Our team is taking the difficult route, and actually trying to score every point on the board possible:

1. Bring all three houses into starting box (3 point per house, 9 points total)
2. Place house shields (umbrellas) onto each house (5 points per shield, 24 points total)
3. Pick up each “water,” drop into both containment bins (5 points per ball, 34 points total)
4. Experimental: Tribble collection that does not need the tribbles to be in any particular arrangement. We had a plan for separating the tribbles by color with a claw, however they needed to be in the starting arrangement.
This actually is our revised goal, our original plan was trying to score every point on the board, but we had a reality check and revised it to a more reasonable idea.

1, 2: The actual mechanisms to accomplish the tasks can get a bit more complicated. To gather the houses up, drop the umbrellas onto them and bring it back into the starting box, we will use a triangle-shaped mechanism to pull the houses into a pointed shape, and then drop an arm with the umbrellas into it.

3: The next mechanism to extract the water from the ocean and drop it into the pair of containment bins. The actual design of this idea is less concrete, but to try to do this we will have a long claw that scoops into the “ocean” and pulls out the water, dropping it into the collection bins.

4: Our claw for picking up tribbles still has some minor problems to be worked out with it, but it grabs the tribbles while they are still in the pile. It uses a simple claw, that knocks the top tribble, the leaf, off to the side into another section of the claw. How we are going to drop them into the bins is still being determined.

Other ideas we had about tribble manipulation were to use a pair of wheels to gather up every tribble on the board, not discriminating by color. This strategy is still in the experimental stage, and we haven’t completely decided on exploring the possibility of bringing it into our more reliable plan.

5: To gather up all the lava tribbles, we will use a pair of wheels mounted on the back of the robot, and then use these wheels to turn inward at rapid speeds to draw the lava into a collection bin, mounted on the back of the robot. At this point, before the 90 seconds expire, the robot will drive over to the other side of the board, which detracts from the other teams points for each lava tribble.

Relating to our other tribble collection ideas, we’re not sure if we can separate the tribble by color. This is an experiment that 1 or 2 members of the team will be working on, while the rest of the team works on our other plans that seem a bit more feasible and doable.

The obstacles to overcome and difficulties we may encounter in trying to achieve these goals are many:
• To accomplish goal 1, we need to attach some kind of hook or claw mechanism onto the ends of the triangle rods, to keep the houses within the triangle and let the umbrellas be dropped onto it.
• Also with goal 1, we need to find the houses. We plan to use sonar to locate it, but his may have to change depending on our tests and the sensor’s ability to locate these things.
• We still need to figure out a way to take our separated tribble piles and drop them into their respective collection bins.
• The timing needs to be worked out more effectively. If the wrong bot goes first, it may upset the tribble piles and thus make our claw useless. Having a set order of bot actions would assist this.
• We need to make sure whatever bot we use to collect the lava tribbles is able to get over the PVC piping in the center onto the other side.
• Our water claw needs to have the right navigation mechanisms to work, not only to effectively grab the water but to bring it over to the container bins.

Rejected Designs

The main process we tried to tackle was the attempt at sorting tribbles and separating them. One of the ideas we discussed but decided against was using a quartet of wheels. They would be mounted on the robot in a square shape. The front two wheels would have been programmed to continue turning inwards to draw in the tribbles to a central “area.” At this area, there would be mounted a camera which would be set for the three possible colors for tribbles. The wheels would then be programmed to be turned in certain directions to place each tribble into some kind of storage container. For example, if the tribble was orange/red and those were supposed to move upwards, the two wheels mounted at positions 1 and 2 (using Cartesian coordinate plane naming conventions) would begin running inwards, pulling the tribble into a storage container.

This idea while, in theory, would work, the complexity was far too high to implement. It would cover a large amount of space, crowding out other robots. The front two wheels would have to be on the ground (or close to it) to pick up the tribbles off the ground, while the containers could not be close to the ground. The motors to run this entire mechanism would deplete our total supply, which is already kind of sparse, keeping in mind the movement drives for each bot. The placement of the camera could be difficult, as they can only be mounted on the fronts of the XBC, which might eventually lead to having to mount it perfectly vertically, which is difficult and dangerous.

Related to this idea, in place of a storage container to hold the lava, it would instead have another two wheels. These, however, would be mounted vertically, and be set to throw the lava to the other side of the board.

We also rejected this idea not because of complexity, but because of parts sparseness and reliability issues. The entire mechanism would use six wheels, which is almost as many as the kit has. The reliability also had problems. Limited testing showed that the trajectory of the tribble is nigh unpredictable, meaning it might not actually reach the other side of the board, or just fall back down short of crossing over, staying on our side. Also, at time of “launching,” it would be very near to the volcano, which may lead to the tribbles hitting the volcano and coming back onto our side.

We are submitting four bot designs. Some may or may not work together, but we will work that out later.

