Junior Robocup Props - Part Two

The Four Turtle Shells off the printer

Challenge: Create a high quality prop to enhance the students performance in the Junior Robocup.
Background: Students have EV3 Lego Robots for competition.  The groups of three to four students have three robots to move and interact with a theme as part of robotic dance theatre.  A key part of the performance is the costume for the competitors and the costumes - for both the students and the robots.  Traditionally the props for the robots have been made from material such as cardboard and paper.  By using the 3D printer it is possible for the students to produce more high quality costume pieces for the

The three smaller shells mounted on the bugs

robots.  The parts themselves cannot be manufactured as this is against the rules of the competition.
Task: As part of this group of students they have a role assigned to a turtle.  They had build a robot to play the role of the turtle however they used the 3D Printer to create the shell for the turtle and for three smaller turtles for the performance.
Level of Difficulty:  Medium.   The smaller turtle shells worked perfectly.  The larger shell had to be refined.  As noted with a previous post the programming for the robots had already been completed therefore the props were limited to their role and size. Issues: The larger shell was not successfully be able to mounted at this time and needs to be sanded or refined so it able to be used in conjunction with the robotic performance.
Size: The smaller shells were 5cm long and 2cm wide.  The larger object was 20cm by 15cm.

Time Frame: Forty hours for the print of all four objects.
Process: The students Y8 designed the turtle shells as part of the process using Tinkercad.  They specifically searched for a pre-created turtle shell created on Tinkercad and then used that as a basis to design the three smaller shells.   The time frame (three weeks until the competition) meant that the students wanted to minimise the production time.  The photograph to the right shows the shell attempted to be mounted on the robot (which was unsuccessful) a further front to the shell is required to complete the major design features of the turtle shell.  As previously stated these are some of the first attempts to integrate the 3D Printers with the Junior Robocup creations and designs.  It is anticipated that this will create a raft of new creations had the timeframe been more flexible then a considerable number of designs and ideas using 3D Printers would have been created.