MASLAB
Category: Mechanisms/Robotics
Tools Used: ROS2, Laser cutting, Onshape, PID control, OpenCV
Project date: February 2, 2024
Project Description
MASLAB (Mobile Autonomous Systems Laboratory) is a robotics competition held during MIT's winter session. Each year the objective changes. In 2024, teams were tasked with identifying, collecting, and stacking color-coded cubes.
Our robot performed a sequence of actions: ram into stacks, collect cubes, spear through their center, and lift them using a rack and pinion mechanism. This formed a vertical tower of cubes. At the end, the robot un-speared, opened a front panel, and backed away leaving the tower behind. Our design earned us second place among 12 teams.
- Ram into a stack and knock over cubes
- Funnel cube into center tower
- Spear through cube's center hole with linear actuator
- Lift cube with rack and pinion mechanism
Iterations / Testing
Pinion Mechanism
State machine diagramming
OpenCV for PID and tower recognition