Learn . Create . Succeed

SolidWorks Model: Tetrix Mantis Robot for FTC (First Tech Challange)

 
Sometimes getting starting with a robot model is a challange, so here is a Tetrix robot assembled to help you get begin. 

1. Download the zip file and unzip to the Tetrix folder.
2. Create a New Assembly.
3. Select Add File Location from the Design Library.
4. Browse to the Textrix folder.  Your robot library of parts will be displayed.
5. Drag parts from the Textrix folder into the SolidWorks assembly.
6. The first component is fixed.  Mate additional components.

There are additional subassemblies that correspond to the Mantis construction steps by CMUroboticsacademy.  Additional tutorials on robot design can be found at www.SolidWorks.com/robotics  Even though these videos use FRC and Lego components, you will learn good robot modeling techniques.  Marie

 Download TETRIX (54Mytes)

 

USA Science and Engineering Festival - Day 2

 
Two full days of being surrounded by Science and Engineering makes you just feel great.  Being at the USA Science and Engineering Festival has been an amazing experience this weekend in Washington DC. Today we had over 2000 kids racing miniature dragsters.  With beautiful weather, it was the perfect time to test your engineering skills with the American Society of Civil Engineer's Concrete Canoe display.  The engineering students from Clemson brought their actual canoe for kids to see and to talk about sustainable design and just what civil engineers do.   Engineering professor Solomon Diamond from Dartmouth College had a fascinating display on Biosignals Synchronizing Rhythms. Other Dartmouth displays were filled with students exploring DNA Misbehaving, Polar Detectives, and Stellar Forensics.   We saw great exhibits from robot teams such as BotBall, MATE, SeaPerch and FIRST.  Robots were everywhere. The University of Maryland had over 15 displays - I lost count but these students answered questions: Can you Save a Kidney Patient? and Can you perform Neurosurgery?   Highlights of Saturaday’s event can be found at www.usasciencefestival.org  Marie

Marie



USA Science and Engineering Festival

 
I am fortunate to be in Washington DC this weekend at the USA Science and Engineering Festival right on Pennsylania Avenue.  What a great time to be an engineer! Yesterday I spoke with Dean Kamen and learned about Planet Green TV his new show that focuses on cutting edge technology and met Dr. Rubrik (yes the cube).  There are hundreds of exhibits here. In an early morning interview with Engineering.com,  I overheard Larry Bock, founder of Nanosys, and festival director  say "there used to be World's Fairs to inspire" - this event is definitely the new World's Fair of Science and Technology. 

Hundreds of kids visited at our tent yesterday and with the help of our partner the STEM Academy, you can race a car and experience the effects of pressure or create your own elastic material and take a sample home.  So many of our customers stopped by to share with their children what we do and explain how they use SolidWorks at their companies.  Our new robot tutorials  were a big hit for the robot teams and LEGO lovers that explore so many amazing exhibits.  Math is everywhere.

Today is another day at the Festival and there will be more stage performings singing about "fun with Physics" .  No matter what your age, this is an event not to miss in years to come.  Marie 

SolidWorks Tutorial: Toy Car LEGO (R)

Educator Jack van den Broek told me that he has not met a student too young for SolidWorks.  Thanks to Jack, I am fortunate to share a new Toy Car tutorial that is written for young students.  I am not going to put an age on this tutorial.  Just download the .pdf and have fun.  Model parts and assemblies are included on our website too. Click Here.  Use this tutorial with LEGO (R) building blocks in your classroom or at home for a great visualization exercise that's fun.   Marie

SolidWorks Tutorial: So you want to design a robot

 
The SolidWorks EDU team put together a series of video tutorials to help students learn to design and assembly a  robot.  In nine units with multiple lessons, you will work through your first part, to a simple assembly, compression spring, mechanisms, wiring, detail drawings, and more.

Tutorials and their model files can be found at www.SolidWorks.com/Robotics.  Click the Robotics Tutorial button.  Marie

 

Genius grant goes to outstanding engineering educator

Deepest congratulations to Amir Abo-Shaeer, inspiration to the next generation of engineers and new recipient of a $500,000 no-strings-attached MacArthur Genius Grant. 

Abo-Shaeer was selected for his ground-breaking work as a physics teacher and founder of the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy, a model of the kind of education that can dramatically change students' lives. The school within a school in Santa Barbara, Calif., delivers a rigorous applied science curriculum that integrates physics, engineering and math; hands-on building projects; and competitions like FIRST Robotics. DPEA has managed the rare feat of attracting young women to engineering education – they make up approximately half the DPEA student body, well above the national average in advanced sciences.

“Abo-Shaeer’s novel and effective model of science education is instilling a passion for the physical sciences in young men and women and is contributing to the preparation of the next generation of scientists and engineers for the twenty-first century,” says the foundation.

The DPEA program is weaving entrepreneurship and business into its programming and building a new 12,000-square foot engineering campus, which will be a far cry from its current 900 square feet. The campus will include a machine shop, prototype shop, computer lab, conference room, and three classrooms. Abo-Shaeer’s team is hoping to triple enrollment and turn fewer heartbroken students away.

We’d also like to give a shout out to DPEA’s FIRST Robotics team, “Team 1717,” also known as the D’Penguineers, winners of multiple awards at the regional and international levels of FIRST. Team members work full time for six weeks to design, build, and program their Penguinbot. Earlier this year, the team requested and received our sponsorship – 50 licenses of SolidWorks Student Edition, which includes our high-end simulation products. This is Team 1717’s fourth year using our software. We bumped into the team most recently at the national championships in April at the Georgia Dome. They’re an impressive group who are pretty enthusiastic about  engineering  and using SolidWorks to design excellent robots.

 If you want to learn more about Abo-Shaeer, DPEA, and their robotics accomplishments, read the book. “The New Cool: A Visionary Teacher, His FIRST Robotics Team, and the Ultimate Battle of Smarts” is  due in March 2011.