Gear Manipulator
2017 FIRST Robotics Competition
Mechanical Skills Used:
CAD 3D Modeling, Prototyping, Iterative Design, FDM 3D Printing, Mechanical Assembly, Drawings
Electrical and Programming Skills Used:
N/A
Software Used:
Solidworks
The 2017 FIRST robotics challenge required the collection of a flat Gear shaped field element (as shown above). This element had to be picked from a chute and deposited on a peg multiple times throughout a match.
As Director of Mechanical Engineering, I directed the development of this manipulator to be as passive as possible in order to decrease mechanical complexity. Thus, it is a poly-carbonate box with the precise geometry to passively receive and align the gear shaped object for placement on the peg. The only moving part of this manipulator are two piston actuated flaps that increase the range of receiving.
These flaps allowed the robot to be further away from the chute and still perfectly collect the object. Lastly a break beam sensor was added near the bottom of the box in order to automatically close the flaps once a gear was collected.
