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The Team
The Team
Gus Robinson, Mechanical Engineering '25
Ahmed Muhammad, Mechanical Engineering '25
Carlos Diaz, Mechanical Engineering '24
Katelyn Chen, Mechanical Engineering '25
The Contest
The Contest
2024's contest was "parkour" based. The robot had to start in a random orientation and navigate a course, touching a required zone and dropping balls into a bucket.
Our Design
Our Design
Our design used wall sensors (limit switches) and an IR beacon sensor to achieve the MVP. We then added line sensors and refined the chassis for the competition. We used high torque, low RPM motors for driving and an Arduino UNO for logic.
Broad Takeaways and Advice
Broad Takeaways and Advice
Start early and focus on the MVP, the checkoff is achievable early, and getting it done not only removes stress but allows you to focus on different aspects of the project
A little preliminary planning can go a long way, make state diagrams and CAD earlier, as well as decide parts so you can pivot as you go, documentation is key
Early prototyping and testing will lead to much smaller integration steps and lead to easier debugging. Most of the code was written based on a robot built with tape and dreams, yet when the final integration came, the code required very little tweaking.
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