Entering this project we had two main goals. 1. Explore the possibility space of pop-up mechanisms in a robotic context. 2. Find ways of making audiences feel strongly about a robot in novel ways other than fear and affection.
Our final performance was very successful as a proof of concept that our core ideas have merit. Both the robotic racers and the surrounding race infrastructure worked better than expected. The audience engaged with the races and quickly made strong connections and associations with the unique robots.
One area that needs further work is the competitive nature of the race. Our current generation of robots are still relatively slow and have trouble staying on the track. These shortcomings lead to races that feel underwhelming, and less than competitive. By improving the core design, and by defining a possibility space for future racers we may be to create a competition with real challenge for both robots and robot builders.
At the core of our project is the basic pop-up robot. This robot was designed to minimize cost and construction time, while maximizing flexibility. Last semester we did a study of pop-up mechanics. We used this knowledge as groundwork for the folding cardboard body of this robot design. Because of the low cost per robot we were able to make hundreds of iterations over the course of the project. This iterative process gave us a chance to fine tune the shape, physics, materials, electronics, fabrication, and programming.
Throughout the project we were able to show off our robots at Maker Faire and Ideate open house. These events offered a chance to get feedback from new audiences and learn how our robots effected them.
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