CSUN Shooter Bot

The image on the left side is the CAD file for one of my favorite small bots I've seen this year on the CSUN Matabots varsity team. I call it the shooter because every time it launches two balls straight up in the air, somehow the top two flags in any column the bot aims at, always get knocked back. When the flags get knocked back, they earn the team 2 points. 

I started to design and assemble the bot, on SOLIDWORKS by inserting all the parts needed for the H-drive. I find it easier to create subassemblies of the H-Drive,  the Frame, then the addition of intakes, lifts, catapults, punchers or arms, depending on the type of bot we decide to build. 

CSUN MATABOTS VEX Robotics

CSUN Junior Team Small Bot

Added all the gears, sprockets, and wheels today, finishing up the small bot for the CSUN Matabots junior varsity team. This is my first year with CSUN Matabots and VEX robotics, but I have been using SOLIDWORKS since 2012 (which is also when I received the "Certified Solidworks Associate" certificate. I started using SOLIDWORKS as soon as I enrolled myself in CAD/CAM technology courses at Pasadena City College. I still remember one of my favorite professor's name. Salamon Davilla. He was so patient with students, as well as knowledgable about every type of engineering application you can imagine. I received my AS degree along with another certificate in Engineering Design Technology that comes with the AS degree, then started to work in machine shops to essentially support myself through school. I recommend taking the CSWA exam online at https://www.solidworks.com/ it really helped me showcase my skills and study all aspects of SOLIDWORKS.
VEX robotics usually can provide all the parts that the robot requires, which you can upload onto your design library in SOLIDWORKS. After mapping the VEX parts library to the Design library in SOLIDWORKS, I began to insert one C-Channel & Spacer at a time. Bringing in each part and mating, specific areas of each part can be difficult if you don't think ahead. What I mean by thinking ahead, can be "showing" part planes to begin aligning parts based on their "planes" can help you create better and smarter assemblies, allowing for future modification, without causing too many errors.

All that's left is to add our beautiful V5 motors on each side of the H-Drive, which I will begin sometime next week. I'll continue to update IG @palezyan3d and document all our progress, which actually helps me out by helping me with gathering all my thoughts, and hopefully, some of the things I blog about can help all of you! Let me know how your engineering and design projects are going! I would love to hear about them and about any feedback that you guys might have about my projects with CSUN MATABOTS. Thank you for stopping by!

3D printed bracket

After designing the bracket for the side panel of the Big Bot, the SOLIDWORKS file was then saved and uploaded into another software. The software we use is called CURA, and the file format that was needed to upload the part file from SOLIDWORKS to CURA is STL. After the design is finished, there is a need to perform a "save as" then there is a need to choose the option for STL for the 3D printing software (CURA) to recognize the design. Below is a picture of the process we went through.

The part was successfully 3D printed and mounted onto our Big Bot. The Big Bot is more for lifting caps, within the VEX turning point game, and the Small Bot is more for shooting balls. Each team has to come up with a strategy for playing the game, which includes the path of the robot, and what it will essentially do for points. The strategy is important to master and practice everyday, or the team will have difficulty in execution during the actual competition. 

Assembling our bots with SOLIDWORKS

As I bring each component into SOLIDWORKS and mate them together, I want to share what I learn as I work on it. This actually helps me organize my thoughts and hopefully it will help other people with their own projects.

Having a CAD model of every robot that is created can provide an advantage in all aspects of the engineering process and the project being worked on. Whenever there may need to be any 3D printed parts added to the robot (to improve stability) for instance, having the robot on SOLIDWORKS (or other CAD software) is vital. The reason it is so vital is because all the dimensions are already there for you to base your new part off of.

I noticed that the side of one of our bot/lift (highlighted areas) were not stable and might cause problems in the future, therefore I opened the assembly model and started designing a bracket to hold that side steady. Instead of reverse engineering every dimension with a ruler, to figure out the dimension i need for the bracket, the CAD model I assembled earlier helped me create the part in a more efficient way.

Above is a picture of the bracket I designed to help stabilize the side of our Big Bot. I didn't go overboard with how the part looks, because we were on a time crunch. However, each feature was designed in a specific way, so it will be able to be 3D printed and satisfy its purpose (holding the side panel together). The holes were created on a flat surface, to avoid any problems with mounting.
I also noticed a few other parts of the Big Bot that needs to be stabilized, so I will start to model up parts to improve the bot before our next competition.
The Small Bot is already fully assembled, and wont be changing before the next competition, therefore I'm going to start modeling up the rest of our Small Bot, for any future improvement designs that might be needed. Below is the CAD of our Small Bot. Stay Tune for more!

VEX Turning Point Competition CSUN vs USC

VEX U Turning Point Competition hosted by USC

(Listed from left to right)
USC1, CSUN2, USC2, UC Berkley, CSUN1, CSUN2

Another amazing day of friendly competition at USC as CSUN, Mt. Sack, and UC Berkley all compete with each other, to qualify for limited spots in the final matchup at WORLDS 2019 (Finals for VEX Turing Point Robotics in Kentucky). 

We had to maintain and prepare the bots for battle by keeping the batteries on charge continuously, confirming all nuts and bolts were tightened, brainstorming between members regarding the strategy, and repair any broken or unusual feature applicable.

With a missing lead programmer and the Spring semester starting just a couple weeks prior, we can say that there is definitely room to improve. Most of USC's bot had been assembled with 3D printed parts, instead of the general c-channels provided by VEX. (Top right). That means USC had to design their parts as original inventions, using the design features in Solidworks. Most people only use the assembly feature in Solidworks to grab-drag the parts from a CAD library (Provided by VEX, so no need to design them from scratch). Although we do have a few original designs that are additions to our bot, USC has decided to design their entire bot, piece by piece, then assemble their new invention onto an H-drive frame.

Motivated, ambitious and inspired, CSUN is now thinking of either modifying our current bots, or designing completely new parts on Solidworks, 3D printing them, and assembling a brand new bot. Stay Tune!
IG. @palezyan3d

CSUN Matabots (VEX U Robotics Competition)

CSUN Matabots: VEX Robotics

By Joseph Palezyan

Below is the CAD of our VEX turning point robot, for the CSUN 2 Matabots team. The small bot frame had to be assembled C-channel by C-channel, mate by mate, for a steady foundation, from the start. Having the entire bot designs on Solidworks, before our competition is vital in gaining an advantage, with the ability to study/test different aspects of the bot, without dismantling it.

Small Bot H-Drive

Assembled Small Bot (Intake/left Lift/right)

Above is the physical bot. I took pictures of the bot, as I began to reverse engineer each feature and dimension as they applied. This time, we decided to install an intake (spinning cylinder with orange rubber bands) towards the front of the robot. This robot also includes an angled lifting mechanism, in order to flip caps, within the VEX turning point game. The small robot also has to shoot balls towards a wall of flags. A flywheel was chosen, to send the ball flying towards the flags. Other mechanical applications can include a catapult or slingshot. 

CAD of Small Bot Frame by J.Palezyan

This is a screenshot of the frame for the small robot. Each team has a big and small robot. Based on the VEX turning point game manual, http://dreibeingmbh.de/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/VRC-TurningPoint-GameManual-20180427.pdf, there are caps that must be flipped, as well as balls that need to hit the flags. 

Therefore, we had to plan a strategy for each robot, which includes, a specified game plan regarding what they should each focus on. After many days of brainstorming, and studying other robots, we decided to assign the big robot towards lifting, and the small robot towards shooting. This meant that the big robot would have a functional and advanced lifting mechanism, while the small bot contained an effective shooter (flywheel).