Space Jam
Robot for the 2020 Season: Innovative Flipper Design
Description
In seasons past, Space Jam had continually worked and iterated upon their spinner designs both horizontal and vertical, however for this season decided to pursue a novel flipper robot design. The flipper design strayed away from the traditional pneumatics, instead, Space jam members worked to create a mechanism to store rotational energy from a motor and release it all at once to launch their opponents in the air. The idea behind the mechanism is that a flywheel will be brought up to speed by a motor via a belt/pulley. Once at speed (positioned under a robot), a linkage attached to the flipping arm will engage a dog clutch and make contact with the flywheel. Transferring the rotational energy from the flywheel into the flipping arm, in turn launching their opponent.
Results
Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ROBOBRAWL 2020 had to be canceled and Space Jam was unable to compete. However, while unable to compete, Space Jam remained optimistic about their robot's design and hoped for another opportunity to showcase their work later down the road.
Robot for the 2019 Season: Vertical Spinner Innovation
Description
With their newly acquired experience of building a spinner robot in Robobrawl 2018, Space Jam decided to continue on this approach but with a twist--making a vertical spinner weapon-type robot. This robot was unique in the way it employed a drive control method called Field Orientated Control (FOC) enabling the robot's drive to output maximum torque at any RPM for improved driving performance in the arena.
Results
Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ROBOBRAWL 2019 had to be canceled and Space Jam was unable to compete. However, while unable to compete, Space Jam remained optimistic about their robot's design and hoped for another opportunity to showcase their work later down the road.
Robot for the 2018 Season: Big Bertha's Debut
Description
This was Space Jam's first-ever season, and they sure came out swinging. For their first-ever robot entry in Robobrawl which they named Big Bertha, Space Jam created a horizontal spinner based on a belt-and-pulley system powered by a brushless motor to deliver high torque to spin the heavy one-tooth horizontal blade in the front of the robot. While there were some complications with meeting weight requirements for EOH, the Space Jam team managed to get the robot's weight down from 34.5 lbs to a legal competition weight of 29.99 lbs.
Results
While Space Jam did end up losing both of their matches during the competition, the team had a blast going up against a team from North Dakota in an exhibition match. They later planned on debuting their work on Big Bertha ath the Principle Scholars Program