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The 2007 Robot
Team 694's 2007 Season robot, Tom, named after the CEO of the international banking and financial planning firm Credit Suisse, showcased our team's extensive design of durable drivetrain, inventive manipulators, and an unorthodox folding ramp design.
Our drivetrain for Tom was the culmination of years of engineering experience and old adages passed from mentor to student. Built to be durable and reliable, Tom's drivetrain used DeWalt drill motors to power six wheels, and had servos attached to the motor, allowing Tom to swiftly change gears. Using this newly designed drivetrain, we loyally defended our fellow teammates during competition.
Another major part of our strategy during competition was the winning of the sixty extra bonus points at the end of the match by supporting our fellow alliance teammates one foot above the ground. To accomplish this, we devised an innovative pair of ramps that, when unfolded, created an elevated parking lot in our Alliance Home Zone, enough space to accommodate both of our Alliance teammates robots. Originally, we planned for the ramps to be made out of foam sandwiched between two fiberglass sheets, but the weight of these ramps was too heavy for the motors to lift the ramps and made the robot heavier than the weight limit. However, with only a few days of the build season left, we managed to replace these unwieldy ramps with much better ones. Made out of light and strong aluminum honeycomb brought in by one of our faithful mentors, these ramps were light enough to stay within the competition weight limit. These two ramps were also kept in position by two release pins on Tom's arm.
As the season progressed, it became apparent that the part of the robot most prone to change was the arm we planned to use to pick up the inflated rings and score on the PVC legs. In the beginning of the season, we had started with a clockwork arm design, with one part of the arm fixed to the chassis and another rotating to move the manipulator up or down. The manipulator was a flat piece, with a piece of Lexan pulled upwards by fishing wire allowing the manipulator to "trap" the ring. Unfortunately, though this grabber worked in practice, when it came to competition time we were scrambling to find a replacement manipulator that worked in the harsh environment of the arena. These new manipulators were too heavy for the rotating arm, though, and we decided to cut off the arm entirely so that we would be placed in a lower weight bracket.