Although there was no RoboGames in 2014,
Nola Garcia arranged for
the STEM Tech Olympiad
to include robot combat up to heavyweights, so we built a new robot for the event.
What was the scariest thing I could bring to Miami?
The Polar Vortex!
Since this was an educational event, I wanted to demonstrate a basic engineering principle.
I chose the Four Bar Linkage.
Our most successful robot up to that point was Ice Cube 3,
so I decided to make a heavyweight version with lifting legs and an angled wedge.
For several years I thought I'd invented a new form of robot, but last year Jason Vasquez of
Team Fast Electric Robots showed me an antweight he made in 2013 called "Crabby" that has a single lifting leg under its wedge.
Victory
Polar Vortex went 4-2 at Miami Stem Tech Olympiad, and took second place.
This page is still being written, but for now we'll just post these three photos that show the lifting-wedge knocking out an opponent by flipping it over and sticking it on the wall:
KO against Shrederator
KO against Touro Maximus
Publications
Since Stem Tech was part of an educational conference, I wrote a "poster paper"
for the event describing the engineering behind the lifting-wedge and a longer article
for Servo Magazine (link to article requires paid subscription).
