1999 Jerry Sanders Design Competition at UIUC

The 1999 design competition was to build a vehicle that could run through an obstacle course:
1) Maneuver around posts
2) Climb a 45 degree incline
3) Maneuver through a rotating turntable
4) Survive a 3 foot drop into a pit of foam blocks
5) Climb out of the pit
6) Pull two pins out of a wall to drop a trap door
7) Lift up a bocce ball and drop it in a bin to finish the course

Our vehicle "Joshua" started out as a Kyosho 1:10 scale 2WD radio controlled truck that my friend had. We had to gear the transmission down, lock the differential, and redistribute the weight (battery pack) to make it up the 45 degree ramp. We added a cordless drill gearbox to power a rotating arm so the vehicle could do somersaults out of the pit. Due to budget constraints, we were stuck with using the 2 channel radio that was with the truck. So, we made the steering servo extreme left and right movement activate microswitches to make the rotating arm go back and forth. To pull out the pins, we mounted a 3" x 5" board with a matrix of hooks like a big velcro pad on the front of the vehicle. To pick up the ball, we attached a fork to the rotating arm.

We stayed under our cost target of $75 and got the money back with our 2nd place prize money.

The first place vehicle is also shown, and it dominated the demolition round too.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• robot
• obstacle
• course
• rc
• truck
• car
• jerry
• 1999
• sanders
• design
• competition