Tug-of-War Competition

Design Problem- For this assignment we are required to design, program and create a robot that will be able to participate in a tug-or-war challenge with another robot.  Using specific computer programs, we need to program the robot to turn on upon sensing a loud noise (e.g. a clap) and activate the motors that we use.  The design that we choose to create must be one that will suffice in overpowering the other robot.

Solution- We decided to program the robot so that it will move the three motors in the reverse direction thus pulling away from the competing robot. Our design method consisted of a four wheel base, strongly held together by various parts, and a heavy top that will add to the weight of the robot and make it harder for the other robot to pull.  

Experience- Today we had a rather frustrating experience because we had to design, create and redesign the robot numerous time in order to reach the desired results.  In the beginning we thought that programming the robot would be the difficult part but discovered that actually constructing it was the more challenging part because all the pieces had to fit together in order for the robot to move and look like what we were aiming towards.  But in the end we were very pleased with the way our robot turned out. 

Pictures:

    

Rubber Band Car

 

Challenge: To design and build a car that is powered using a robber band.

Experience: Through this experiment we were able to observe the ideas of other groups to help improve our own design and also learn from our own mistakes and correct them through multiple trials. Since this was our first challenge, we discovered the strengths and weaknesses of each team member and assigned tasks based on that.

Solution: To complete this challenge we tried multiple designs in order to find the best one. According to our observations, we discovered that using larger wheels and longer Lego pieces gave us the most desirable results. By the last trial our group came in third place!

Below are some of the pictures of our different designs.