Well we've done it, as a team we Team Pending have completed the ME250 course and competed with our finished robot in the arena. Although we did not do as well as I would've hoped (We lost in Round One to team Thunder and Lightning) I do think that the machine was overall very solid. This course has been quite the experience, from the early design stages and narrowing down from strategies all the way to individual components, to the actual fabrication of our machine, this class has tested both my design creativity and my ability to take those ideas and actually create a physical interpretation of them. Going back to our machine I think that the team as a whole was very good at taking the concept and strategy and making our idea really come to life. I will say that there were a few bumps along the way. From having to do a lot of fabrication of the body on the laser cutter (parts that were originally planned to be made of aluminum) to trouble with getting the machine to drive perfectly straight, we had our fair share of problems. I do however, think that most of these were ironed out when we got a chance to test our robot for a few days and see what extra things were necessary (such as the epoxying of the entire body and the aluminum plate that was added to the arm to push the kevlar thread out so that the wedge wouldn't get stuck). I think that the plate that was added to the arm to push the thread out was a great help. Before adding it when the wedge was lowered all the way down and the thread tried to raise it again, the wedge would get stuck because the thread would be pulling straight up rather than diagonally. With the plate on the arm it helped to push the thread out and keep it at an angle so that it would always be able to pull the wedge up. If I were to do anything differently on the machine I would have probably tried to start the fabrication sooner. With more time we would have had more testing and as a result more time to fix some of the problems we found with our machine. One problem we found was that the machine had trouble driving in a straight line. Whether this was due to lack of lubrication within the double gearbox, problems with the motors or resistance in the wires, or a faulty connection of one of the tubing pieces connecting the gearbox axle to the axle of the wheel, we do not know. We tried extensively to fix all of these problems but to no avail. My only guess can be that it was a faulty tubing connection that only manifested itself under high torques. With more time I think we would have been able to fix this problem and as a result have done better in the competition. Regardless of this I think that the machine turned out well overall and would like to thank the other members of Team Pending for their contributions to the finished product. Many Thanks to Dylan Box, Mike Dicenso, and Chan Woo Kim, as well as Professor Hart and Sei Jin Park and the rest of the ME250 staff. I really enjoyed this class and think that the skills and knowledge of the design process I have learned will help me not only during the rest of my time at Michigan, but at future jobs as well.
-Andrew Kelner
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