Project Objective

Rules

Project Deadlines

Grading Criteria

Summary:

The Spring 2002 Mechatronics project will provide a test of your mechanical and engineering design abilities. The project will of course require use of knowledge and information gained in this course, but will also draw on all of your acquired engineering skills. The project is a team project and makes up a significant portion of the course work. Ingenuity, creativity, engineering ability, planning, motivation, common sense; these are all components of highly successful mechatronics projects.

Project Objective:

As a prospective team in the Spring 2002 Mechatronics course, you are invited to compete in the Spring 2002 TTU Robot Wars competition. This competition will be held at the end of the spring semester when you and your team will be able to compete for valuable prizes and glory. This competition will require the design, construction, fabrication, testing and demonstration of an autonomous mobile robotic device. This robot must be capable of traversing and finding its way through an unknown terrain filled with corridors, hazardous obstacles and an open arena to deliver your team flag to its destination. The competition however will involve two vehicles, each attempting to be the first to reach the goal. Outrunning the opponent is an acceptable strategy, as is first disabling your opponent and taking a leisurely path to the goal. Thus, it is a race against machine and time, with the best robot declared the winner at the end of the day.

Rules:

There will be a general freedom in the design of your robot, in particular the destructive elements of the your machine. However, any weapon that you have should not be capable of damaging any components contained within a 6x6x3” cube made out of ¼” Plexiglas. Rolling, ramming, hitting, swinging, throwing and lifting are all allowable strategies. Burning, cutting, dousing, or exploding are in general unallowable strategies.

The basic robot must meet the following requirements:

A) Be designed capable of physically completing the course

B) Have one defensive capability and one offensive capability (these must be mechatronic capabilities)

Points will be awarded based on the following rules:

1) Delivering the flag to the goal

2) Scoring offensively on the opposing robot

3) Defensively avoiding the other robot and course hazards

Size limits: The vehicle base should not exceed 12 in. by 12 in. The height of the vehicle is limited only by engineering skill.

Weight Limit: 25 lbs.

Drives: no limit

Power sources: Batteries

Terrain: The terrain will be in general building-like terrain, with corridors and an open arena. The course will include a number of hazardous obstacles that your robot should avoid or be able to withstand.

Objective: The object is to deliver your team’s flag to the goal area. This objective may involve racing to the flag and out-running the opponent, disabling the opponent and leisurely returning the flag, or stealing the flag from the opponent. Points will be awarded for intermediate performance.

Forbidden: Explosives, caustics, corrosives, liquids, sharpened implements, wire clippers, course-affecting fluids, and the like.

Disabling Vs. Destroying. Disabling is allowed, destroying is not. Cutting wires, tracks, smashing, etc. is destroying. Overturning, blocking, tieing, hooking, netting, carrying, rolling, ramming etc. is disabling.

Design rules: Each robot may use either fabricated components or purchased components. Your device must reflect your team’s design work. Each device is expected to employ at least one two original-design elements (ex: suspension, weapon, steering unit, etc.).

General layout of the course is given below.

Project Deadlines

Tentative (To be updated)

Date	Project Deadline	% Grade
1/15	Form Teams	0 %
1/24	Submit Team names, Team bylaws	5%
2/14	Submit preliminary design (2-3 pages, summary, strategy, schematics)	0%
2/21	Submit Phase II design (3-5 pages, drawings, detailed mechanical design of chassis, general sensor selection, motor selection, general considerations of control algorithm)	0%
3/7	Demonstrate chassis and wall following capability	20%
4/4 - 22	Submit Phase III design (3-5 pages, detailed electro-mechanical design of robot mechanism and control system)	20 %
	Final Demonstration: Robot Wars! Submit final design and testing summary	55%

Grading:

Projects which sufficiently meet these basic requirements will receive a grade of 80%, representing an average project.