Reaching Cruising Altitude

The mechanical team has been hard at work this semester, making strides on both our main bot and minibot projects! Here’s a quick update on what we’ve been up to. Oogway Updates Materials Ordered for Self-Propelled Torpedoes We’re excited to announce that we’ve ordered all the materials needed to prototype our first self-propelled torpedoes. After …

Marker Dropper – Design Changes

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Marker Dropper

During testing, we noticed that replacing the markers took quite a long time, as the front plate needed to be completely unscrewed and then screwed back in. To resolve this, we cut two large holes into the top of the marker enclosure for dropping the markers in. As we plan to do a barrel roll …

Main Capsule – Design Candidates

This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series Main Capsule

We have several candidates right now for a permanent solution to our capsule problem: We ended up choosing the metal plate solution for several reasons. First, it was easiest: ordering a metal plate is relatively cheap, and we have experience making similar designs in-house. Moreover, this can be easily prototyped out of cheaper materials like …

Battery & Camera Mounts – Problems with the Old System

This entry is part 1 of 4 in the series Battery & Camera Mounts

The current battery and camera mounts frequently broke during competition, as the 3D printed mounts were put under a large weight continuously. The battery mounts in particular were prone to failure as they would be jostled around when we replaced the battery. In fact, during competition, we had to ask another team to print us …

Main Capsule – Problems with the Old System

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series Main Capsule

Last year, we used a standard Polycase™ waterproof enclosure to house our electrical stack and keep water out. This capsule came with four brass inserts in the corners to press the capsule into the O-ring. Despite working initially, wear and tear from a year of use eventually degraded the plastic-brass bond, causing the brass inserts …