UsingPhysicsandMathinBuildingandProgramming By:SarahAlAbdullatif

TeamDASusesconceptsthatwelearnedinourphysicscurriculumtoaiduswhile programmingandbuildingourrobot.Someoftheconceptsweusedincludethefollowing:

Torque: Torqueisthetendencyofaforcetorotateanobjectaboutanaxis,fulcrum,orpivot.Justasa forceisapushorapull,atorquecanbethoughtofasatwisttoanobject.Weusedtheequation fortorquewhendesigningextensionswhichrotateaboutanaxismotorA. Theequationfortorqueis whereisthemagnitudeofthetorque,risthelength oftheleverarmvector,Fisthemagnitudeoftheforce,istheanglebetweentheforcevector andtheleverarmvector. Weusedthisequationtochoosethelengthofourextensionsforcertainmissions,suchasthe weightlifting.WelearnedinourPhysicscoursethatthereisadirectrelationbetweendistance andtorque,soweincreasedthelengthofourextension.

Power: Poweristherateatwhichenergyistransferred,used,ortransformed.Inotherwords,itisthe amountofworkdoneperunitoftime.WorkisFdcos,whichmeansthatpower=Fdcos t, whereFisforce,disdisplacement,istheanglebetweentheforcevectorandthedirectionof motion,andtisthetimeinwhichtheprocessoccurs. Thisequationcanbeusedtodeterminetheamountofseconds,degrees,andpowertobeused onacertainblocktoachieveaspecificamountofforce.Weusedthisinsomemissions,such astheovenandweightlifting. Intheovenmission,therobotliftsmotorAfor[1.5]seconds,usingapowerof[85]toincrease theforcewithwhichthearmlifts. Degrees: Usedegreeswhenmovingtheblockratherthanrotationsandseconds.Itsmoreprecise.To help,wecalculatedtheexactamountofrotationsrequiredtomovetherobotacertaindistance

withdifferenttypesofwheels.Eachwheeltypehasadifferentradius,andbyusingtheequation forthecircumfrenceofacircle2r,wecandeterminethefollowingvalues:

Centerofmass:
Inphysics,thecenterofmass,ofadistributionofmassinspaceistheuniquepointwheretheweighted relativepositionofthedistributedmasssumstozero.Thedistributionofmassisbalancedaroundthe centerofmassandtheaverageoftheweightedpositioncoordinatesofthedistributedmassdefinesits coordinates.Calculationsinmechanicsaresimplifiedwhenformulatedwithrespecttothecenterofmass. Forthisreason,wemadeourrobotsymmetricalarounditscenterofmass,thebrain. Centerofgravityisthepointinabodyaroundwhichtheresultanttorqueduetogravityforcesvanish.Near thesurfaceoftheearth,wherethegravityactsdownwardasaparallelforcefield,thecenterofgravityand thecenterofmassarethesame.Buildingasymmetricalrobotallowedustodeterminemaximumforceand torque,accordingtothelawsofthecenterofmass:

and

Furthermore,Newton'slawsofmotionrequirethatforanysystemwithnoexternalforcesthemomentum
ofthesystemisconstant,whichmeansthecenterofmassmoveswithconstantvelocity.Thisappliesforall systemswithclassicalinternalforces,.Moreformally,thisistrueforanyinternalforcesthatsatisfy Newton'sThirdLaw.

Friction: Whilemoving,frictionworkstoslowyourrobot.Robotswithhigherspeedsnotonlyencounter morefrictionfromtheground,butinourcase,theyalsohavelesstorqueduetotheirlowergear ratios.Lesstorquemeansthattherobotislessabletopushitselfalong,andwillconsequently sufferagreaterspeedloss. Forthisreasonitisnecessarytochoosewheelswiththemiddleamountoffriction,toincrease speedandsavetime,whileensuringthattherobotdoesntmovetoofastandlosecontrol. Thesearethecoefficientsoffrictionforthewheelswechoseondifferentmaterials:

Shorthaircarpet Abrasivebackoftile Varnished,shinytile Matttile Rawplywood

Comparedtootherwheels,thesevaluesarelowbutnottoolow.