Accident Prone has come a long way this semester in terms of robot design for its new flipper bot – Projectile Dysfunction! We started out with the idea of doing a flipper last semester after the Robobrawl Competition. As we met again this semester, we started from the basics of all designs, research. We spent a hefty amount of time researching about pneumatics, advantages and disadvantages, electronics, design choices and etc. In the process of researching for this robot, we received help from other team captains, members, Ernie (An amazing machinist in MRL UIUC!!) and the Alumni. Our design went through many changes as we figured out the components needed for the pneumatic weapon system. While the task was tough, we have come a long way and we are still in the process of figuring out some key parts that meet the safety rating for our system.
We chose to design a flipper this year mainly because we wanted a design challenge and we also wanted to bring forth new types of robots into the Robobrawl competition. In addition to our time with this robot, we are also planning on bringing back Running With Scissors from last year with modifications to remedy last years mistakes. Members on this team were allowed to choose what robot they wanted to work on and develop their CAD skills as well as design skills. We have members who are completely new to combat robotics, and they were given an opportunity to learn alongside others about how we approach a design challenge!
