Just like Provel cheese, a blend of cheddar, swiss, and provolone, our new robot is a blend of winning designs. Some from our past, that made us Galileo finalists at the 2010 World Championship competition, and NASA/VCU Regional “Delphi Driving Tomorrow Award” winners in 2007, and some new surprises for 2011.
The drive train has 6 AndyMark Plaction wheels with a drop center wheel that is directly powered by a SuperShifter with standard gear reductions. Provel is able to pick up all shapes of tubes from both the feeding slots as well as the floor using one piece of bent Lexan and a stabilizing bar to ensure the tubes do not move in transfer. A cylinder is then used to rotate the gripper up so that it is perpendicular to the ground. The tubes can be moved using an elevator system run by 2 belts on a pulley system powered by 2 window motors running together.
To score, Provel is equipped with a precision mode that slows down the robot to make sure it gets on the peg properly.
The Minibot
The minibot, Nacho Cheese, had a very sucessful year earning us an average of 20-30 points per match, with a deployment rate of approximately 3 seconds. The little guy got his name when his mommy, one of our machinists, grew to be very protective of him, prompting her to tell everyone that he was "not ch'your cheese".
