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THE CHALLENGE THE TEAM THE SOLUTION THE ROBOT COMPETITION DAY THE REFLECTION CONTACT
Breaching Tower
Breaching Tower
Saving the ewoks by breaching the Empire. Team 8's journey through the summer of 2018 engineering physics robot competition.

Hear the beginning of the story.

THE CHALLENGE

Navigate around the courses various obstacles and succesfully rescue all 4 Ewoks and Chewie from the Empire's fortress.

Obstacles to overcome:

  • Tape Following
  • Ramp
  • 6" Gap
  • IR Beacon/IR sensing
  • Spinning Floor Disc
  • Ziplines
  • Suspension Bridge
  • Edge Following
  • Finding Ewoks/Chewie
Competition surface

THE TEAM

The people up to facing the challenge and building a robot to take on the Empire!

(Also known as Team 8)

Tessa Zolezzi

Tessa Zolezzi

Major: Engineering Physics
Minor: Entrepreneurship

Mechanical specialist with electrical assistance. Lead designer for chassis and bridges and assisted with claw and dump. Responsibilities included CAD modeling, prototyping, and testing. Assisted with electrical component manufacturing and organizing. Designed posters and website.

Zack Michaels

Zack Michaels

Major: Engineering Physics

Jack of all Trades. Assisted with computer, electrical and mechanical design. Focused primarily on the design and execution of the grabber mechanism. Included extensive CAD modeling, circuit design and debugging electrical, mechanical and code issues.
Spencer Perkins

Spencer Perkins

Major: Engineering Physics
Minor: Entrepreneurship

Electrical and computer specialist. Played a major role in circuit design and creation, as well as development of the robots code base. Assisted with robot fabrication, prototyping and mechanical design.

Will Schjelderup

Will Schjelderup

Major: Engineering Physics

Electrical specialist. Designed, wired, and debugged circuits. Initialized the code base and assisted on mechanical design. Focused heavily on improving our design and quality assurance. Primary parts manufacturer.

THE SOLUTION

Key features to Team 8's success during the competition

Only Edge Sense

Only edge sensing allows us to use only one directional system for the entire course. Additionally, all Ewoks & Chewies are near the edge.

Jump IR Beacon

Jump over the IR beacon to allow us to circumnavigate course in counter-clockwise direction, reducing overall distance travelled, and avoiding two obstacles: IR sensing and spinning disc.

Two Bot System

Use a two bot system to efficiently jump over IR beacon. Top bot placed on top of bottom bot in order for top bot to drive off bottom bot when lined up with IR beacon and top platform.

Collect All 4 Ewoks & Chewie

Two bot system circumnavigating the course will allow us to pick up all targets effectively and quickly. Saving them from the Empire and completing our mission.

1440+
Hours of Work
7+
Prototypes & Versions
20+
Skills Gained & Improved
1
Life Changing Experience

THE ROBOT

Progress over 6 weeks:

Early sketches
Claw CAD model
Top chassis CAD model
Bottom chassis CAD model
Top chassis circuit organization
H-bridge soldered circuit
Top chassis circuitry
Completed robot front
Completed robot back
Robot on competition surface
The team taking 2nd place on comp day
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COMPETITION DAY

Placed 2nd overall.

Watch the competition!

Points scored:

  • Round 1: 4/17
  • Round 2: 5/17
  • Round 3: 10/17
  • Round 4: 14/17
  • Round 5: 4/17

Number of Rounds Run:

5/5

Number of Rounds Won:

2/3

Fully Completed Rounds:

3/5

THE REFLECTION

What we learned from our robot experience:

  • Technical
  • - Design robot to be able to work correctly in unprecise circumstances (i.e. bridge not dropping correctly)
  • - Add ability to have an additional drop point in order to score consistent points
  • - Work farther inside the mechanical limits of components to have a larger factor of safety
  • Overall Takeaway
  • "Everyone has advice to give. Be open and unbiased to others' ideas." -Tessa
  • "Carefully plan before we do, this way we have a better chance of doing things correctly the first time." -Spencer
  • "Don't dismiss ideas that seem complicated bevause most of the time they are simpler than you think" -Zack
  • "Make use of the materials and resources you have to allow for fast prototyping and testing." -Will

  • ENPH253 gave us the opportunity to make mistakes, improve ourselves, and learn. We will always be grateful for such an amazing experience.

    -Team 8
  • Project Management
  • - Plan out detailed due dates to keep robot on track
  • - Ensure that everyone on the team has a task to focus on for highest productivity
  • - Understand all parameters and rules thoroughly

CONTACT

Message us to learn more about the competition and the people behind the bot.

Vancouver, BC

Email: enph253.8.2018@gmail.com