March 13-14th, 2015
Chicago Engineering Design Team competed at the Jerry Sanders Design Competition at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign. EDT had three teams representing UIC over the weekend: Team GLaDOS, Team Pandora, and Team Richard. Against fierce competition, Team GLaDOS and Team Pandora were able to take home the 3rd and 4th place awards, respectively!
Chicago EDT visited the DuPage Children’s Museum on November 7, 2014 to partake in Family Fun Friday Night: Robot Mania! EDT has visited the DCM on several occasions, with each event having a better turnout. It was fantastic to talk to visitors enthusiastic about robotics! We look forward to continuing our visits to the DCM in the future!
Over the course of a few days, and with the gracious help of our alumni, EDT was able to install the Acu-Rite 200S on our trusty old Bridgeport J-head mill. The installation included two optical encoders for the table, one for the quill, and the control unit. After everything was installed, the mill was trammed and checked for repeatability and accuracy using a dial indicator. Many thanks to the UIC College of Engineering for their continued support!
No more reading dials and counting rotations for us!
The results are out, and EDT has been awarded 2nd place in the Design portion of the competition.
After several setbacks earlier in the week, including a failed motor on our digging mechanism and an improperly set watchdog timer, we were able to dig and deposit the simulated lunar regolith required to qualify! Check the video below for our qualifying run, and skip to the 2:38:00 mark.
Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream
It’s been a very busy past few months, but we finally have all the mechanical components (roughly) in place. Below is a link to one of our first few test runs, we definitely need to slow down the speed of the
digging mechanism!
Chicago EDT collaborates with UIC Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers to host campus tour for Bright and Gary Elementary Schools on Thursday March 27th and Friday March
28th. With the participation of Professor Jeremiah Abiade of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and Professor Mohsen Issa of the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering, the visiting students were able to tour and observe the workings of engineering research laboratories.
Thanks to R & B Powder Coating, located at 4000 S. Bell in Chicago, for providing us with their services. The steel frame for the upcoming 2014 Robotic Mining Competition has been coated and is ready for assembly!
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R & B Powder Coatings Chicago
Chicago EDT had a blast talking to some young engineers at the DuPage Children’s Museum! Jerry Sanders Design Competition first-placer Richard cialis professional vs regular cialis can i get valtrex and third-placer GLaDOS made some new friends, playing and showing off their mechanical and electrical features to the youngsters. We had a successful event in promoting STEM to the next generation! Thank you DCM for having us!
Another year and another victory for UIC’s Engineering Design Team (EDT)! This year, not only has EDT taken 1st and 3rd place, but also “Most Minimal Design” and “Most Points Scored in a Single Round” at the 2014 Jerry Sanders Design Competition.
EDT entered three robots: Richard, GlaDOS, and Lamashtu. GlaDOS took 3rd and also earned the title of “Most Minimal Design.” Richard earned 1st place and was the top scorer of the event, with 932 points in a single round. This is particularly impressive, being the first year either of Richard’s drivers controlled a JSDC robot. This year, the challenge was to collect flexible soccer cones, and place them on vertical and horizontal rods throughout the course, similar to the game “Risk”. There were also smaller objectives, such as manipulating a soccer ball onto a pedestal, which grants you access
to the upper level of the course.
The mechanisms were all newly fabricated with many design elements taken and improved upon from the previous year’s models. Typical for EDT, this work is nearly all completed in house, as a cornerstone to the learning process. The mechanisms are first designed and drawn using a CAD program, and then manufactured to the specifications of those drawings. One of the designs even featured parts manufactured with a 3D printer, demonstrating EDT stays on top of new technologies and emerging trends.
Another victory at JSDC not only means more awards to place on their wall, but also more opportunities to improve on future work. This isn’t limited to just more JSDC competitions. EDT will be participating for the first time at NASA’s Robotic Mining Competition in May, and will also make a return to AUVSI’s Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition in June. Work never seems to end for EDT, but neither does the pride and passion the students put into the team.
