Robot for the Invicta Games

With the pandemic making it almost impossible for the build team to meet up and plan for the construction of the robot, they had to organize meetings on Teams. They first used applications such as Tinkercad and Fusion 360 to do some of the initial sketches and plans for the robot. It was using applications such as GrabCAD, an engineering application, that they were able to make a 3D model of the robot. The application allowed multiple team members to collaborate and include various parts such as the motors, the wheels, the electronics, etc. Many hours were spent on working on these applications during the months of January and February. Nevertheless, they also included specific 3D-drawings of some of the intricate parts of the robot like the conveyor belt, T-slot hex mount, sponge wall, etc.

The dimension of the robot are 24 inches (length) by 24 inches (width) by 29 inches (height). This year, the frame and shafts were built from recycled metal parts from last year’s robot. However, it was not enough, so we ordered more of the same kind of metal. The pieces were all precisely cut by hand to fit to their new purpose. The team used the maximum number of motors, called Gearbox. The wheels used, called HI Grip, are different compared from last year’s robot. For this year’s competition, the autonomous robot does not have to do many manoeuvres, but it can move as freely as it did during the FLIP 2020 competition. Thus, the robot has a set of wheels that allows it to move like a tank with less abrupt and instant turns, while being able to reverse as well.

In the front of the robot, there is a set of four wheels which brings the blocks up into their respective shelves to be ready to construct the structure desired for each game. The carjack is there to help by grabbing and pushing the blocks to the compliant wheels. Then, the set can contract to carry the irregularly shaped blocks to their respective shelves because they are made of rubber. The compliant wheels can function properly with the help of a gear and a chain system. The carjack has dual functionality since it also helps the conveyor belt move the blocks to the end of the robot. This part of the robot sort of behaves like a vending machine, but instead, the reverse mechanism occurs where nothing is falls off and blocks are being put into the respective slots. These wheels along with the sponge conveyor belt drag the blocks to other side of the robot where they will be dropped afterwards on the platform to form the structure.

The center of the robot comprises of our main components to play the game. There are three walls inside. Two of them are mounted on drawer slides which allows them to be brought back and forth. One of the two walls is a thick 3D printed object which can be divided into three separate parts. The shelves which will contain the blocks are positioned right on those parts. Also, there are pins which are placed to prevent the blocks from moving with the drawer slides when they are pulled back. The conveyor belt would not stop turning but keep on bringing the blocks to the back. So, the pins are needed to keep the blocks in the right place for the desired structure. During the competition, the team would be able to place the pins in the desired holes depending on what they want to build for each round. The other wall is a thin one that does not move. The thin wall that does not move has holes for the shelves and the pins. At the end of the game, the team can just pull those three parts of the wall out, allowing the shelves to move back, but the blocks are blocked by the thin wall which then allows the structure to fall. The last wall on the opposite side of the last two is the third wall which is basically a conveyor belt that pushes the blocks inside the robot. It is made of six axles with foam wheels that are wrapped around with a cloth that pushes everything equally.