Project II

2003


For my engineering design class (same ass the crane) this semester our second major project was to design, model, and fabricate a SARR (search and rescue robot). The robot needed to be able to complete four specific tasks:

  1. be able to pick up a medical kit and secure the kit to the robot throughout the rest of the course
  2. be able to drive deftly through an obstacle course controlled via remote control
  3. be able to get up and over a 9 inch wall (with the kit attached and in tact) and drive away safely
  4. be able to navigate through a dark cave autonomously drive toward and stop at a light fixed at the other end

It was certainly a tough task both conceptually as well as logistically. It was the same group from the crane, but this time we broke up into two groups -- a modeling/analysis/design team and a manufacturing/design team. Marc, Roz and I were the computer kids holding up that end while Gowri, Alex and Jenny headed up the manufacturing end in the shop. After many hours of hard work (including nearly 3.5 straight days with little to eat and a mere 8 hours or so of sleep) we gave our presentation to a tough professional group (including a lawyer and a professional engineer) and had our final competition showing what we had accomplished. The kit retrieval arm was very elegant and effective, my driving/the robot control allowed us to accomplish the tast of maneuvering through the osbtacle course, we very solidly (although somewhat slowly... worm gears are big for torque but not so hot on speed) conquered the wall, and very valiently drove into the cave.

Below is some of the modeling done of our robot pre-fabrication. Key features include

  1. the kit retreival arm which works kind of a like a garbage truck lowering to scoop up the med kit (see animated Pro-e simulation )
  2. the flipper arms which allowed our robot to flip itself effortlessly over the wall and drive away unscathed (see video part 1 and part 2)

Here are some real life pics of the robot. Pint sized, perhaps, but this was our blood and sweat for many a day. Shown below are pics of the obstacle course, wall traversal, and medkit pickup as well as our tired but happy group after it was all over.