For now, though, we were given the five tasks the robot has to perform, and we have to start off with concept sketches as to how we think (just ideas) this can be pulled off.
The tasks are essentially that it has to start autonomously:
1. moving along a line
2. going down a ramp
3. following a squiggly path
after this you can use a remote for it to be:
4. being picked up by a crane
5. dropping a ball that is on the robot the entire time
I already was thinking about some things. Essentially, that since it is at an angle going down the ramp, the container for the ball would have to be secure, but it should also be able to release via a mechanism (I was thinking a chain motor of sorts).
Also, the unit should be balanced (so how is the weight on all sides going to work so that it doesn't tip, especially at the point going down the ramp. And I am not sure at what point the claw will for being picked up by the crane (essentially, it's a giant pole that telescopes), so it would need to rotate until it finds the crane and close on that. So it would have to swivel (the claw, that is).
This is just rough and some ideas, and I'm sure my team will have more. I'm planning to work mostly on the software coding stuff, as I seem to have a knack for it and it's in C, a popular programming language (I already know a bit of Pyth0n). But I'll be willing to help out, of course, learning and building some of the mechanical elements and the electrical (installing motors, etc).
Okey doke; now to my rough sketch:
I couldn't use gouache because of the w@ter sh0rtage. Just kidding.
Ahahah!!! This is so amazing K! I bet your teammates love that you can draw and really express yourself in terms of design. I love watching your designs go from concept to reality and I can't wait to see how it performs in a practical sense. I would love to take a look at it too once its built, this stuff is truly fascinating!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yeah, I keep hearing "wow. That looks great". I even had a guy in our office say he liked the draftsmanship, even though among artists it's prob nothing big (they'd probably be over-analyzing my perspective lines, etc lol). We have a mechanical engineer in our class and even he was struggling with the drawing; he wanted to do it in Solidworks (even though it would end up taking him twice as long than just being able to sketch).
ReplyDeleteI think it would interesting to see how the final presentation and competition comes together. I love this stuff. I just don't know where it's going to go but I guess I'll get to that when I get to it. :)
My friend told me this weekend that she had no doubt that I'm going to be a part of or make something that everyone in the world has their hands on one day. That made me really smile. It was really kind of her. I'm excited to head over to Silic0n Valley later this year. And to go back to SF, too. I feel like that stuff is really where my heart is!