Hey, everybody! We are 120 Slugs, this year’s freshman combat robotics team. Below is a summary of our progress so far this semester.
We started off the semester by brainstorming designs for our robot. Ultimately, we chose to go with a vertical spinner design over our other options because of its high attack potential combined with the simplicity of its design (a crucial requirement for us as a first-time team). After some design iterations, we ended up with a rough CAD model of our robot:
We then split our team into three subsystems: electrical, weapon and chassis. Our weapon team focused on developing a single-toothed disk weapon made out of AR500 metal. After consulting with upperclassmen, we also decided to make a second bar-shaped weapon for versatility against opponents. Below is an image of the disk.
Meanwhile, our chassis team split into subteams and worked on different parts of the chassis, bringing it all together in the end in a cohesive model that incorporates feedback from the weapon and electrical subsystems. The result is a compact and fairly wide robot with front wedges and multiple additional armor options. Below is an expanded view of our robot’s chassis.
Our electrical team created a parts list for our robot and roughly planned out how the components would connect to one another. We also hosted weekly sessions on Saturdays in the ESPL to test out spare parts that we had been given and recorded the results in a spreadsheet.
After a team-wide vote, we also elected to create a fourth subteam working on a minibot for our larger robot. We initially planned on making two minibots (one with a fork and one with a wedge), but decided to only make one forkbot after some updates to the Robobrawl ruleset. The minibot’s goal is to block, push and distract opposing robots. Below is an image of the most recent minibot CAD design.
Our next steps will mainly be centered around deciding what kinds of steel to order for our chassis and weapon. We are very pleased with our progress so far and expect to have all parts received by the start of the spring semester. This should allow us to start building both the main bot and the minibot by February.
