IEEE Robotics & Automation Society (RAS)

Season 3: August 2023-May 2024

Overview

• Seasons 1 & 2 Recap: Established the Standard, Hero, and Sentry robot platforms

• Season 3 Focus: Iterated on the Standard and Hero designs for enhanced competitive performance

  • Objective 1: Mechanical Design Improvements

    • Optimized turret/shooter form factor

    • Consolidated the chassis design

  • Objective 2: Embedded Integration Enhancements

    • Developed "chassis" and "turret" PCB boards

    • Designed with effective wire routing

    • Reduced exposed wiring

My Roles

• Fall 2023: Hero Design Lead

  • Designed the yaw interface for both Standard and Hero robots

  • Identified and delegated Hero-related tasks

  • Designed and tested key mechanical features

• Spring 2024: Mechanical Co-Lead & Hero Design Lead

  • Led robot procurement efforts

  • Oversaw timely mechanical development for subteam deliverables

• Summer 2024 (Competition): Mechanical Lead

  • Dedicated 4 hours/day after internship from May 1st to June 13th for competition preparation

  • Managed robot maintenance and on-the-spot design changes

  • Served as the Hero robot operator

Standard Final Design

Season 2: August 2022-May 2023

Overview

• During our first season, our main objective was to grasp the game concepts, build a functioning Standard bot, and experience the nuances of competition. This season, we aspired to optimize the Standard robot and design the remaining Hero and Sentry robots to the same quality as Standard. Both the Standard and Sentry bots will feature dual-17mm shooters while the Hero robot will feature a 42-mm golf ball launcher that inflicts 10x damage to enemy base health. Ultimately, these objectives are necessary to fulfill our ultimate goal of winning first place in the full 3v3 competition.

• For efficient robot development, our design team split into committees after identifying three cross-compatible systems amongst the robot variants: the 17mm shooter system, the 42mm shooter system, and the chassis/drive system. Due to my experience, I was asked to spearhead the chassis/drive system development efforts as a team lead.

Team Objectives

1. Chassis Efficiency: I aspire to develop a more agile chassis to outmaneuver enemy robots and become a harder target to hit. For example, I want to optimize a "tank-turn" combat mode in which our robots rotate about a central vertical axis. While rotating, we continue firing at the enemy robot while confusing the enemy computer vision system. This will be achieved by decreasing the robot's rotational inertia by reducing overall weight and packing the required mass toward the center. 

2. Stable Suspension System: Develop a sophisticated computer vision system that enables an automatic shooting system to inflict more damage with less ammunition. Artificial intelligence will identify damage-accruing armor plates on enemy bots and use distance data to accurately dish out damage. For this system to function optimally, the camera must be stable even on rough terrain. To account for this, my team will completely redesign the drive-pod system by incorporating suspension amongst other upgrades.

3. Turret Stability: As mentioned above, the Standard and Sentry robots are equipped with dual-17mm shooters for increased damage per second (dps) while the Hero robot is equipped with a heavy-duty, 42-mm golf ball launcher to inflict 10x damage to enemy base health (measured in hit points). Compared to last season's single-axis pivot turret design, this year's turret needed to be more robust. Thus, I implemented a "Lazy Susan" inspired belt-driven platform system to reduce wobble for maximum shooter accuracy.

Drive Pod Final Design

Season 1: February-May 2022

My Responsibilities

I joined Robomasters amidst the second half of their first official competition season. As such, much of the concept robot still needed to be designed and built. Due to my background, I felt most equipped to handle mechanical implementation, consequently looking for different systems to design. Although I contributed to an assortment of projects, two of my favorite include designing the turret mount assembly and the electronics protective cover:

1) Turret Mount Assembly

In designing the turret mount assembly, my goal was to integrate the turret with the chassis without pinching or pulling on wires during operation. To do so, I designed a mount-style turret stand with an internal slip ring to feed the wires through. The bottom rests securely with the square tube beam of the frame and the top of the stand merges with the geometry of the motor mounts.

2) Electronics Protective Cover

To protect the fragile electronic components on the belly pan, I designed a 12-component cover that could withstand the impact of projectiles seen at the competition. After experimenting with different designs, I found that connecting acrylic panels in the specified configuration provided optimal strength for the robot and simplicity in both the manufacturing and assembly processes. Next, I designed various 3D-printed angle braces to discreetly configure each panel in the final assembly. To be able to remove the cover during the competition, I separated the cover into two halves and designed cover feet with Velcro strips to attach directly to the square tube of the chassis (the strongest part of the frame). In practice, the cover provides enough protection and clearance for the electrical components without impeding the turret's ability to aim downward in combat.