While the end effector is physically a part of the arm, it often requires greater precision and careful design compared to the rest of the arm to be able to grasp and handle different objects. The development of the end effector first started out as a new member project in 2020, when the team first decided on attempting to compete in URC. During the 2020-2021 school year, the team experimented with various rough designs in CAD for what the end effector could look like. Progress slowed as the team shifted focus to get more people working on Swervi, but then continued with new members for 2021-2022.

Since then, the new members have designed newer prototypes of the end effector, iterating on different mechanisms for the claw. Gray Simmons, one of the mechanical team members working on the project, described their goals as picking up large objects, using various tools, pressing keys and flipping switches. To achieve these aims, they reached out to other URC teams about their designs and also did their own research on how to design a claw with precise control.

For the first iteration of the model,  they “based the design heavily on using a Watt’s linkage system in order to control the claw with a linear motion input.” This served to showcase the mechanism at a smaller scale, making sure that the underlying principles hold when the full version of the end effector is built. They 3D printed this design using an SLA printer, confirming that the mechanism worked as they had intended.

Afterward, they moved to a design that was more manufacturable and tried to make it more mechanically sound for the full-scale model. While they haven’t had a design review yet, they integrated feedback from other RoboNav members, creating windows in the base plates to reduce the mass of the system. The primary changes between the two major iterations were a “focus on manufactured parts, the increase in size, and the addition of the lead screw to apply the vertical linear force.” This Spring, the team manufactured and assembled the end effector at its full scale, successfully obtaining a working version of their design.

For the future, RoboNav’s end effector team plans to focus on developing the claws at the tip of the end effector to be less rigid, incorporating a compliant claw system. Making the claws less rigid would allow the robot to get a better grip of objects, which is especially important due to the wide range of objects of different sizes that they need to pick up and manipulate. The design process for this change is currently underway, and the team hopes to have a functional compliant claw soon.

We took some time to meet these new officers and learn about what they’re looking forward to for the rest of the year.

Secretary – Keene Brogan

Keene is a first year CS major from Philadelphia. He joined the Robocup software team in the fall, and has really enjoyed meeting other RoboJackets members and getting more involved with the organization. As secretary he’s enjoyed putting on socials: “the retroTECH social was a lot of fun and I think people really enjoyed it (I almost got top 10 in oregon trail).”

Shop Manager – Keertik Bacon

Keertik is a second year mechanical engineering major. Hailing from the Baltimore, MD area, he’s a big NFL fan (go Ravens!) and is (according to himself) not a very good cook. Besides his responsibilities in RoboJackets, he’s also a PI at the Invention Studio. Joining RoboRacing’s mechanical subteam as a first year, he has primarily worked on Rigatonii, specifically on the braking subsystem. He also served as mechanical training lead this past fall. His favorite thing about RoboJackets has been meeting other members via socials and the leadership retreat, getting to know them “on a personal level, having fun and playing games.” He’s also looking forward to attending the upcoming evGrand Prix in May. As Shop Manager, he’s looking to improve the organization of the shop, primarily by constructing a new stock storage cabinet. He’s also looking to centralize the storage of fasteners and move unused tools out of the space.

Outreach Chair – Sunidhi Dhawan

Sunidhi is a first year computer science major that joined the RoboNav’s software subteam in the fall of 2021. She is queer and a fan of Christopher Nolan movies. In her free time she enjoys short distance running and playing the sitar. On her favorite parts of being part of RoboJackets, she discussed the leadership and training program: “One thing I really appreciate is how fluid and non-rigid the administration and organization in general is. This is definitely not something I expected since it’s such a large club, but I’ve found a lot of support and openness to ideas. I’ve also really enjoyed working on the software team – the [training program is] … hard to keep up [with], but you learn so much by the end. It’s a great investment to have outside my curriculum and I’m glad to have met incredibly smart and cool people!” As outreach chair, she’s excited to continue to coordinate and promote volunteering events. She’s also looking to encourage more cross communication/collaboration across the SCC car teams: ”One idea we’re hoping to take forward and implement in the future is having joint training sessions so teams can share and borrow expertise from other teams!”

