This semester was pretty unique compared to the team’s previous four semesters. Working on two robots simultaneously throughout the semester allowed the team to have hands-on experience manufacturing one robot, while also designing another from the ground up. Our two focuses were repairing and improving upon last year’s robot, Goose, as well as creating a new hammer-saw robot. Goose will be competing at both NHRL in January as well as Robobrawl 2024, while the hammer-saw will just compete at Robobrawl.
As for Goose, we kept the same general design and electronics while making sure to improve upon the robot’s shortcomings from Robobrawl 2024. This included making sturdier outer walls and weapon assembly, simplifying our armor mounting, making a larger and stronger wedge, and making sure our drive motors and gearboxes are fastened more strongly than in the Spring.
Spring 2023:
Now:
Next, in terms of our hammer-saw robot, this is the most complex design we’ve pursued thus far. We wanted to keep things simple where possible, so we are keeping the same drive system (motors and ESCs) as Goose. Some of the biggest issues we had were choosing the right electronics for both the arm and the weapon disk and choosing a suitable clutch for the weapon arm (to prevent the arm and weapon from breaking themselves).
Latest CAD:
Our team has been manufacturing the new version of Goose to get ready for NHRL in late January. Below is a sneak peek of Goose 2.0 – stay tuned for more updates in the Spring!
