Clawing My Way Onto The Team.

The robotics season just started and the whole team is so excited to get up and running. Even though the season just started, I’ve learned Robotics isn’t all about robots, software and marketing, but learning and developing teamwork and communication skills. In addition, I am so fortunate to be able to work with such amazing mentors: Mr. Brady, Mrs. Young, Mr. Young, Mr. Keller, and Mr. Huang, as well as so many talented peers. Because this is my first year on the team, I didn’t expect to be much use or even be able to do much hands on work; however, this wasn’t the case. We are currently prototyping many of the robot parts and I got tasked to help build a few parts. I was ecstatic to be able to help.

This year we are currently participating in the FTC Skystone challenge. In this challenge a critical part is to have our robot grab and move bricks around the field. As a team, we brainstormed many different ideas to make this possible, such as using flywheels, linear actuators, and a servo claw. I was assigned to build one of these claws, I knew it would be hard, but excited to start. With a little help from some mentors and teammates, I I was able to construct the claw and build it well. The majority of the above claw is built using vex metal plates and rods. These stable metal plates in the front and another sliding plate allow it to clamp the brick. This plate was moved using a rack and pinion gear. A rack gear is a gear mounted to a straight rod moving in a linearly fashion when torque is applied to it by a spur gear spun by a linear actuator. However, these metal plates did not have enough friction or force to lift and move the brick around. To solve this problem we integrated many different materials to increase friction. Using singular materials such as foam, tape and even sandpaper did not work. We then figured out it wasn’t only that there wasn’t even friction, but there was no extra normal force pushing on the block. So we tied zip ties around the hole inside the metal plates to add a little spring or push onto the block. In addition, we stuck elastic tubing around the zip ties for good friction. Just knowing that I’ve built something that works well and something that contributes to the team, is one of the greatest feelings.

Joining Nemesis Prime 14020 has been one of the greatest accomplish of mine and am having such a fun time on this team. However, the season has just begun and there's still so much to learn and grow. First competition is coming up and I can’t wait!

-Darren Sze