ROBOTICS

Robot in Three Days

A working prototype, on a very real deadline.

Rapid prototyping
DFM
System integration

RI3D team members gathered behind their completed prototype robot. — Some of the RI3D team with the prototype at the end of the build.

Organizing a three-day robot build and leading the mechanical work, with hands-on development of the shooter and indexer.

RI3D compresses a robot-development cycle into three days. I organized the event and led the mechanical systems while the team developed a functional prototype for the 2026 FIRST challenge.

My contribution

Plan and organize the event with the executive team.
Lead the robot’s mechanical systems.
Help develop the shooter and indexer.
Work through feeding, jamming and shooter-compression iterations.

01 / THE PROCESS

The feeding problem

Moving balls from storage into the shooter reliably was one of the hardest problems. Balls would jam rather than funnel into the firing path.

We used guiding wedges to direct the balls into an indexer that pushed them into the shooter. The solution needed to work as a whole path, not just as separately functional mechanisms.

02 / THE PROCESS

Finding the right compression

The shooter wheels needed enough contact to launch the ball, but too much compression prevented it from passing through.

We made multiple versions of the motor and wheel mounts to adjust their spacing. Rapid fabrication made it possible to test that fit and revise it inside the event’s time limit.

03 / THE PROCESS

Bringing the robot together

By the submission deadline, the robot could intake through a split-bumper intake, hold multiple balls, index and shoot them into the target hopper. The tank-drive arrangement could travel under the trench and over the field bump.

That result depended on mechanical, electrical and software teams bringing their work together. My technical contribution centred on mechanical leadership and the shooter/indexer; the full robot was a shared build.

WHERE IT LANDED

A complete prototype by submission.

The team demonstrated intake, storage, indexing, shooting and field traversal. The project was as much about choosing workable designs and integrating them on time as it was about any one mechanism.

EXPLORE THE ASSEMBLY

Take it for a spin.

Robot in Three Days — select Explore 3D to load the interactive assembly.

Detailed CAD with satin-metal and matte-polymer viewing materials. Slow rotation pauses when you interact; reduced-motion preferences are respected. Colours and finishes are for visualization.