Originally Posted by Kit Gerhart
Everyone on the team was involved in deciding what the basic design of the robot would be. After watching the kickoff broadcast, we divided the team into four groups with a mix of new and veteran students and adults in each group. Each group came up with a design concept for a robot. We spent three days after kickoff on this process and then everyone voted for one of the four designs from the groups. The one which got the most votes was what you saw in Denver, a six wheel drive base with a shiftable two-speed transmission powered by two CIM motors on each side. Additional features of the winning design included a rotatable three-stage telescoping arm with a hook on the top. Some of the elements of our robot have changed as we have learned and practiced. The current double hook is quite different from what we first practiced with, and we have changed gearing on both the drive base and tower rotation. Still, the robot you see is what one of our four concept groups came up with.
As far is the finer points of design, it is done by NASA engineers. Also, the fabrication of parts is done by NASA machinists. Our shop is a NASA prototype shop, and only employees of the shop can use the equipment. Students help assemble the robot, and do most of the preventive maintenance, but due to the nature of our work place, NASA people run the lathes, mills, EDM's, water jet machines, etc. to make the parts. If we had our own team shop with equipment as is the case with my team of seven years, TechnoKats, students and non-NASA adults would be making parts. We at Team 233 don't have our own shop and there are no school shops in our area, so professionals are making our parts. Still, the students are involved with and are learning about the mechanics, control systems and software for our machine every step of the way.
|
