Active Intake
Driven roller intake with motor + belt reduction. Introduces compliant wheels and bumper interaction — the entry point for most FTC scoring chains.
Before you start
Measure the game piece and your alliance partner's bumper height. The intake sweep zone has to live between the floor and the bumper or you can't pick up touching pieces.
1Choose the roller geometry
Decide between a single full-width roller, two opposed rollers, or a wheel-on-top design. Each handles game pieces differently; flywheel intakesA single high-RPM roller above the piece flips it up into the robot. Works great for low pieces but can launch them across the field if you're too aggressive on the gearing. are most common.
Roller surface speed should comfortably exceed the robot's drive speed so it actually pulls pieces in instead of pushing them.
2Design the belt reduction
From a single drive motor, route a belt down to the roller shaft. Reduce 2:1 to 4:1 depending on how much surface speed and torque you need — high-speed intakes need low reductionA 2:1 reduction from a 1620 RPM motor gives ~810 RPM at the roller. That's plenty of surface speed for compliant intakes but not so fast that you destroy game pieces on contact.; high-torque ones can run 4:1 or beyond.
Use GT2 or HTD 5mm pitch belt for FTC scale — it's quiet and tolerant of misalignment.
3Mount the compliant wheels
Slide compliant wheels onto the roller shaft. Space them evenly across the width — typically 4–6 wheels for a 14" intake.
Wheel hardness matters35-40 durometer compliant wheels grip well but wear fast. 50-60A lasts but slips on slick game pieces. Pick based on whether you're protecting the piece or maximizing grip. for what you're intaking.
4Position relative to the bumper line
The roller's lowest point should sit just above the floor — typically 3–5 mm clearance. The robot's bumper must NOT block the intake's approach to a piece on the floor.
If the bumper is in the way, either move the intake outboard of the bumper (cantilevered) or design a deployable intake that swings down at match start.
5Add a deflector or hopper above
Pieces flipped up by the intake have to land somewhere. Add a sloped deflector or hopper that catches them and feeds them into the next mechanism — without one, pieces bounce out the way they came in.
Drag the roller in Onshape's Play view; trace where pieces would land. If they bounce back out, redesign the deflector before printing parts.
You have an active intake that captures pieces reliably. The hopper/deflector above is the bridge to whatever scores them — a shooter, a lift, a transfer.