Host Chris Chianelli introduces Tennessee Tech University and the University of Pittsburgh to their challenge: to design and build a robot that can (1) move to a bowling ball, (2) pick up the bowling ball, and (3) send the bowling ball down the alley to knock over pins.
The Teams
Tennessee Tech:
Wayne Douglas, Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering
Kevin Coleman, Senior , Electrical Engineering
Josh Long, Sophomore, Electrical Engineering
University of Pittsburgh:
Mark Smorul, Senior, Computer Engineering
Ben McMillen, Graduate Student, Electrical Engineering
Sam Scheinman, Senior, Physics
The DesignsTennessee Tech designs a robot with two parallel steel pipes that act as an actuated ramp by pivoting at a center point. The bowling balls are held in place by a spring-loaded ball stop created with a bicycle reflector and rubber bands.
Pittsburgh designs a robot with two counter-rotating tires that perform like a softball pitcher to gather and propel bowling balls down the alley. A fork taken from the bicycle acts as a cat door of sorts, allowing balls to enter the robot without letting them escape.
The Construction With the help of Brian Nave and Buzz Dawson, both teams brainstorm on their designs. As the teams continue to design, they are introduced to the bowling balls and pins for the challenge. Buzz and Brian reveal the surprise household item: a bicycle.
Tennessee lays out their electronics and assembles the drive motors. Pittsburgh locks in a design and begins to cut materials to be used in their robot. Both teams continue to build their robots.
Tennessee takes apart the bicycle to use the forks and other parts as integral parts of their design, while the base frame and electronics of the robot are tested. Pitt assembles their robot using parts from the bike, cutting and drilling all the parts they'll need to fully assemble their robot. The design has forks from the bike acting as a ball-stop once the ball has been picked up.
Chris updates with Brian and Buzz about how their respective teams are progresssing. Pitt continues to build, spending a lot of time and energy trying to figure out the best use of the forks as the ball stop, the problems with this idea persist. Tennessee builds their-ball-grabbing device and mount it onto the robot. With the lifting mechanism attached, Tennessee has another successful test.
Pittsburgh works steadily on their ball-handling mechanism solving problems as they occur, while also taking the time to decorate their robot using the bike seat. Tennessee's ball-lifting mechanism is fitted to the robot and adjustments are made to it. With only an hour left in the building phase, both teams rush to make last-minute adjustments to their robots.
The ContestBoth robots perform superbly, but Pittsburgh’s bowling robot has a slight speed advantage that captures the victory.
The Winners: University of Pittsburgh
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