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SDP/SI Acknowledges Engineering and Manufacturing Advances with the help of our products
  SDP/SI Acknowledges Engineering and Manufacturing Advances with the help of our products




SDP/SI is a proud sponsor of West Islip Robotics Team – 871
2024 FIRST® Robotics Competition

The FIRST® Robotics Long Island Regional Competition is held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York... The tournament brings high school students together (with their mentors) to participate in the 1st of two regional events beginning on March 21 and continuing through March 23, 2024. Teams of fifteen to twenty-five students each are evaluated based on their tenacity, the efficiency of their robots, and the degree to which the members of the team collaborate and work together.



The FIRST® Long Island Regionals are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. The theme for this year’s competition is presented by Haas and is called CRESCENDOSM. In this game, 2 alliances of 3 teams, battle to score by playing notes across three field elements.

According to the sbpli-lifirst website:

“The competition includes two short games played by the robots, where the students program and remotely control their robots in competition rounds on the playing field. The objectives include amplifying speakers, getting on stage, harmonizing, and taking the spotlight within a limited time.”

There are awards for sportsmanship, technology, design, and musical themes. Additionally, bonus points are awarded as robots race against the clock to get on stage, deliver notes, and achieve harmony as the time runs out. Whichever consortium scores the highest wins.

Students learn professionalism, sportsmanship, collaboration, and problem-solving. They are required to perform a variety of tasks, including community outreach, computer programming, designing, construction, research, and fundraising. The program aims to provide talented kids with scholarships, internships, and job opportunities, keeping young, fresh talent on Long Island.






Michigan Sustainability Applications for Aeronautical Vehicle Engineering

The MSAAV is a humanitarian club whose mission is to improve the human condition through targeted application in aerospace vehicles and engineering.... We are partnered with Air Serv International (a non-profit humanitarian relief org), based out of sub-Saharan Africa that provides aviation services including the transportation of goods, medical supplies, relief workers, medical evacuations, and repatriating displaced persons. Our goal is to provide Air Serv with an unmanned aerial vehicle that can fulfill all these applications.



Our current payload design includes a sliding door mechanism, powered by a rotational servo. We opted for a sliding door mechanism because of its aerodynamical benefits in comparison to other mechanisms we have tried in the past (such as a bay door mechanism).

For this system to work we needed at least 2 constant force springs, so that when the door fabric is rolled up, it is tightened, so that it can be unrolled with ease by the servo motor. (Pictured above) This is what the prototype system looks like now, highlighting the intended locations for the Constant Force Springs SDP/SI supplied.




Our most recent car Freya that won the American Solar Challenge this year!

AMERICAN SOLAR CHALLENGE - by Michael Duthie
University of Minnesota Solar Vehicle Project

The American Solar Challenge is a multi-day 1,500-2,000 mile cross country endurance rally across North America. The event is open to collegiate level solar car teams from countries all over the world.... The routes vary, but they are designed to provide teams with an opportunity to demonstrate their solar cars under real world driving conditions and thoroughly test the reliability of all onboard systems.

I am the mechanical lead of the University of Minnesota Solar Vehicle project, and we recently won the American Solar Challenge. We are currently building our next car to compete in the World Solar Challenge in Australia.

The parts donated by SDP/SI are to be used in the steering system of our next car Gaia.



The parts form the basis of the steering rack and pinion system.







The Concordia Baja Racing Team

The Concordia Baja Racing Team would like to extend yet another thank you, to the QTC / SDP/SI Team for allowing our project to prosper.... In the past, they have sponsored a Concordia capstone team working for Concordia Baja Racing.

Concordia Baja Racing Team, Canada

This capstone team designed and built the first iteration of our 4WD drivetrain, featuring a custom gearbox and front differential assembly. For this upcoming year, the team must focus on improving our current iteration of the Baja vehicle and obtaining crucial data from it.

All the gears featured in our gearbox come sponsored from QTC. As one of our main objectives for the year, we will be trying to reduce the weight of the first iteration of our gearbox, while accommodating for a new engine that is larger in size and power output.

