Team 192 – Initial and Rejected Designs

Implemented Designs:

· “The Wall” (CBC)

o Features: An tail-like attachment on the CBC which includes a free-swinging door enclosed on three sides that will act as a “wall,” encompassing part of the PVC piping. The door will close behind the green and orange poms and drag them along the side of the piping towards the center of the sloped board. The poms will then be dragged to the peak of the hill to score the maximum amount of points.

o Scoring: Potential total of 60 points. Five poms of each color (five green poms and five orange “fossil fuel” poms) rest along the PVC pipes on each side of the board. If all of these poms are obtained and dragged to the top of our team’s slope, we will have twenty poms which are worth three points each.

o Difficulties: Occasionally, one or two poms slip out before they can be encompassed by the attachment. Methods of modification are currently being explored so that this will not be a problem in the

o Likelihood of use: 100%. This attachment is already built and being tested on our CBC robot, although it is always subject to modification.

· Sweeping Arm (Create)

o Features: This is a generic three-clawed arm attachment controlled by a servo motor which sweeps left, then right, to quickly grab Botguy. It is able to efficiently move various items, making it ideal for competition rounds. We may also use it to move the water resources and the fuel containers (which contain green and orange poms).

o Scoring: For the four water resources, two from each side, we would get 30 points each for bringing them to our peak for a total of 120 points. Moving the fuel containers to the top of the peak would gain us no points for the containers themselves, but the 20 green and orange poms inside of them would score a total of 60 points at the peak. With the 3X multiplier if Botguy is obtained and brought up to the peak, this single attachment has the potential to score 540 points.

o Difficulties: This extension could easily get caught on a PVC pipe or another robot, and its length inhibits the Create from maneuvering easily in tight spaces.

o Likelihood of use: 100%. This attachment is already build and being tested on our iCreate Roomba, although it is always subject to modification.

· Turbine Grabber (Create)

o Features: A simple, small, V-shaped attachment on the front of the Create, with a servo motor-controlled flap which opens and closes over the wind turbines. As of now, the only function of this attachment is to obtain the wind turbines.

o Scoring: The ultimate objective using this attachment would be to install the six wind turbines into their foundations, for a total of 180 points.

o Difficulties: As with the Sweeping Arm, this attachment could easily get stuck on a piece of PVC piping or another robot. It also has trouble picking up two water turbines at once, a problem which slows it down considerably. Despite these flaws, however, it is generally consistent in picking up one turbine at a time.

o Likelihood of use: 100%. This attachment is already build and being tested on our iCreate Roomba, although it is always subject to modification.

Rejected Designs:

· Piston Arm (Create)

o Features: A generic claw attachment controlled by a linear actuator which would close to grab the blue balls (water resources) and Botguy. It could open and close with great accuracy and strength.

o Scoring: Potential 120 points for grabbing all four of the water resources and taking them up to the peak, and a 3X multiplier for obtaining Botguy and taking him up to the peak, for a total of 360 points.

o Difficulties: This attachment was very slow, which would have been a hindrance in the competition rounds, and may have affected our ability to finish under the time limit.

o Likelihood of use: Rejected. We found that two separate arms could accomplish these tasks with greater speed and efficiency.