Visit to NTU to Meet with Robotics Mentors:

 

The fourth build week had a strong beginning - especially in terms of our overall team building spirit. Four members of our team, Keertana, Jaiveer, Nikita, and Madhav had gone to Nanyang Technological University on Monday, the 27th of January, despite the Chinese New Year Public Holiday, to meet with a mentor Ms. Jingwen. Her advice mainly consisted of valuable tips regarding the completed design of our robot, and how to proceed with the build season. Certain key points were noted in regard to the scissors lift: 

 

• Holes need to be drilled precisely for the mechanism to work

• Counterweight must be added on the top

• Mechanism needs to be stable due to its necessary balancing task

• Stability may be increased through widening the hook base and increasing the weight of the base

• Joints may be added to the pneumatics

• Force acts on small pieces such as the U-bracket, hence try to avoid them as L-brackets are more firm and reliable

• Rope will have friction with the parts as it goes through the hole, so this must be taken into account

• Side of the hook must be a solid, single piece structure

• The scissor mechanism’s bars must be placed together, either above or below

• Filleting is vital - the forces are distributed along the bases of the hooks if done so, sharp edges are avoided

• CNC may be used for filleting

• Dimensions for filleting must be the same throughout

• Brackets may be added at the base to improve stability

 

Ms. Jingwen also brought the team representatives to a robotics room at NTU - she displayed the robomaster alongside other prized robots that had participated and won several competitions for NTU themselves. Investigating its mechanisms such as the omni-wheels and gears, our team attempted to drive one of these magnificent working robots. Another robotics lab visited at NTU contained a variety of machines and saws for robot construction purposes. A special aquabot, that could go up to 5m deep underwater, was also observed. It was an enriching and important experience for our team.