Tug-O-War Robot

Problem:

Design and build a tug-o-war robot using Pilot Level 4 or Inventor Level 4 to program the robot. The objective is to pull the opposing robot over the centerline. The battle commences when both robots are activated by a single touch sensor.

Basic Requirements of Robot Design:
1) Input Port 1 must be accessible to connect the touch sensor lead wire to.
2) You may use a maximum of two motors.
3) Your robot must permit a piece of string to be attached (you decide how).
4) Your robot must fit inside a cube 9 inches on a side.

Our Solution:

We developed a robot whose build and weight would enable it to slowly pull the opposing robot. The design of the gears enabled the robot to use a great amount of torque, while the outer shell of the robot made it very difficult for it to be overpowered. Also by incorporating a pulley system in the axle of the frontal wheels, it was assumed that it would be capable of pulling the opposing robot upward and disabling two of its four wheels.

Picture: LegoVikings' Robot (right) vs. ??? Robot (left)

The Result:

Unfortunately, the robot lost in the first round due to a fatal design error the pulley system. It would have been an advantage if it wasn't for one VERY important factor: the string that the would connect the opposing robot to our own. With the limited amount of string given, we could not use the full potential of our robot's design which was the pulley system. The string was also attached to the pulley pole, which was another fatal error. There was little to no power or weight in that part of the robot, which easily gave the opposing robot a major advantage as it used the weight of our robot against it. The result . . . had our robot literally pulled onto its back and over the line.

If it was not for the limiting string, our robot would have had at least a "fighting chance," but there can be no such assumption. However, the errors of our design were recognized and the knowledge gained from our errors will be incorporated into later experiments and challenges.