Logomotion

Tonight (February 2) we finally reached a large milestone.  Our team’s minibot successfully, for the second time, reached the top of the ten foot steel pole that will be part of the bonus period in this years competition. After many days of prototyping, successes, failures, and learning experiences Eli, Mr. Beachy, and I have been able to create a very quick minibot. Our minibot’s currently takes 2.5 seconds to reach the top of the pole from the very bottom. We still need to organize and design our deployment system and “ignition system” in order to apply power to the motors from the battery.

The minibot has been a very tough challenge this year. There are an unlimited amount of possibilities that will enable our small robot to climb to the top of the pole. Our challenges have been speed, weight, and durability. We have began prototyping the minibot, discovering many new possibilities that will allow us to reach our final goal.  Gear placement has been a large issue in allowing the minibot to have powered wheels, because of this many custom parts are being made out of the allowed polycarbonate and aluminium sheet metal.