MIT 6.270 Competition - Team 41"Stucco" Overview6.270 is an entirely student-run class during IAP in which teams of two or three build autonomous robots to compete in a contest. The robots must be built entirely out of Lego and be able to comptete in a specific contest which changes each year. This year the contest was "Chicken." The basic goal of Chicken was to move balls from the playing area into a trough, thus scoring points. For more information about 6.270 or the specifics of this year's contest, visit the official 6.270 website.The TeamWe are David Reinharth and Seth Tardiff, both Juniors at MIT. Dave is Course 3 (Materials Science) and Seth is Course 6 (Computer Science). We're both Brothers in Sigma Nu at MIT. We worked pretty well together during 6.270 mostly because we have known each other for a few years now and are both easy-going enough to make compromises when they're necessary.StrategyDuring the design phase, we had one main goal in mind: simplicity. This mantra carried over to our choice of strategy, as we decided to build a robot which could essentially perform only one or two basic functions, but could perform them consistently well. The most simple and yet effective strategy that we could think of was to knock a single ball into the scoring trough and then proceed to block the scoring hole of the other team. Ideally, this strategy would allow us to only be defeated by robots that could successfully score two balls in the time that it took us to score one and block their hole. This seemed like an unlikely case, given the extra amount of time it would require for any robot to score two balls.In more specific terms, our strategy consisted of these steps:
MechanicsThe mechanics of our robot can be broken down into a few subsections: the drivetrain, the sensors, the car, the car platform, and the ramps. Each part deserves some discussion.
Final stats:
ResultsOur robot succeeded in several ways and failed in one important other. The successes included having very consistent orientation and drivetrain systems which allowed us to easily maneuver the robot. The ramp and car systems also worked well. The biggest recurring problem was our robot's inability to consistently get itself into proper position above the trough so the car could be deployed... this would prove to be our downfall.In the first round of the contest, we easily qualified and earned a double win with a 1-1 tie. The other robot scored a quick point and nothing more. The second round was a dissappointment, as a simple human error cost us the win. When placing the robot on the board, we misaligned it slightly, causing it to be unable to complete the ninety degree turn to face the trough that was necessary. The robot got stuck against the obstacle on the board and could never recover. Despite losing this match, we proceeded to the final competition with a 1-1 record. The final competition started out well as we won our first match with a double (1-1) win. The next round would be our last, however, as our car failed to deploy properly and the other robot successfully scored two balls. This glitch was caused by a "hop" that caused our switch sensor to prematurely trip and deploy the car before the robot was totally over the trough. The car deployed and scurried across the contest table in a somewhat entertaining, yet wholly ineffective, manner. After losing for the second time, we were eliminated from the contest. We finished in about 20-25th place out of 60.
PhotosFor more and larger photos, click here.
|