Today we were given the game rules for this week’s competition. We are basically building robots that will play Tic-Tac-Toe. The robot has to fit into a cube 18 x 18 x 18 inches at the beginning of the game. There will be a red team and a blue team trying to place rings onto the pegs of the board or place them into the 1 point scoring zone. Today each team started to brainstorm ideas and prototype possible designs and mechanisms for our robots.
Here are some of the excerpts from our engineering journals:
| Work: Drive Train!!! And Rack and Pinnion | Reflection: |
| We started off by taking apart our base robot we did in the IL meetings leading up to today. We made a base and drive train but ran into an issue with one wheel not touching the ground. Then we started to work on the idea of lifting the rings up with a rack & pinion. | We had success taking apart the original robot and it gave us the ability to use its parts and create new things. However, with the base not being even, we have not yet at the time of writing this (10 minutes later it is) figured out a way to balance it out. Regardless, the base will be a good system for the robot to compete.The rack & pinion work was limited but we have a long enough one that will give us the ability to reach the highest pegs. |
Drive Train and Base Frame
| Work: | Reflection: |
| We finished the basic frame of the robot; the two stage arm for grabbing rings is basically done. We are still working on the things to push the rings on the ground. | We haven’t tested anything yet, but there are some problems that can be observed already. First of all, the arm kept falling from the servo; we may use glue on that later. Secondly, the adjustable pushing system is building too slowly, and ideally we should finish all the buildings and have a day left for testing. |
Base Frame
| Work: We built the base with three wheels and modified the sample bot from our IL meetings previous to this week. Some issues we had was figuring the measurements and sizes. | Reflection: The size of our frame allows for less space to be used up while our arms let us grab and lift the rings without too much friction which would cause the rings to slide out. We are currently working on improving the arms of our robot to fit the 18” limit. Next time, we’re going to finish the base and add motors. |
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