RoboCup PM – Bernardo Perez

Bernardo is a second year electrical engineering major. He has been fencing competitively for +10 years. In his spare time he likes to play guitar and read. He first joined RoboJackets as first year as part of the RoboCup electrical subteam. In the fall of 2021 he was electrical lead for RoboCup. He has largely worked on the electrical systems of the RoboCup fleet, including the current control boards, kicker boards, and breakbeam boards. His favorite part of RoboJackets has been “learning skills [that] you may not learn inside the classroom and seeing your projects come to fruition.” As PM, Bernardo looks forward to advancing our team and taking the next steps to make us more competitive for the upcoming year.

The new Android application was developed by Evan Strat, a recently graduated member and former Web App Product Owner and IT Coordinator. The original goal was to be able to track attendance without needing to bring card readers to events. In order to drive adoption of the app, Evan emphasized ease of use during the app’s design process. After learning about some new Android frameworks like Jetpack Compose and completing an internship at Zillow focused on Android development, Evan had the tools he needed to work on the app. He had to solve a lot of interesting problems including using near-field communication (NFC) to read BuzzCard information through the phone and updating Apiary to allow users to sign in through a mobile app.

Since the app’s initial beta launch for General Interest last fall, it has proven very valuable and so far recorded 1,500 attendance records via NFC BuzzCard taps! The next major feature will be merchandise distribution, aiming to simplify the distribution of t-shirts and polos to RoboJackets members. Evan’s favorite feature is the fun messages that appear if you record attendance for many members at once. He’s also excited about the recent addition of a continuous integration pipeline behind the scenes, which will accelerate the process of testing and releasing new features in the app.

As usual, RoboJackets members hosted workshops to cover some of the basics of skills students need to make successful robots, including the basics of the three disciplines of mechanical, electrical, and software. In addition, RoboJackets hosted a workshop that introduced students to basic controls concepts including PID, motion control, and trajectory following through interactive pseudocode.

We wanted to give a small glimpse into some of the work that goes into running an event like this. Ross is one of the few members of RoboJackets that primarily contributes to the IT and operations part of the organization. At Kickoff, Ross has provided A/V support for years, and is a major contribution to the event running well. He coordinates with on-campus support departments and the presenters to make sure each part of the event goes well. The main difference between this year’s Kickoff and past years’ that were in Ferst Theater was the fact that the in person audience was notably smaller, and the online audience was much larger. Additionally, this was the first year that the in-person workshops were also streamed. According to Ross, “[there was a] need for a high quality remote viewing option. In previous years it hasn’t been as much of a focus since almost everyone was on-site. We put extra time and effort into making the production quality of the live streams as high as possible for that reason.”

We also reached out to Tan Tonge, the current kickoff coordinator (the appointed position that handles FRC kickoff), for comment. The major challenge he cited was the uncertainty around hosting an in-person event in January amid the continuing COVID pandemic. RoboJackets had to closely monitor the latest safety guidance from Georgia Tech and make the best decisions possible to keep the attendees and our student volunteers safe. “We only made the final decision to go ahead during the week [prior to the Kickoff],” Tan said, and continued: “We had to quickly make plans to host the event hybrid with lots of work done by Ross and Evan [Strat, last year’s Kickoff Coordinator] to make it work with streaming the ceremonies from Ferst and the workshops from Klaus.” Tan emphasized that they “maintained transparent communication with the [FRC] teams” regarding COVID policies. They were also able to rely on the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines (IRIM) to support the event, as well as Georgia Tech’s environmental, health, and safety department to provide supplies, including hand sanitizer and masks. Through all this work, the team was able to “pull it off with great success and did not hear any cases of virus spread among the attendees.”

In closing, Tan said he “was very glad to be a part of continuing this tradition of hosting the event and heard from multiple of the teams that they were appreciative of us being able to do this to get the students excited for a return to a somewhat normal year.” We also reached out to Shishir Pandit-Rao, the current president, for comment:

The event went very well! It was wonderful seeing all of the excited students coming back for an in-person kickoff. In addition to the kickoff itself, it was really great that the students were able to hear from leaders in the robotics industry such as Panagiotis Tsiotras, the Associate Director of IRIM! This opportunity gives the students the opportunity to see what robotics can be past high school, into college and beyond!