Alternate Solution 1 ~ VEXRobotics OI

Alternative Solutions

When going about in your everyday life, you are sure to run into many different types of robots and machines, even if you don’t always notice them. Different alternate solutions for something as complicated as a robot can be found in everyday situations. For example, those tiny toy cranes you see decorating the boardwalks are actually a robotic engineering masterpiece. The tiny claw used to pick things up is simply brilliant, as it is both a simple design and an extremely effective method of pick-up. Many different forms of this claw exist; the most useful one for this task would be the claw standardly used as a candy grabber style claw. This claw differs from it’s standard toy machine counterpart in that it is larger, with more of a scoop than just the pickup extensions a toy machine claw has. For example:

"Candy" Grabber Claw

"Toy" Grabber Claw, notice the curved metal hooks instead of the candy grabber scoop.

These two different types of claws are both engineered and designed in much the same way. Using essential elements from each design, an alternate solution to complete all land and water challenges was created.

Here is the "claw", shown on a VEXRobot.

Claw detailing/annotation and possible arm construction

Detailing of the "claw" (lower right hand corner)

This alternative solution would be beneficial on many of the different aquatic challenges. For the first challenge, the group is dropping the ball through a hoop. In theory, this is supposed to be signaling an aircraft. The claw design could help in this situation because it could easily hold the ball in its interior, and then drop it into the allocated hoop when maneuvered to. This option would make completing the task extremely user friendly and yet incredibly effective. The claw design would be a great solution to this first water task, as it would most likely almost always be successful in completing the task.

The second water based challenge would involve towing a stranded vessel in some way. The claw design my partner and I imagined would be able to easily tow any type of vessel. By maneuvering the claw to grab onto a part of the vessel, such as the side of it, the task could be successfully completed. This would also be easy to complete because the claw would not damage the stranded vehicle in any way. As we do not currently know the nature of the vessel which we are towing, this claw design would help us to prepare for any situation. By optimizing the grip abilities of the claw, this solution would be extremely effective in completing our second water based task.

“Sinking an enemy vessel”, or sinking something floating in the testing challenge tank, would be our third aquatic robotic task. The claw would complete this challenge by using the robotic claw to grab a vessel and drag it underwater. Though there are other ways to complete this challenge, dragging it under the water would be the most feasible and probably successful way of doing so. This challenge would be completed with no additions to the robot other than the claw, and would be completed as well in a relatively short period of time.

The third water based challenge involves floating a buoy, which in essence means that the robot will be required to drop a floating object into the water while in motion. The claw would be able to pick up and carry the "buoy" and then release it in the designated area upon command. This challenge is very similiar to the ball in the hoop challenge, in that the robot would be required to carry something and then place it somewhere else. Thanks to the maneuverability of a robotic arm and the claw mechanism, this challenge could be completed simply by using the claw to open and release on command.

This attachment to our VEXRobot would not only aid in the aquatic challenges, it would help in the land challenges as well. The claw, with its scoop resemblance, would be very good at taking soft soil and sand samples from the designated areas. This scoop would be able to carry the soil back to the user, so that it could be studied at a later time. The only difficulty that this scoop could pose, if selected as an alternate solution, is that it would not be able to force itself into the ground to collect soil samples from area where the ground is more dense, or packed in. However, the easy maneuverability and control of the robot is much better than an alternate solution of the claw nature with more force.

There are several ways to construct this alternate solution. Standard claw kits are sold, and can be found at many different robotics stores. Alternatively, there could be claws salvaged from other, otherwise broken object that are being thrown away. The claw could be constructed at a simple level completely from scratch as well, using standard household parts an knowledge of engineering. Different versions of claws include: