Battlebots Alumni

Once the 2007-2008 Battlebots teams finished competing in May, we turned our attention to help out the incoming battlebots members. Ravenengineering.net/alumni/ was created as a way for Battlebots alumni to share their knowledge and experience with the incoming teams. Last year, we learned the hard way where we made our mistakes. Hopefully, this information will be able to prevent the same mistakes from happening again. Also, this web site contains a page with videos of our robots at the competition.

Written by: Derek Joseph AE Alumni

Team Raven Rampage

Team Raven Rampage has been hard at work designing and producing our custom parts to fit into the bot. Only with the generous support from our local vendors, DTI Precision Machining, Inland Tool & Machining, Husqvarna, VanTon, M-C Fabrications, and Harnoy, have we been able to implement custom parts into our bot. For our frame, M-C Fabrications laser cut our sheet metal which was over 30 pieces for our armor, bottom plate, gussets, caster wells, etc. Then, the team took our bot’s pieces to Husqvarna to be welded. They did a master piece job! We still had many parts we needed help with. Drive system then went to Van-Ton Machine Specialties to have reduces made that will serve to connect the gearbox to the drive motor axle. VanTon graciously machined our reducers, not once, but twice, to fit our gearbox output shaft into our custom modified wheels, which are being done by Inland Tool. Inland Tool also machined our weapon’s axle, made drive shaft extenders, donated and milled our Delrin, etc. Inland has also served as a strong mentor. Drive has also called on DTI Precision Machining which has shown some team members how to use their mill and has allowed them to mill out their four custom motor mounts. We have great businesses in our community that have supported our team! Visit our website to find out more. http://ravenengineering.net/ravenrampage/

Written by: A/E Newsletter Senior AE Webmaster

Employee of the Month 

Our team is comprised of seven seniors who are working together to build a battlebot for the BOTS IQ competition in late April. The aggressive design of the robot can be portrayed through the robot’s name, “Spatha,” which is a greek word for a large broadsword. The weapon consists of a pneumatic flipper that is designed to wedge itself under an opponent and flip it high into the air using over 1,000 pounds of pneumatic pressure. We would like to thank all of the support we are getting from Eskridge Inc. and Flo-Products as well as other businesses. As progress increases, we are gradually making a competitive robot that may prove to be unstoppable. The robot’s frame made from square steel tubing was recently completed, signifying a major step towards getting our robot ready for competition. In the meantime, members of the drive system finalized the location of our wheels and motors on our wood prototype. One of the major benefits of completing this wood prototype was that we were able to find the best locations for certain components and we were able to get the drive system running. After running our prototype, members of the Power and Control system learned that our current batteries are not holding a complete charge and we may need to look into getting lighter and more powerful alternatives. For the Weapon, we just received the regulator we ordered and installed it on our paintball tank. As we continue to make progress in this system we need to keep in mind that safety is a key aspect when working with pneumatic systems. There is a tremendous amount of force in the 2,500 psi paintball tank and behind a pneumatic cylinder which will actuate at subsonic speeds. Visit our website to find out more and see a 3D representation of our robot. You can also see an animation on youtube by clicking here.
http://ravenengineering.net/eom

Written by: A/E Newsletter Senior AE Webmaster

Ravonics Revolution  

The Ravonics Revolution FIRST® robotics team is very enthusiastic as we embark on our third year. Although we are considered a veteran team and have accomplished many goals, we are still a young team that has new barriers to break. To keep up with the competition, a senior project class has been formed for the FIRST robotics team leaders. This class provides the opportunity to develop leadership skills, organizational skills, and to help provide insensitive for future robotics team members. This year, our team will be competing in two regionals, the Kansas City Regional and the Denver, Colorado Regional. It is one of our goals to once again compete in Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia. The Kansas City Regional will take place March 6th through March 8th. The Denver Regional takes place March 27th through March 29th. Our annual kick-off was held on January 5th, on which this year’s task was revealed, “FIRST Overdrive”. The task consists of a playing field designed like a race track with one exception, there is a rack that is placed six and a half feet directly above holding 40 inch diameter balls which must be lifted or rolled. As our team vigorously discusses strategy and works hard to find the best functional design, we are sure that this is one of the hardest tasks yet. We see this challenge as an opportunity and are excited to stretch our limits once again.

Written by: A/E Newsletter Senior AE Webmaster