Research & Conceptual Design
Today, we started to wrap up the research phase of our project. Some stuff we have learned:
- We found a valve that seems to meet our needs and is in our price range. We plan to move forward with the purchase of this valve. The valve is manufactured by MAC Valves.
- Finding a regulator to regulate the 3000psi air from the scuba tank to working pressure could be expensive.
We started to really start moving on the conceptual design for the robot. We started sketching out some of our ideas for a general robot design.
- We decided that indexing the barrels to line up with the hose will be difficult. We are not sure if a seal will be needed at this connection and we think that it will be important that the revolver is locked in place before the robot shoots. To accomplish this, we will need some sort of indexing mechanism. It seems that indexing will be easier with the revolver than with the linear magazine, so we will start looking more seriously at the revolver.
- We could manufacture a block to interface between the hose (coming from the scuba tank) and the barrels.
- If we place the two SCUBA tanks flat directly above the drivebase, we will be able to keep the robot compact and low to the ground.
