I am leading a community outreach effort sponsored by the USA Tank-Automotive Command (TACOM), National Automotive Center (NAC), Warren, MI directed toward supporting FIRST.
An idea that immediately came to mind was the possibility of us bringing our Mobile Parts Hospital (MPH) to a few regional events, and, funds permitting, to the Nationals.
http://www.mobilepartshospital.com/docs/mph_home.shtml
I’d expect the activity on this forum to diminish as we approach summer; so, I’ll ask in advance of any commitment (I.E. Way too early to make any promises) if you think you would have a use for the MPH during the competitions. I attended three regionals and the nationals, but I do not have a handle on the number of part requests we would get. I understand that the build time is about ½ inch thickness per hour. Parts can be done in parallel – even added next to a current build. The part size would be limited to 12x12x12 inches. The material used is glass-impregnated plastic (nylon?) which as a gear in the M2 Bradley Chain Gun has withstood over a thousand rounds.
Another idea involving the rapid prototyping capabilities of the MPH would be for us to involve the FIRST teams in a summer design contest. Many teams experienced shifting problems with the transmissions in the Bosch drill motors. The idea would be for the participating teams to design an alternative to the existing case and/or shift collar – perhaps to include some synchronization. They would then e-mail us their design, which we prototype and test. The award to the winner, if any is legally possible from a Govt. RD&E center, has yet to be decided.
Again, we wish to emphasize that this is not an announcement, but rather an interest inventory post. You guys are the experts. Please give me an estimate on the number of parts per event that we may need to build. Even if the number comes up to be zero, would you be interested to see the MPH in action – perhaps to build a few lapel sized models of your robot. Please let me know if you’d be interested in the design contest. You could use any CAD package you wish, so long as you could tessellate (translate) it into an “.stl” (Stereo Lithography) format.