Trine’s armored robot finishes 4th in national combat

MARION, Ohio — Though its opponents were not what was expected, Trine University’s entry in the National Robotics Challenge (NRC) combat robot competition brought innovations of its own.

Sporting a three-layer armor system, Trine’s robot finished fourth out of 13 in the national competition, held April 19-20 in Marion, Ohio, winning four of six matches.

Trine’s team was comprised of mechanical engineering majors Talon Gobel of Sunman, Indiana, Keaton Holmes of Henderson, Kentucky, Charles Landis of Daleville, Indiana, Ian Macknight of Toledo, Ohio, Trevor Rice of Noblesville, Indiana, and Trevor Towghi of Chicago.

Faster, better protected

Team members were either robotics or metallurgy minors. The robotics team focused on electrical components while the metallurgy team designed the weapon and armor and set up manufacturing processes.

Looking back, members said having electrical engineering majors on the team would have been helpful.

“It took a lot of trial and error to overcome our electrical issues,” said Holmes.

Team members said this year’s robot was 12 times faster than last year’s. It could drive on top or bottom and was outfitted with thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) spring wheels that mimicked the suspension system of a car.

Its weapon system consisted of a dual-purpose blade that served as both a beater bar and a toothed blade.

“The weapon’s primary damage source was the blade, but it still used the extra mass of the beater bar side to create a higher maximum kinetic energy than past years’ horizontal spinning blade systems,” said Gobel.

Gobel said the Trine robot’s armor was unique among competitors this year. It consisted of three layers: an inner skeleton made of polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG), a layer of TPU to absorb impact and an outer layer of carbon fiber designed to reduce shear.

“The geometry of the armor also prevented the combat robot from landing and staying on its sides during the fight,” said Gobel. “The only design flaw is that when it was subjected to force exactly perpendicular to armor faces, the armor would fracture. In future iterations, thicker armor with the same layers would reduce all types of damage.”

Vertically spinning weapons

The team based its design on reports from past Trine teams, who faced weapons systems that spun horizontally. However, they found more of the robots this year had vertically spinning systems.

“Out of the 12 other teams in the competition, only two had horizontally spinning weapons while the other 10 had vertical spinner configurations,” said Macknight.

However, the team said the Trine robot performed “spectacularly” against weapons systems it hadn’t been specifically designed to combat.

“We fared decently well against some vertical spinners due to their lack of armor, based on how heavy their weapon system was, leaving their drivetrain exposed in most cases,” said Macknight.

“There were only three robots that had weapon systems capable of penetrating our armor,” said Landis. “One of them we were able to defeat twice. The other two were the first- and second-place robots.”

 

Top photo: Trine University’s combat robot team at the National Robotics Challenge: from left, Talon Gobel, Charles Landis, Keaton Holmes, Ian Macknight and Rizacan Sarikaya, Ph.D.