Robot design
The Beginning
When we begun to develop the first design
1st Design
Our first design
2nd design
Changing it UP!
Final Design
Finial robot design*
(added some parts to one side later on as to increase weight to reduce slipping)
Front
Back
Side
(showing the added weight)
Why is our robot designed the way it is?
The first thing that we realized is that we need to be able to place the console body (the computer part) of the robot to not drag along the ground in order to reduce friction and unwanted movements. This is why we changed our design from the first one where the robot was mostly close the ground to the one where the console is raised. We used a ball bearing in the back instead of wheels for the same reasons: reducing friction while still allowing for forward, backward, and turning movements.
For the sensors, they were placed in the back so as to allow the robot to understand when it crosses a white line and to be able to tell if it is not moving in a straight line so that it can reorientate itself to move in a line again. In addition, the sensors were placed in the back in order to ensure that the sensors were as close to the ground as possible as to reduce outside variables, like ambient lighting, affecting them.