3MEMS3: Last Robot Mods + Update

Quick update! The social media post of the 3D printed stabiliser I designed gained traction and was even shared by the software developers, this is definitely an area I will continue to explore.

This is a super quick post about some of the final tweaks and mods that have been made to the robot so it can traverse the obstacle course as best as possible. The hardware side of the bot is totally done now and the programming is also nearly there, this will be covered in separate posts. For now though, the mods.

In order to catch the ping pong balls being launched at the robot, a small basket had to be added on top. This basket must not have a base surface area of more than 133cm². I decided to keep things simple and use some spare cardboard to make the basket. This box is 13cm x 10cm making it a little smaller than rules allow but it fits very well on the robot.

This has been secured with some of the set screws left over after I removed the top plate. The bottom is lined with some packing foam so balls do not bounce out of the box after they have landed. Finished in some stealthy black paint the basket in total can hold up to 25 balls!

The front stabiliser works excellently however from time to time when the robot accelerates forward the rearward weight shift causes the front wheel to left and the robot can sometimes fall over. With the battery pack already moved forward and not enough time to repackage the robot how I would like I made a fallback support.

Inspired by the wheelie bars used in top-level drag racing I made a post from an old bike spoke that sits just off the floor. this keeps the robot propped up if it tilts too far back to give it a chance to settle.

That's all for now, but more to come as I wrap up the launcher and the obstacle course.