Redesign the 3D printed wheels for better grip, elasticity, and turning. Task will involve characterizing material choice, finding manufacturing methods, defining current wheel capabilities and setting up FEA studies to verify design elements.
Current problem:
Our current rover has 3D printed TPU wheels that were printed using the Bambu 3D printer in the bay. Some problems we have are that the wheels are too hard, they aren’t elastic to conform to the ground and has a shiny finish which makes it difficult to achieve enough grip. We also think the wheels can be optimized to give us better turning by redesigning the treads. This task is a somewhat urgent R&D task in order to redesign and remanufacture the wheels for the upcoming competition.
Task Breakdown
Go over current wheel design documentation
Come up with rough ideas and test plan, then schedule a PDR with one of the mech leads. In this PDR we can go over preliminary ideas, requirements, and possible starting points
Research possible material selections and manufacturing methods, have a few manufacturers we could potentially get a quote from
Make designs in solidworks, ideally 1-3
Run FEA analysis (probably using Ansys) to verify design
DR with mech leads to go over designs and simulation results
Make iterations if necessary
Final DR for DFM and DFA requirements then contacting manufacturers to get quotes