 x 1/2 MAXTube section on the right side using two screws and nuts as shown. The corner hole of the bracket will align with the hole closest to the top of the MAXTube. Set aside.

Attach a 120deg bracket to the end of a 1/2 x 1/2 MAXTube section on the left side using two screws and nuts as shown. The corner hole of the bracket will align with the hole closest to the top of the MAXTube. Note: this piece should be a mirror of the assembly from Step 7. Set aside.

Add the MAXTube and bracket assembly from Step 7 to the intake as shown. Use one screw, a spacer between the bracket and the 2x1 MAXTube, and a locknut.

Add the MAXTube and bracket assembly from Step 8 to the intake as shown. Use one screw, a spacer between the bracket and the 2x1 MAXTube, and a locknut.

2025 REV ION Starter Bot Walkthrough

Key Features

Drivetrain

MAXSwerve gives the 2025 Starter Bot great maneuverability, allowing the robot to navigate the field in any direction. This makes tasks like aligning with the reef for coral scoring or repositioning in tight spaces easier. While we have chosen a swerve drive this year, we believe that a flat tank drive can also be an effective drivetrain this year. Direct path cycles without defense will exist since the majority of the scoring is on your side of the field.

Manipulator and Scoring Systems

Coral Handling

A single-stage elevator with an integrated wrist allows for the efficient intake of coral from the human player station with the ability to score on levels one, two, and three of the reef.

Our design emphasizes simplicity over scoring on all levels. Given the number of scoring locations for coral, we felt that the slightly lower max score was worth the trade-off for an easy-to-build, maintain (and repair) design. Teams who want to score on L4, can adjust the geometry of the wrist or add another stage to the elevator, both of which are changes that are accessible upgrades for this design.

Algae Intake

A floor intake mechanism mounted to the chassis streamlines the delivery of algae to the processor, allowing your team to contribute to cooperative scoring strategies. The intake subsystem is completely self-contained with both the deployment and intake motors both mounted to the intake itself so this can be left off or added later as desired.

Endgame

The current 2025 Starter Bot design doesn’t include an endgame mechanism. We felt that while the endgame is an important factor in this game the majority of the scoring will be from coral and algae. While not tested, we believe that teams can design or add cage hooks to the elevator to facilitate shallow cage climbs, expanding their capabilities without overhauling the robot.

Purple inflatable cubes are also one of the game pieces for this year's CHARGED UP game. There are 44 cubes total on the playing field, including in the Substation area. The average weight of the cubes is approximately 2.5oz.

Each cube is made of purple PVC fabric and is marked with a FIRST logo. A cube has rounded corners, may not have flat surfaces, and the length, width, and height of the sides may not be equal dimensions.

Charge Station

Each field has two Charge Stations, one for each alliance, located in their corresponding communities. Each Charge Station consists of the main pivoting frame, lead-in ramps, and support structure. The main pivoting frame is mounted to the base frame via a set of 4 double hinges.

A robot earns points for its alliance by docking on or engaging with its Charge Station.

Substation Area

A Substation is an assembly used to move game pieces, like cubes and cones, from humans to robots or onto the field. There are 2 types of Substations in each Substation Area: a Single Substation and a Double Substation. Each Substation contains a Portal- a three-dimensional volume through which humans transfer game pieces to robots or the field.

Each Alliance's Double Substation is attached to and in-line with their opponent’s Alliance Wall. Each Single Substation is in-line with the guardrail.

Alliance Area

A 20ft wide by 9ft 10-1/4in deep infinitely tall volume, formed by, and including the Alliance Wall, edge of the carpet, and Alliance colored tape.

West Coast Drive

West Coast Drive is generally characterized by having six, eight, or ten wheels that are cantilevered. Further, one wheel on each side is directly driven, while the rest are linked via chain. To help improve maneuverability, omni wheels can be used on the front or back, so wheels slide across the floor while turning. When using six or more wheels, lowering the middle wheel of the drivetrain can cause less friction because not all wheels are touching the floor at one time.

See REV's West Coast Drive built using ION products here:

ION West Coast Drivetrain - Onshape File

Swerve Drive

Swerve drivetrain uses standard wheels mounted on their own pivoting mechanisms. Most swerve drivetrains require two motors per wheel; one to rotate the wheel, and one to control the direction the wheel points. Your robot can move in any direction because the drive wheels pivot without changing the orientation of the drivetrain, but this type of drivetrain is very technically complex. There are multiple types of swerve drive, including crab drive and 2+2 configuration.

Swerve Drives offer a huge increase in maneuverability, at the cost of increased build complexity and increased resource costs, including weight, space, capital, and time.

See REV's Swerve Drive built using ION products, including the MAXSwerve Module here:

ION 3in MAXSwerve Drivetrain - Onshape File

Other Drivetrains

Some other common drivetrains used in FIRST include:

• Two Wheel Drive (also known as "casterbot")

• Four Wheel Drive

• Six Wheel Drive variations that are not specifically West Coast Drive

• Car Drive

• H-Drive

• Holonomic Drive

• Mecanum Drive

All of these systems have their own advantages and disadvantages that should be discussed by your team. This is by no means a comprehensive list, either!

