Your Help is NEEDED!

[Chris Herold]

Sorry for the double post but this has a different content so I want to set it up a little.


As the starter I just go ahead and start with the description of our teams submission:

Autodesk Inventor Design Award
Team 1983 – The Skunkworks

Robot Description:
Our 2008 robot is called “das Überstinktier” (German for super skunk). It is basically a hurdler that relies on a ladder lift system. The ladder is a standard aluminum ladder that was cut into three parts for the robot. Run by two motors on the backside of the ladder, it guarantees a lifting time of about 5-8 seconds. Once we acquired the ball or if we don't have a ball, our ladder with the attached claw tilts backwards. The slide system is works very well and keeps us from both losing the ball and getting penalties for our claw sticking into other robots! Innovative is our robot also because of the claw itself. The claw has several important design factors. Our two gripper are moved by an actuator/slide combination and is able to flex to the inside when hit by another robot. The talon on top of the ball guarantees a firm grip of the ball and lets us keep it in traffic. Finally the kicker or goose gives the ball a little push in order to hurdle over the overpass. For this claw we acquired the “Delphi's Driving Tomorrow's Technology Award” at the MSR.
As a drive train, we use a 4 wheel drive, traction wheels in front, omniwheels in the back. During hybrid mode we have shaft encoders to make sure that both wheels spin at the same rate all the time.

These adjustments enable us to acquire the ball quickly, hurdle and place effectively, in addition to drive controlled and without penalties and finally these abilities helped us to win the Microsoft Seattle Regional.

Model Description:
First of all, the model of our robot was more or less entirely created by me, Christoph Herold. As a German exchange student, I came to Aviation High School in September. I started to learn very basic skills in Autodesk Inventor through a class at school in October, I got interested in this kind of work. During my Christmas break I attended a workshop for FIRST robotics teams to learn a little more. Coming back from this workshop I got more serious about the Autodesk Inventor Award and started to “play” with Inventor.
But now about the model itself:
The beginning was made with the help of one of our mentors, Ken Zaballos. The exact measurements were used for the welding of our components and so on. This model was actually used to build our robot. The important mechanical parts were also designed in Inventor before we attached them, I made, for example, ladder hard stops to prevent running down etc. While our team was working on the execution of the design, I spent my time on making the model a little more realistic by adding wires and tubing, etc. All the wires and all the tubing are exactly the same as on the real robot and are put on with a big time effort. Unfortunately, I have to leave the FIRST robotics team I am on after this school year and I will probably have no chance to compete in this competition next year again! It is my rookie and also last year in it!
The fact that this robot is created by a rookie that know Inventor as a program just since October and learned everything from scratch makes this model something really special.

Renderings and real pictures
Here are the three view that represent our model best and a picture of the real robot as a comparison:

Robot





Claw

Due to the five image limit I cannot show those images here but the links should be valid.

[img=http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/9074/dsc0185sz3.th.jpg]
[img=http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/5923/team1983clawwithtalonkixr1.th.jpg]


Electronics Board





Overview/ You should vote for our model because...

• created by a rookie (and non-native English speaker) knowing Inventor for just about six months!
• it is a very detailed model!
• it is made with love to the detail!
• it came to a practical use!
• It is the product of a very true collaboration between real engineers and students, where the students have learned valuable skills that they will be able to apply in the real world
• no two wires or tubings (there are over ... wires and ...pieces of tubing) are interfering on the model (Check it out if you are the first to find two I will give you a little present!)
• about 150-200 hours of work were invested!
• I would be really glad about it! :-)

Again, please practice Gracious Professionalism and vote for the SUBMISSION, not the TEAM, you LIKE BEST.

I hope the members of the other design teams post a description like this in this thread as well for this is its intend.

Good luck for the competition and the tournament in Atlanta and may the best submission win!
Best wishes

Christoph Herold
Team 1983 – The Skunkworks
Autodesk Inventor Design Team