T E A M 9

Design

Kate passed the 3 ft drop test with a few minor injuries. Kate is vertically reinforced, short, and rectangular in shape. Kate is mainly blue and black. Kate has tank drive, with two wheels controlled by two separate motors to turn.

In order to lift the big balls, we originally used a mechanism similar to a forklift using only one servo. When the servo turns one direction, the lift picks up the ball, and when the servo turns the other direction and the lift hits something (ie the wall of the game board lining the goal), the lift pushes the ball out into the goal. The gear used to raise the flag was run a motor and attached to a part of the lift.

Kate at one point also possessed LED and distance sensors for position sensing and locomotion. Unfortunately these we were unable to accurately calibrate these devices, and the positions of the balls were hard programmed instead. The lift was abandoned and Kate was given two fangs flanking her front side for collecting the small balls.

During the second week of Kate's short life, she attempted to sing. While we told her the frequencies for "twinkle twinkle little star", she was horribly out of tune and could not understand the difference between a "B" and a "B flat", resulting a strange, minor mix of the original song. We, her creators, were not pleased, and forbid her to sing.