Bot 1 - House Collector - Mobile Design
Bot 2 - House Collector - Static Design
Bot 3 - Water/Volcano Master
Bot 4 - Fruit Collector


- Bot 1 - House Collector - Mobile Design

Task: Obtain houses (2” couplers) and bring them back to the starting box and place umbrellas into the houses.

Maximum points: 24 pts (3 points for each house in the starting area, 15 points for placing all the umbrellas in the houses.)

Progress: For this robot we are still trying to get around the problem of getting over the PVC tubing because this would highly benefit our strategy. We have a structure for the bot and have begun testing different ways of attempting this feat. If we cannot do this, we will have to have the robot navigate its way out of the starting box. We have also started a potential program for allowing it to go over. As far as the collection of the houses goes, we already have a working prototype that performs well, although we are still refining the code for accuracy and consistency.

Description: After getting over the tube this bot will use a sonar tracker and “ping” off of the PVC tubing in order to stay aligned. It will drag the house it picks up in a funneled line. This line is restricted in such a way that all the umbrellas, previously placed on an arm of the bot connected to a servo, are able to be lowered into the houses at the same time. We then proceed to bring this bot back into the starting box saving the houses. The key features will be a servo holding the umbrellas and then lowering them into the houses and a funnel that will collect the houses.

Original planning: As stated before our problem is to get the bot across the PVC tubing. The possible designs that were considered are as follows:

1st possibility: The bot starts elevated and basically falls over the tube. This seems to work, but is potentially hazardous to the bot and not always reliable.

2nd possibility: We have a ramp in the starting area which allows the bot to roll up and fall over on the other side. This has also worked in the past, but if the motors are not running at full function the bot will fall over the other side and end up in a vertical position.

3rd possibility: We have debated whether it would better to just abandon the entire idea of going over the tube. We have found that if it goes around the pipes, there is too much activity on one half of the board, increasing the chance of collisions.

4th possibility: One idea that we played with that we eventually threw out is the idea of a counter arm to actually lift the bot across the tube. This seemed promising, but the robot's center of gravity too high and the bot would be too complicated, increasing the chance of confusion and mistakes.


- Bot 2 - House Collector - Static Design

Task: Obtain houses and bring them back to the starting box, placing the umbrellas on them somewhere in the process.

Maximum points: 24pts (15 pts for shielding all the houses and 9pts for bringing all the houses back to the starting box)

Progress: This robot is in the design phase. It has been well planned out and will be built soon. Currently, the base has been started and a few prototypes of possible arms have been constructed. In addition, some details of placements of arms and XBC base are being worked out.

Description: This robot stays in the front half of the starting box. This bot will be static (hence its name) and will only move three arms to pick up the houses. These arms will either contain the umbrellas and cover the houses before picking them up or will pick the houses up and place the umbrellas on after. After grabbing the houses with a claw, the arms will then retract into the starting box with the houses. This bot may also include another arm to sweep the pineapples/compost out of the way so they do not interfere with the Static's partner robot. These arms will be the most important feature of this bot.

Original planning: This initial problem for this bot was how to design the arms that will cover and then pick up the houses. They need to be light and strong so that it is easy to lower and raise them, and the raising mechanism must be strong enough to lift the weight of a house at a great distance.

1st possibility: Long, rigid arms made of lego pieces with a rubber band powered grabber at the end. This grabber will contain a track or wheel for added grip. An umbrella will be mounted on each arm such that it will be placed on the house when the arm lowers and grabs the house.

2nd possibility: Long rigid arms made of lego pieces with a motor and string powered grabber at the end. An umbrella will be mounted on each arm such that it will be placed on the house when the arm lowers and grabs the house.

3rd possibility: A folding arm that utilizes a rubber-band trigger and a motor at the back end, which reels in a string that will both tighten the claw and bring the arm back. In this case, the umbrella will either be on the end of the arm or on the robot itself.

4th possibility: A folding arm that uses one servo (per arm) to extend the arm and retract it. The claw will be powered by a rubber band. This way, the extension/retraction process will be easier.


- Bot 3 - Water/Volcano Master

Task: Obtain and place water balls (4” blue balls) into the two 4” couplers and block the volcano.

Maximum points: 20 pts (5 points for each ball, -14 for all volcanic balls on opponent side, 0 points for no lava balls on our side)

Progress: This robot is in initial testing phase. Its original structure has been built and modified several times. The program has been created and our team is currently running test runs and slightly modifying its programming.

Description: This bot starts facing the water in the starting box. It then moves straight outward towards the water aligning itself to pick them up using a scoop. The most prominent parts of this bot will be the arm used to block the volcano and the scoop/arm used to pick up the water. After securing them it proceeds to make a 90 degree turn left backing up and using the pole to align itself straight using touch sensors. It then goes forward makes another 90 degree turn left, proceeding forward again, making a 90 degree right turn periodically using the PVC tubing to align itself. It then drops both waters into the couplers activating a giant arm to unfold, lifting upward to block the volcano.

