Project Objective
To create a robot that could repeatedly perform four olympic sports: the team sport, the moving sport, the distance sport, and a final sport of the team's choosing.
The sports could be performed in any order, but creators were only allowed to touch the robot once to start the chain of events that would allow the robot to perform all of its functions.
Participants
Jasmine Lee, Halsey Hoster and Jacob Cruz completed this project during the spring of 2012. All three members were equally involved in the ideation, fabrication, and testing phases of this project.
Functionality Details and Material Limitations
Team Sport
- Throw a ball from point A to point B
- Delay a few seconds
- Return ball from point B to point A
- Points A and B must be on the robot
Moving Sport
- Move five (5) feet in one direction
Distance Sport
- Launch a twinkie in a parabola
- Must reach a height of at least five (5) feet
Allowed Construction Materials
- Corrugated cardboard
- Foam core
- Dowels
- Rubber bands
- String
- Washers
- Tape
- Hot glue
Allowed Power Sources
- Balls that fit on the robot (typically table tennis balls or golf balls)
- Rubber bands
- Air
The Solution
Sport Order
- Team
- Distance
- Moving
- Free choice
Building Materials
- Foam core
- Hot glue
- Duct tape
- Wooden dowels
- Metal dowels
- Metal washers
- String
- Rubber bands
- Golf balls
- Table tennis balls
Golf balls rolled down pegged ramps to create time gaps in between each sport.
Wooden pegs attached to foam core levers held rubber bands in place. As golf balls dropped on each lever, the rubber bands were released, which triggered of another sport.
The team and distance sport launchers were made of small foam core rectangles fitted into larger foam core shafts. Two rubber bands held the mechanism in place until released by a lever.
The moving sport was executed by wrapping string around one of the robot's axles and securing it to a rubber band. When the rubber band was released by a lever, it pulled the string and the robot moved.