M.A.R.S. Manteno Advanced Robotics in SpaceThe Future of Space Robotics

About M.A.R.S. NASA has issued a request for proposals from companies for an advanced robot. The robot needs to be able to transport important items from a storage container on a ship to a designated storage area on Mars. B.E.S.T. Robotics gave NASA their proposal and won the contract.B.E.S.T. has asked for bids from various engineering companies for a robot capable of working in the harsh environment on Mars. Due to the nearness of the launch date, the companies were given a deadline of six weeks to complete the project.M.A.R.S. (Manteno Advanced Robotics in Space) was one of the companies that has decided to take on the challenge. The team has been involved in building robots for 3 years and is ready for the new problem.

Team Members

BrainstormingStrategiesThe team broke up into three groups. One team consisted of the members who were involved in robotics last year which ensured that their ideas would not influence the others. The other two teams were made up of people new to robotics. Once we were done thinking we went to the board and wrote out the strategies we had come up with. Finally, we all sat down and decided on the best strategy.

The StrategiesOffensiveTo get 4 fuel tanks, then get medical boxes, then food boxes, then equipment for the bonus pointsScavenge for boxes/fuel tanksGet all the bottles we can getGet all orange boxes1 of each item for the bonusGo for only the middle boxesGo for the bonus then get all the fuel tanks we canDefensiveGet all medical boxes so no other team can get the bonusBarricade the middle so no other team can get to itDrop pieces off our robot so there are items to run intoKnock things off the platform so they have to leave the platform to get them

Brainstorming Designs for the RobotThe team broke up into individuals and started to think about effective designs for a robot to match our strategy. We then all came together and drew our designs on the whiteboard. We then discussed the advantages and disadvantages to the designs. Once we finished that we picked four designs that seemed the best. We put the four best ones into a weighted decision tree.

The 4 Chosen DesignsJoshs DesignThis design consisted of a levered arm with a set of pinchers on the end. It would lower and pick up any scoring piece and place it in a box on the rear of the robot. After the desired amounts of pieces were placed on the robot, it would drive back to the scoring bin and a lever would tip the hinged box. This dump trunk like mechanism would release all of the pieces into the scoring bin.

The 4 Chosen Designscont.Jons DesignThis design would include a U shaped arm that would pick up bottles by the neck. It would consist of a levered arm that would dump bottles onto a plywood ramp. The bottles would then fall down the ramp to a stopper. It consisted of four wheels and a flat, rectangular base structure. When the optimum amount of bottles was loaded on the machine, it would go to the scoring bin and open the stopper. The bottles would roll into the scoring bin.

The 4 Chosen Designs Cont.Jon and Joshs designThis design is an integrated version of the previous two designs. It uses as set of pinchers and a ramp system. The robot would pick up one piece at a time and drop the pieces on a ramp on the robot. The pieces would slide to a tailgate that would be opened to let the pieces into the scoring bin.

The 4 Chosen Designs Cont.Robbie and Jons designThis machine consisted of a shovel like arm that would dig under boxes and then shift upward to put them in the scoring bin. The same arm would also have a pair of pinchers at the top that would be able to grab bottles and elevated boxes. However, the machine would have to return to the scoring bin and drop the boxes every time one was picked up. This machine would also only be able to pick up one item at a time.

Here is the Average of our weighted decision tree

The M.A.R.S. robotMade in Google SketchUp

ModificationsOnce our original design was in the production stage, a few modifications were needed.The first modification needed was an arm spanner. Our arm tended to bend in and become too small to pick up bottles. In order to correct this problem, we added an arm spanner that would allow us to adjust the width of the arm as needed.At first, our pulley wheel to raise the arm was too big. This wheel had a greater speed, but less power, which made it unable to pick up more than one bottle at a time. To correct this problem, we made a smaller pulley wheel that was slower but was able to pick up multiple bottles at once.In order to ensure that the bottles would land in the right place in our storage container, we used PVC to make a bottle diverter. This device directed the bottles to each side of the storage container so as not to impede our arm when it was down.

CaDD Designs

Designs Cont.

Designs Cont.

Advantages

Web page

The M.A.R.S. webpage is located at this web address

http://www.manteno5.org/bleopold/marsrobotics/

informing the PublicThe team wrote an article for the Manteno NewsThe team made an infomercial to promote B.E.S.T. RoboticsWe made business cards for people to take and look atWe had a meeting with the school board to get their supportWe have scheduled a time next week for us to present our robot to the 1st graders of our schoolWe also have scheduled a meeting for us to present our robot to the 8th graders to try to encourage them to join Robotics class next yearWe have also sent an open invitation to the schools in our immediate area telling them that they should join B.E.S.T. next yearThe webpage is also another thing we have to show people what M.A.R.S. is all about

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