Project Overview
2.007 is a design and manufacturing class focused on teaching the essentials for mechanical design. The class, like most mechanical engineering classes at MIT, is project based culminating with a final competition. Throughout the semester, students each build their own robot or robots from scratch and design them to tackle various challenges around the gameboard (pictured above). Each challenge can earn points, and at the end of the round the robot with the most points wins! By the end of the semester, I will have gained valuable experience in the shop working with everything from 3D Printers to lathes. I will also have a much better understanding of the design process and how to efficiently and intelligently design a final product.
2.007 is a design and manufacturing class focused on teaching the essentials for mechanical design. The class, like most mechanical engineering classes at MIT, is project based culminating with a final competition. Throughout the semester, students each build their own robot or robots from scratch and design them to tackle various challenges around the gameboard (pictured above). Each challenge can earn points, and at the end of the round the robot with the most points wins! By the end of the semester, I will have gained valuable experience in the shop working with everything from 3D Printers to lathes. I will also have a much better understanding of the design process and how to efficiently and intelligently design a final product.
My Robot
On the gameboard, there were a number of challenges including planting a flag at one of four locations, collecting moon rocks, removing fuel tanks, spinning a generator, and raising a multiplier. My robot aimed to complete two high scoring objectives on the game board and end the round as quickly as possible. The two challenges I picked were planting flag on the highest possible location and raising the multiplier completely to triple my score and begin a 15 second countdown to launch the lander and end the round. To accomplish these goals, I built a robot centered around a tall scissor lift. The scissor lift was driven by a lead screw actuator and spring loaded to reduce the time and force required to raise it to its full height. I also altered the angle of the last two arms so that at full height the highest arm would extend out in front of the robot and plant the flag. To lower the lift, I built a variable-diameter winch that applied high force to initiate the descent and as gravity began to pull the lift down the winch quickly increased in diameter thus reducing the force and increasing the rate at which the lift descended. In order to pull raise the multiplier, I had to grab and pull a wire thus raising an antenna. To grab the wire, I attached an angled sheet metal piece with a slit in the middle of it to my scissor lift. As the lift raised to the wire, the sheet metal piece would become vertical and grab the wire, and return to horizontal as the lift returned to its starting position. Then, a second winch would pull the entire robot back towards an anchor point, thus raising the multiplier.
What I Learned
Throughout this project, I further developed a lot of general mechanical engineering skills, such as using the machines in the shop and generating 3D models. I also learned a lot about keeping an organized lab notebook, iterating possible designs, systems testing, designing a system within strict constraints, writing software for autonomous operations, and completing weekly physical deliverables. In each of these experiences, I thoroughly enjoyed the open-ended problems, creating numerous possible strategies and concepts, then fabricating, testing, and updating the design to craft a final design.
On the gameboard, there were a number of challenges including planting a flag at one of four locations, collecting moon rocks, removing fuel tanks, spinning a generator, and raising a multiplier. My robot aimed to complete two high scoring objectives on the game board and end the round as quickly as possible. The two challenges I picked were planting flag on the highest possible location and raising the multiplier completely to triple my score and begin a 15 second countdown to launch the lander and end the round. To accomplish these goals, I built a robot centered around a tall scissor lift. The scissor lift was driven by a lead screw actuator and spring loaded to reduce the time and force required to raise it to its full height. I also altered the angle of the last two arms so that at full height the highest arm would extend out in front of the robot and plant the flag. To lower the lift, I built a variable-diameter winch that applied high force to initiate the descent and as gravity began to pull the lift down the winch quickly increased in diameter thus reducing the force and increasing the rate at which the lift descended. In order to pull raise the multiplier, I had to grab and pull a wire thus raising an antenna. To grab the wire, I attached an angled sheet metal piece with a slit in the middle of it to my scissor lift. As the lift raised to the wire, the sheet metal piece would become vertical and grab the wire, and return to horizontal as the lift returned to its starting position. Then, a second winch would pull the entire robot back towards an anchor point, thus raising the multiplier.
What I Learned
Throughout this project, I further developed a lot of general mechanical engineering skills, such as using the machines in the shop and generating 3D models. I also learned a lot about keeping an organized lab notebook, iterating possible designs, systems testing, designing a system within strict constraints, writing software for autonomous operations, and completing weekly physical deliverables. In each of these experiences, I thoroughly enjoyed the open-ended problems, creating numerous possible strategies and concepts, then fabricating, testing, and updating the design to craft a final design.