Original planning: This initial problem for this bot was the creation and components of the arm used to block the volcano. It needed to be light enough to not throw the bot off balance but sturdy enough to do its task.

1st possibility: A long arm made of long lego pieces and a piece of paper at the end. This worked, but it wasn’t sturdy enough.

2nd possibility: Another long arm made entirely of lego pieces creating a blocker. This also worked, but in the end was a little too heavy.

- Bot 4 - Fruit Collector

Task: Obtain and sort the pineapples and compost, then place them in the correct bins.

Maximum points: 30 pts (15 points for all compost in the green bin, 15 points for all pineapples in the pineapple bin)

Progress: This robot is in the design phase. Part of the sorter has been built but there is still work to do before testing or coding can begin.

Description: This bot starts in the forward part of starting box. It then moves straight outward towards the water and proceeds to make a 90 degree turn. It then goes forward makes another 90 degree turn left. The bot then zigzags around the houses, picking up and sorting each pile of compost and pineapples. It stores the pineapples and compost in separate compartments on an arm. It then drives to the bins and the arm holding the pineapples and compost dumps them into the correct bins. The most prominent features of this bot are the sorting mechanism and the arm that will store and then dump the pineapples and compost. This bot would work best with the static house collector.

Original planning: This initial problem for this bot is how to sort the pineapples and compost. It needs to be accurate and consistent.

1st possibility: An arm with a motor geared to place axels under then pineapple and the lift it off of the compost placing it in the correct storage bay. The bot will then sweep up the compost and place it in a separate bay.

2nd possibility: Another arm that will sweep the pineapple off of the compost and then pick up the pineapple and compost in separate parts of a claw. It will then put the pineapple and compost in the separate bays.

Rejected Designs

Bot 1

Rejected: Going over the pipe with or without a ramp

Reason: There were several ways that we had attempted to go over the ramp without using a ramp. We originally just elevated the entire robot on a platform made of wheels. This worked every once and a while, but was highly impractical and somewhat inconsistent. After that we made a platform made entirely out of Lego pieces. This was more consistent and practical, but a large waste of pieces compared to the amount of work it actually did. At this point our group completely rejected the idea of going over the pipe figuring it was a waste of pieces, time and possibly compromising the maximum amount of points we can get.

Bot 2

Rejected: The placement of the XBC higher than the height of the pipes surrounding the home base.

Reason: Having a heavy object such as the XBC higher up results in an overall higher center of mass. Consequently, when this static robot attempts to pick all the homes with the long, extended arms, the weight of the homes, and the arms, coupled with the torque necessary to reel the arms in may overbalance the robot and tip it over. In the past, we have learned that having a very low center of mass correlates to a much more stable base, so we decided to have the XBC nearer to the floor of the board.

Rejected: One arm to act as a crane to pick up the balls, one at a time.

Reason: This obviously would require some more motors, along with a turntable-type mechanism, which would be taxing to the XBC’s power. In the end, this would be a slower mechanism for collection, which is why we opted for three arms working simultaneously.

Rejected: Using string to tighten the claw to grip each house and to pull the arm in, along with a rubber band trigger to initially extend the arm.

Reason: When the prototype of this implementation was built, the idea seemed a good one, as the rubber band allowed for faster extension, and the string was effective in pulling the arm up (without a house attached). This was done without the claw also, because we first wanted to test the reeling-in process. To test a situation of lifting a house, we attached a battery that resembled the house's weight and had a motor try and pull it up. We found that almost all the time, the string broke because it was simply too weak. Also, the force required to pull the arm and house with string was too much for the motor to handle. Thirdly, the rubber band was often stretched a lot, and friction over other Lego pieces frequently wore it down, breaking it.


Bot 3

Rejected: lego structure for blocking the volcano and channeling the lava to the other team’s side.

Reason: This structure was too heavy for our arm/servo to place on the volcano. This structure also made our bot too large to fit in the starting box. It was more practical too utilize our other design that uses paper as a blocking component as opposed to this designs use of many heavy legos. This design also had the potential to break easily and disqualify us by dropping pieces into the surface beneath the volcano or onto the other team’s side. Overall, this design was rejected on the basis of its weight and its likelihood of disqualifying our team.

Rejected: a scoop designed to pick up the water and then deposit it into the crop bins

Reason: This scoop had a tendency to push the water off of the table while attempting to pick them up. This design also had to utilize two motors to eject the water as opposed to our other designs use of only one motor. The pieces that we added to hold the water so that it would not roll off the table moved and thus created more problems. They dragged on the table and caught on the pipe. This design was rejected in favor of the more practical and efficient other design that we developed.

Bot 4

We have yet to reject any designs for this bot.
However, we recognize that the design for this robot is rather complicated, considering the accuracy with which the robot must find each pineapple/leaf and pick it up, without losing it in the process. We also recognized that the success of this gathering mechanism assumes that the piles are not previously disturbed; if they were, finding the pineapples and leaves would be far more difficult.