CAD Design Entry: UART Power Expander
Robotchallenger
Entry ID #: 2168
Created: Mon, Jan 11, 2016 7:46 PM
Introduction: I created this part because from my experience there's not that much fun in the non-functional decorations category for some sort of "technology based things" like using a vex speaker and having to program it to say a tune. Also this could strike people in many ways other people have not before and all in all we could have some more unique/ cool looking robots out there "Make your mark". I am improving the functionality of the creativity/ aesthetics part of the robot building process. This is in no means way going to be used by every team. Not every team make think that this is useful, but I am trying to expand the possibilities if robot decorations. It's supposed to make things look cooler. Nothing is wrong with a good looking robot. Explanation of the part itself: The part is a very simple part to say the least. We have a backup battery plugin so that all of your decorations get power without wasting your beloved robot battery for something that doesn't serve an advantage on the robot field in performance. on the opposite side there are 6 UART ports that you plug your fancy decorations to. I chose UART because it can control LED lights and such with cool light patterns and many other things. Who wouldn't want to have a fun time programming cool light patterns.The top UART port has to plug into the microcontroller so they can all be programmed as like a daisy chain. It would fit nicely next to almost any teams microcontroller as it is very small and compact. Explanation of use of CAD software: I used Autodesk Inventor to design my part to my liking. It wasn't hard to build because I already have a basic understanding of the program itself. How I built the part was very simple and I measured existing vex parts to get the dimensions exactly how I wanted it to. Conclusion: I learned quite a bit from this project. I learned that it isn't easy designing and building a part for vex. It takes a lot of thought and effort to think of all the little things that most people would not think about. Autodesk I use a lot for aiding my team members and I to make the best robot possible without tearing through parts and finding problems before they ever occur. It saves time and energy in the long run. I think that CAD design is very important to the field I want to be in later in life. Everything that is made has to have some design aspect to it.
