Robotics divides into sub-teams for build-season

This year, members of the Mechanical Science and Engineering Team (MSET) have been challenged to build a robot to play basketball—and they have just six weeks to accomplish the task.

To do this, the team has divided into six sub-teams, one for each component of the robot.

“It would be hard to have 30 kids working on the same component,” club president senior Michael Zuccarino said. “A sub-team helps us to take members who are interested in different things and enable them to work together on different components. It also gives kids an opportunity to be in a leadership position and practice team management.”

One of the most important components of the robot is the drive train. Its sub-team is headed by sophomore Mihir Iyer. His team is responsible for making sure the robot will be able to move quickly and efficiently.

This year the other sub team leaders include Zuccarino and senior Rod Jafari, juniors Eugene Che and Todd Nguyen and sophomores Ivan France and David Sparkman.

This year, the team has decided to create a six-wheeled system, which involves four powered wheels and two casters. The casters are freely moving, un-powered wheels for extra stability and maneuverability.

“I like leading this sub-team because I get to design the base using CAD (Computer Aided Design) and there are challenges that I can measure myself up to,” Iyer said.

Another sub-team is responsible for the basketball shooting mechanism. One of the options being discussed is a cannon-like system, which can target the basketball hoops using a Microsoft Xbox-Kinekt sensor that gives the robot machine vision to “see” the basket.

“Machine vision is essentially taking an image, and making out glyphs from that image, so, in a way it is shape or color recognition,” Che said.

The team responsible for making sure the robot has this “vision” is the programming/software team, headed by Che. In addition to writing the vision program, this sub-team also enables the drivers to move the robot using two joysticks and a laptop, a pretty routine task for this experienced programmer.

Another important question is how to best pick up the foam basketballs and transfer them to the shooting mechanism. The current solution utilizes a series of conveyor belts to feed balls into the shooter.

“Our sub-team seems to be really well-experienced and well-rounded, so we will be able to build an efficient ball pickup system,” France said.

In addition to the various building sub-teams, MSET also has a fundraising/marketing sub-team. This small group actively raises money by talking to local businesses and technology companies. Having to present their strategy and goals builds the team’s communications and entrepreneurial skills.

The true test for the team’s strategy and robot design will be the Silicon Valley regional competition at San Jose State, held from March 29 to 31.