Mechanical Projects — Chris Dosen

Transmission Project

My team was tasked with designing and building a two stage 9:1 transmission. We were given a limited budget, and a limited amount of acrylic of which we had to use for the structure. The only machines we could use to make it were a mill, a lathe, and a bandsaw.

A side view of the transmission. Note the grooves in the base; we placed them there so as to decrease error in the alignment of the shafts.

Top view of the transmission. We were given an exception on the tool limitation for the threaded rods, as using a bandsaw to cut them would have destroyed the blade.

Obstacle Course Relay Race Robots

My team designed and built 3 robots for a robotics competition. Our robots had to transfer a baton (baseball) though a pylon field, over a see-saw, up and down a ramp, and though a gate into a hole. We decided that, rather than building 3 baton transfer mechanisms, we would keep the baton on robot 1, and transfer robot 1 onto robots 2 and 3. We were one of only 2 teams to successfully complete the race.

Robot 2. The ramp in the back is for robot 1 to drive up. We designed the ramp so as to fold down at the start of the competition, as we had to have the robot fit in a box at the start of the race. The grooves on the ramp are both to increase traction and to decrease weight. The magnets on the front are for a depreciated part of the competition.

Robot 3. there is also a ramp in the back, albeit it is not pictured. The magnets in the front fold out to open the gate. The hole in the chassis is for robot 1 to drop the baton through to end the competition.