As teams learn, adapt, and iterate on each year's unique challenges, new drivetrains are created annually to meet the criteria needed to succeed and make it all the way to Einstein!

Before you can deploy this project to your robot, you'll need to set your team number in /.wpilib/wpilib_preferences.json or via the "Set Team Number" tool in WPILib VSCode. You will need to update WPILib VSCode to a 2026+ release to build this project.

Driving the 2026 REV ION FRC Starter Bot

All controls for the Starter Bot are located in /src/main/java/frc/robot/RobotContainer.java and can be configured with WPILib's Command Controller API. The project is configured for an Xbox controller by default, so other controllers may require some additional setup or changes.

The robot's starting/zero configuration is:

• intake in

Default Controls

Other features

CAN IDs

The CAN IDs for the Starter Bot motor controller are defined in /src/main/java/frc/robot/Constants.java.

The default IDs are:

Configuration

All configuration objects are instantiated in /src/main/java/frc/robot/Configs.java and called by each subsystem

MAXMotion

The Shooter Flywheel implements

Simulation

Check out the REVLib simulation docs for more information on setting up and running a simulation. Select NetworkTables > SmartDashboard to open the Mechanism2d windows in the Simulation GUI. These displays will also update with a robot connected, so play around with them and add them to your dashboard! They can be configured in /src/main/java/frc/robot/Constants.java.

Debugging

Individual mechanisms can also be controlled via SmartDashboard:

• File -> Open -> 2026-Starter-Bot-SmartDashboard.xml (in the root of this repo)

• The Upper left corner shows the currently running subsystems

• The Intake and Shooter subsystems contain Commands and status

  • In a subsystem, only a single command may run at a time

  • Pressing the Start button starts the Command and is replaced by a Cancel button, which stops the command

IntakeSubsystem

• Intake : Runs the Intake and Conveyor into the robot

• Extake : Runs the Intake and Conveyor out of the robot

ShooterSubsystem

• Flywheel : spins the flywheel up to its target velocity

• Feeder : feeds the balls to the flywheel and keeps the flywheel spinning

Scoring Summary

For a full detailed scoring summary, see section 6.4.3 Point Values in the official 2023 Game Manual.

Field Layout

If you are unfamiliar with the game field structure, the following view can give insight into the different elements and their locations.

Game Breakdown

The first step to any good FRC Game strategy is a full, in-depth understanding of the game. Strong knowledge of scoring achievements, point values, and game rules help teams develop a game strategy that maximizes their scoring ability. Once the knowledge is built, the game can be broken down into data points for analysis.

A commonly used metric in the competitive robotics world is points per second. Basing your game strategy based on the number of points you can gain per second (or even per game period), will help your team make the mechanical choices best for you!

Remember to always strategize and build within your resources! Not all teams will have access to the same resources, whether it is parts or people. A strategy that seems to yield the most points per second on paper may not be as successful as a strategy that focuses on maximizing accuracy.

Scoring and Match Strategy

One of the first steps we recommend your team take is to plan out your potential strategy for playing the game. After taking time to read through the rules, sitting down to brainstorm strategies and ideas for build season is an exciting and challenging task. It's important to involve all team members in the brainstorming process, as diverse perspectives and expertise can lead to innovative and effective solutions. During the brainstorming session, it's also important to keep an open mind and embrace creativity, as this can lead to new and unexpected ideas that could give the team a competitive edge.

The scoring and match strategy for CHARGED UP involves maximizing points earned through various actions, such as scoring game pieces on grids, completing links, docking on and/or engaging with the charge station, and parking.

A team has to have a good understanding of the point system and the specific criteria for earning points in order to develop an effective scoring strategy. It may also be beneficial to focus on actions that earn the most points per action, such as completing links, which is worth more points than scoring a single game piece.

Additionally, teams should consider aiming to score game pieces in a way that maximizes their chances of earning links. This could involve prioritizing certain rows or nodes on the grid to focus on scoring in. It could also be important to have a strategy for the endgame, where robots attempt to park, dock, and engage with their charge station or continue to score game pieces. Overall, teams need to have a good understanding of the point system and the specific criteria for earning points. The team may choose to aim to score game pieces in a way that maximizes their chances of earning links and aim to engage and dock with the charge station as many times as possible.

Some questions to consider asking yourselves during this process are:

• What are our options for scoring during the different match periods (Autonomous, Teleoperated, End Game)?

• What are things that our robot MUST be able to do to be successful in this year's game? (ie- navigate over certain terrains like cable protectors or the charging station, etc.)

• Are there any aspects of the game that our team would like to focus on? April Tags are new this year and could be a fun challenge for vision processing!

