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UCSD News Article on MAE 3: The Robotic Force Awakens at UC San Diego
Article in San Diego Union Tribune
Fall 2015
Robot Contest December 9, 2015
11:30am-2:30pm at the Main Gym
As any rebel fighter knows, loading droids is one of the most time consuming steps in preparing starships for battle with the galactic empire! This is why the rebel alliance has entrusted your team with designing a robotic system to speed up the loading of their new class of spherical-based astromech droids onto starships.
Your robot will be required to load droids quickly and efficiently onto a variety of spacecraft. Your final design will compete head-to-head against designs of competing teams in a droid-loading test arena, to determine which will be used in the battle against the galactic empire!
Test Arena CAD
Arena Layout
Top View
Test Arena Photos
Arena Layout
Top View
The plans shown above give the layout of the arenas with the robot and droid starting areas indicated as well as the layout of the various starship targets. Each team's design must start completely within the designated 10in x 10in x 9in starting area. Robot parts can be screwed into the threads in the base of the playing field. Each starship will have six docking ports for droids, except the pink ship which will have nine. Teams will score points for each droid successfully deposit in a starship's docking port on their side of the arena. The height and point value of each ship is summarized in the following table:
The robot contest will last for 60 seconds, and all scoring will be done at the completion of the contest after all parts have finished moving. There is a maximum of a 2 minute setup time during which robots must be loaded onto the contest table and be ready to go.
Robots can interact, cover opposing starship, or even remove droids docked in an opponent's starships. However, robots that are designed to damage another robot will be disqualified. See Full Contest Description for complete details.
MAE3 Robot Contest Awards
Contest Winners
Second place
High Quality Presentation Award
High Quality Animation Awards
High Quality Design Feature Awards
Team 06 - This Better Work: Linear slider with automatic clutch
Team 25 - Esmeralda del Mar: Effective Cable Tightener for Droid Lifting
Team 24 - ROTX: Solenoid Release with Passive Locking Mechanisms
Team 01-Team Elevate: Frog Type Extending Arm Mechanism
3D Printing Awards
Contest Prediction Winner
Bruce Wong - Correctly predicted the winning team and four other quarterfinalists
Complete Robot Contest Pyramid
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