In the last 50 years there has been an increase in the need for an all-terrain, amphibious vehicle that has the ability to deliver a payload safely to its destination. The necessity of a disaster relief robot is even more critical in developing countries where roads are not paved and infrastructure is not well established. A disaster relief robot must have the ability to climb over obstacles and cross water without contaminating its' payload. The purpose of this project is to design and build an unmanned variable-terrain vehicle that will navigate a closed course while maximizing humanitarian payload capacity and minimizing energy consumption. Combining different terrains, such as sand and water, create many issues in the design of a small amphibious vehicle. Each year, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has a student design competition. In this year’s competition, entitled for Relief”, students must design a 25 “Robots cm X 25 cm X 30 cm relief vehicle capable of spanning a ramp, traveling through water and sand, and upstairs of various heights to deposit relief aid into a designated hole at the end of the course. The scoring of the competition is based on the amount of payload delivered, the time taken to complete the course, and the energy capacity of the robot. The robot’s design must keep both the payload and all sensitive electrical components safe and dry while traversing the course. A chassis design with four articulating tracks on each corner of the vehicle was determined to be the best method for the robot to be able to travel through all of the obstacles. Elongated tracks eliminated the need for waterproofing all electronic components. A track design gave the operator more control over the vehicle and also combined the mechanics required to climb the stairs and cross the water.
In the last 50 years there has been an increase in the need for an all-terrain, amphibious vehicle that has the ability to deliver a payload safely to its destination. The necessity of a disaster relief robot is even more critical in developing countries where roads are not paved and infrastructure is not well established. A disaster relief robot must have the ability to climb over obstacles and cross water without contaminating its' payload. The purpose of this project is to design and build an unmanned variable-terrain vehicle that will navigate a closed course while maximizing humanitarian payload capacity and minimizing energy consumption. Combining different terrains, such as sand and water, create many issues in the design of a small amphibious vehicle. Each year, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has a student design competition. In this year’s competition, entitled “Robots for Relief”, students must design a 25 cm X 25 cm X 30 cm relief vehicle capable of spanning a ramp, traveling through water and sand, and upstairs of various heights to deposit relief aid into a designated hole at the end of the course. The scoring of the competition is based on the amount of payload delivered, the time taken to complete the course, and the energy capacity of the robot. The robot’s design must keep both the payload and all sensitive electrical components safe and dry while traversing the course. A chassis design with four articulating tracks on each corner of the vehicle was determined to be the best method for the robot to be able to travel through all of the obstacles. Elongated tracks eliminated the need for waterproofing all electronic components. A track design gave the operator more control over the vehicle and also combined the mechanics required to climb the stairs and cross the water.
Midterm_paper.docx