Check out this video from the Kettering Robot in 3 Days team about Scoring and Strategy:

Robot and Game Rules

Watch the video below, presented by First Updates Now and brought to us by Kettering University, to see what seven of the most important Robot and Game Rules are to know for CHARGED UP!

However, in order to get a true sense of the 2023 FIRST Robotics Competition game, CHARGED UP, you must dive into the manual. The manual provides in-depth explanations regarding all of the components necessary for this challenge. It outlines how teams should approach the field, collect cubes and cones to charge, climb a tower, and deploy their robot into a goal to score points. With colorful diagrams and detailed descriptions of the custom components and scoring system, the manual helps teams understand exactly what is required for them to excel at this competition.

Be sure to read up on CHARGED UP before gearing up for an exciting competition season!

Insert the the 1/2in Hex Shaft as shown, with the 52T gear and shaft collars on the inside and the 16T gears and end screws on the outside.

Insert the the 1/2in Hex Shaft as shown, on the outside end(left side of image) slide a 1/4in & 1/8in Spacer, securing with a Shaft End Screw. On the inside(right side of image) slide on the 28T Gear, 1/16 & 1/4 Spacer, securing the end of the shaft with the MAXPlanetary 1/2in Hex Socket Output

Attach the MAXPlanetary system to the 1/2in Hex Socket Output using the MAXPlanetary hardware. Secure the system to the MAXSpline Brackets with a 2-1/2in screw, a 1in spacer between the brackets, and the 3/4in & 1/8in spacers between the brackets and the MAXPlanetary system.

Press a RH Thread Tube Nut into the Dead Axle Tube and then the LH Thread Tube Nut into the other end. You may need to use a mallet to hammer in the Tube Nuts. Place a Washer over the tube nut then screw in a appropriately threaded Jam Nut and Ball Joint Rod End. Do this twice so that you have two Turnbuckle Braces.

Secure the Turnbuckle Braces to the MAXTube as shown.

Slide two spacers, install key into keyway, and the the 12T pulley onto the NEO Shaft, secure the pulley with a retaining clip. Put this to the side, you will use it in a later step.

Install the MAXHubs with a Socket Head screw and a 1-1/4in button head screw. The socket head should be one the outside half of the Hub for clearance. Insert the Hex Shaft, securing with the 1/2in button head screw. Slide the 1/8in spacer onto the Hex shaft.

Insert the 22.125in Hex Shaft through the upper bearing on the left side frame and the 22.875in through the middle bearing on the same side. Slide onto these shafts the RT25 Pulleys and Belt at the same time for tension. Secure the pulleys with Shaft Collars and then slide on 8 Grip wheels on each shaft. Center the upper shaft an secure it with a shaft collar on the right, then both ends with Shaft End Screws. Slide onto the Middle shaft, a shaft collar and the free floating gearbox assembled in previous steps. Slide the shaft to leave the excess on left side of the frame as shown. Screw a Shaft End Screw into the right side of the shaft. Please Note: Adjust MAXSpline Bearing Block on the free floating gearbox to create tension on the the belt. You may also choose to secure the gearbox to the frame of the intake with the fastener of your choice. i.e. zip ties. Please Note: A little bit of tape in-between each grip wheel will keep them from sliding on the shaft.

Insert the 22.875in Hex Shaft through the lower bearing on the left side frame. Slide onto the shaft the Compliant wheels, intake flaps, and shaft collars as shown. Slide the shaft to leave the excess on left side of the frame as shown. Screw a Shaft End Screw into the right side of the shaft. Slide onto excess of these shafts the RT25 Pulleys and Belt at the same time for tension securing with Shaft End Screws. Tighten all shaft collars. Please Note: A little bit of tape in-between each grip wheel will keep them from sliding on the shaft.

Secure the polycarbonate slider bed as shown.

Attach the Half MAXSpline Bearing Block to the NEO using the Button head screws. Slide onto the shaft of the NEO all three spacers, install key into keyway, pulley with belt, and secure it with the retaining clip.

Mount the NEO using the MAXSpline Bearing Block as a clamp to the frame. Make sure to leave enough belt to wrap around it's pulley in later steps.

Insert the Hex Shaft through the upper bearing on the left side frame. Slide onto the shaft the 1/8 and 1/16 spacers, the pulley with belt wrapped around, then the shaft collars and wheels as shown. Slide both 1/2in spacers on the end through the 72T belt. Secure with Shaft End Screws. Tighten all shaft collars. Please Note: You may need to adjust the NEO up or down to get the shaft and pulley through. Then adjust it for tension.

Insert the Hex Shaft through the upper bearing on the left side frame. Slide onto the shaft the shaft collars and wheels as shown. Then the pulley with belt wrapped around and the 1/8 and 1/16 spacers. Secure with Shaft End Screws. Tighten all shaft collars. Please Note: You may need to adjust the NEO up or down to get the shaft and pulley through. Then adjust it for tension.