The MuTan(Clan) is an all sophomore team that competes in the annual Jerry Sanders Design Competition. This past semester marked the beginning of our second season. With a year of experience under our belts, we’re doing our best to take JSDC by storm. This semester, we’ve done a lot of work and even more planning.
We designed and began building our drive train; we decided to go with a direct-drive jump drive. This means that the robot will have 8 wheels instead of only four, allowing it to “jump” between the high traction wheels and the mecanum wheels. This gives it both the traction to prevent other teams from pushing us into the moats and the mobility needed to get around obstacles that litter the field We have also discussed the design of our manipulator.
We have designed the jump modules in Autodesk inventor and checked for interferences as well as other design flaws. We created dwg files and pdfs to help build things to spec and keep everyone on the same page. This is a big improvement from last year, when we built majority of the robot without a plan.
We were able to work with upperclassmen in iRobotics to learn how to properly use the machines in the ESPL. Once this was done, it allowed us to machine parts necessary for the drive modules and beginnings of the frame. So far, we have cut and welded together several pieces of the frame and modules. We had hoped to finish both of these by the end of the semester; although we did not meet this goal, we have accomplished a significant amount of the work.
On the other hand, the control systems sub-team has cataloged the electronics from last year’s robot by creating a wiring schematic of all the electronic components and their connections for the iRobotics tech wiki. We planned to begin programming our several microcontrollers, but we’re behind schedule and have only purchased them.
With all this, we have had a very busy semester, despite it technically being off-season. As we accomplished majority of our goals and with game release date, I look forward to a great second semester and a great season with my team: the MuTan(Clan).
