For my undergraduate senior project, my team and I were tasked with integrating and automizing a defense vehicle for the US Army Research Office. The vehicle was designed to have a deployable shield that would be used to assist the army by giving our troops a shield that stayed between them and the enemy no matter where they moved.
Our group was the culmination of two previous years of work that created the shield system and wheel base of the overall robot, respectively, without communication, so smooth integration was a key priority that required significant research.
My role was the CAD Designer and Manufacturer for the project, so my main work was CAD designs, engineering drawing creation, rendering, manufacturing, and assembly.
- Senior Project Team
- The full team with the completed vehicle at our final showcase, closing out three years of work across shield, wheel base, and integration.
This project had been three years running with the shield system and wheel base being created separately without interaction, so integration of the two systems was not as simple as hypothesized. The two sub assemblies had slightly different dimensions and were passed to us with limited documentation, so understanding our resources was the first step in the process. What could have been a simple attachment of the two sub systems ended up requiring an extra solution because of the mismatched dimensions.
Our team's main mission was to make the two separate pieces into one cohesive and autonomous vehicle, so having a stable and secure location to mount the necessary sensors was a top priority. We frequently met with our client to ensure asks were being met and priorities were being reflected accurately.
- Baseplate Drawing
- Manufacturing drawing for the main baseplate before it was waterjet. This was the structural foundation that ties the wheelbase to the shield system and carries every mounted subassembly.
The success of the project relied on creating a robust and stable vehicle that would be functional in a broad set of conditions. Many ideas were generated before settling on mounting sensors on a secure tower connected to a base plate that was used to connect the bottom wheels and the top shield.
The resulting structure was hearty, guaranteed the two pieces stayed as one, and ensured the sensors were in a location that allowed them to get the data they required.
The main pieces that needed to be designed were the base plate to mount the main subsystems and other auxiliary components to, and the sensor tower where the camera, mic, and other data collection devices were. An added constraint to the design and manufacturing process was a limited budget. The sensors required to achieve required functionality used up a majority of the budget, leaving the physical design piece limited.
The main focus of the base plate was stability, so accurate measurements were required. The designs given were not exact so manual measurements confirmed the distances and mounting locations. After that, the location of the sensor mount was planned and other subsystems such as batteries and the computer were placed.
The sensor tower was the most intricate design because it had to hold valuable sensors securely, and mount onto predesigned systems without disrupting functionality. It was designed to use the same resources as the base plate, scrap aluminum, and custom connectors.
The manufacturing process heavily utilized a waterjet to cut out the aluminum plates. Because of this, drawings had to be exactly accurate. After that, holes were tapped and finished. Certain pieces needed to be milled to precise sizes and lengths by hand to fit into the preexisting subsystems.
The final vehicle was an outstanding success that could sense "friendlies" and "enemies" and automatically stay between the two groups with its shield up. It also had manual controls and redundant systems.
On top of the incredible coding, having a strong physical design allowed it to be consistent in varied conditions and terrain.
- ADV Render
- Final SolidWorks render of the fully integrated vehicle, showing the deployable shield seated over the wheel base with the sensor tower in place.