SumoBot

Sumobot

Mike Desmond

Winning bot

Our bot

Our bot

The project requirements were to build a robot vehicle that can have a brain attached to it that will be able to make it around a course in the hallways.  It had to be as fast as possible to beat other teams and had to be precisely crafted in order to maintain stability and accurate steering.  We chose to mount the motors and wheels at the end of the given wood piece, and the roller bearing wheel in the front with the brain and batteries in the middle.  This would give us the option to have either side the front, so we could experiment which was better - for the powered wheels to push the rest of the bot, or for he wheels to pull the rest along.  Groups 1 and 2 finished, but not groups 3, 4, and 5.  Group 1 was 2:24 and group 2 was 2:50.  The overall winning bot was very fast because it had a wide wheelbase, was assembled carefully, and had a great gear system.  Unfortunately, our group's bot was unable to make it around the track since it couldn't go very fast, and couldn't go straight or left because it kept going right.  What I would do to improve this would be to get smaller wheels, maybe add a gear system, and possibly make the rear wider so that the weight can be placed on the wheels.