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Transporter |
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Sergio Ibarra, Erin Wickstrand, and Antonio Trevilla in the
Engineering Quad with their bulk material transporting robot,
the stairstep course and their 1st place trophy.
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AME Students Win ASME Design Competition
Congratulations to Erin Wickstrand, Sergio Ibarra, and Antonio Trevilla,
the three USC AME seniors who won the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers' Student Design Competition 2005 for ASME Region IX (California
Nevada, Hawaii, and the US Territorial Islands in the Pacific) the
weekend of April 9-10, 2005, at Cal State University, Sacramento.
For the competition students design and build a remotely
controlled device to carry
bulk material through a course--up 3 steps, a 90° turn,
then down a fourth step on to a platform--and dump the material
into a bin. The transporter can then go back to the start and be
refilled for additional trips through the course. Teams
earn points, 1 per gram, for delivering material into the bin
during their 10 minute run.
Rules for the competition
also specify deductions for some antisocial (from a robot's point
of view) behaviors such as touching the device while it's on the
course.
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The course to be run by the bulk material transporter. The machine
is loaded on the floor to the left, then climbs 3 steps, turns 90°,
descends a step, then dumps the granular material into
the bin below.
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The team with the most points wins
the competition.
Sergio, Antonio, and Erin entered their AME 441/442 project in
this competition. Their bulk material transporter--named
National Champions, referring to USC's recent football
successes--is a box riding on four main wheels and fitted with
four auxiliary
wheels. (In the photo, the two auxiliary wheels beneath the
box are not visible.) To climb a step on the course, the
transporter is driven forward into the step until the
spring-loaded white font auxiliary wheels are pushed beneath the box. Then the
box with all four auxiliary wheels attached rises up until
the front auxiliary wheels snap forward on the
tread
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The material transporter robot.
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on the step. At this point the transporter is supported
by its rear (main) wheels and its front auxiliary wheels.
The front main wheels are raised to the level of the stair
tread and the vehicle is driven forward by the rear main
wheels until the rear auxiliary wheels, located beneath
the box just in front of the rear main wheels, are above
the stair tread. The transporter then rests on front main wheels
and the rear auxiliary wheels on top of the stair tread.
The rear main wheels are then raised up and the transporter
moves forward, driven by the front main wheels.
The transporter just follows the reverse procedure to go
down a step.
To negotiate the 90° turn, a foot is lowered and the
whole vehicle rotates.
Once on the dumping platform, the front door drops forming
a chute and the granular material, rice for the competition,
runs out. False walls cover both end walls and the rear
wall. To encourage the last grains to leave, strings
attached to motor-driven shafts on top of the transporter
pull these false walls inward.
As winners in ASME Region IX,
Antonio, Erin, and Sergio will travel to Orlando,
Florida, to compete at the ASME's International Mechanical
Engineering Congress and Exposition on November 13, 2005.
—DP
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