Concordia Baja Racing Vehicle Gearbox

To reduce this weight, we have done the appropriate math to determine how much of the gears can be faced down and how much material can be removed from the face of the gear. Thanks to the reliability of our gearbox, we were able to obtain an overall 7th place position at the past SAE Rochester competition. Going forward, we aim to optimize this design in order to place even higher!





Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Baja Racing eCVT

We started development on our eCVT in late 2019 and by early 2020 we had our first mechanical prototype that was tested on our dyno. In 2020 COVID slowed our progress as we could not use our lab equipment to machine parts and test components.... We took that time to do a full mechanical redesign based on what we learned from the first prototype. This latest design is 65% lighter, far stiffer, and has lower friction joints making it easier to control.

In the 2021-2022 season we regained access to our lab where we were able to build and test our latest design. The mechanical and electrical design and manufacturing was entirely completed by the students.

Last Spring we took that design to competition in Rochester, New York. This made us one of only 5 teams to ever compete with an eCVT. Additionally, we are the first team to ever compete with a dually actuated eCVT (other teams have only a one pulley set that is electronically controlled whereas both of ours are driven by electric motors). Needless to say, this first in its class transmission was a hot topic at competition for both other teams and industry sponsors. The team did well placing 5th in design and 23rd overall at competition out of 100 teams which we are happy with considering it was our first competition in 3 years.

Cal Poly eCvt on Baja Car

The eCVT is one of the most complex mechatronic projects on campus our support allowed passionate students to gain valuable experience with high quality SDP/SI components before going into industry.






Uniondale High School Pre-Manufacturing and PTech Students Connect with Manufacturing Leaders Virtually


On May 20, 2020 - Mr. Robert Kufner, President of Designatronics, Inc., participated in an online lesson for the PTech and pre-manufacturing students of Uniondale High School, which is located here on Long Island, NY in western Nassau County. The main idea... behind the virtual lesson was that the future of manufacturing lies in the hands of our youth. The meeting touched on the fact that manufacturing has an aging workforce and through efforts like these, CEO's and business owners hope to get young students excited about a career in Manufacturing.

Click here to download the official press release from the Euity First Foundation.




swapstomp

   

SwapStop - Autonomous Battery Replacement System


SwapStop (download the team poster) is a fourth-year design project, which was an eight-month long cumulative task, designed for the Mechatroncis Engineering Fourth Year Design Project Symposium. The idea for this project came from the team member's love of all things robotic and autonomous. Swapstop seeks to help make coordinated swarms of multi-rotor drones practical for extended use. Unfortunately, the design symposium was cancelled due to COVID-19, so the team never had the chance to show their prototype to the public. Watch their youtube video above to see their innovative design, we think it's great!





Autonomous Robot: Goose


Goose is a mobile autonomous robot designed by Paul Bupe, Jr. Built over 6 months in his spare time for a robotics competition. "This was a fully custom and challenging build that tested my competence in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, control systems, and computer science."

"SDP/SI was gracious enough to provide me with the timing belts and pulleys I used in my custom drivebase (shown in the image above) so thanks to them! I also would not have been able to build this robot without the amazing engineering/manufacturing facilities at Georgia Southern University that have state of the art equipment (such as the waterjet and laser cutter I used) available to students."





Challengeyourself.blog

Mike Bemiss, Challengeyourself.blog


Chemist, engineer, tinkerer, and gamer; Mike Bemiss, is building a small robot arm from scratch and controlling it with a Raspberry Pi. His vlog is really interesting and worth a look.

Go to challengeyourself.blog



Solon Science Olympiad


On Behalf of Solon High School Science Olympiad, we would like to thank you for your generous donation towards our 25th annual invitational tournament this past February. This year, we hosted 72 teams from six states. With your sponsorship, our team was able to raise over $10,000 to provide students of all financial backgrounds the opportunity to explore their interests in STEM and successfully compete in Science Olympiad....

We are also pleased to inform you that our team placed second in the nation last month at the 2019 Science Olympiad National Tournament at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. We qualified for the national tournament for the eighth time in the past ten years after placing first at the 2019 Ohio State Tournament in April. Your support made it possible for our students to afford their travel to both competitions. Additionally, your donations were used to purchase critical materials for our competition devices and provide our students with academic experiences in their areas of interest.

Thank you once again for your donation to our team. We hope you will consider returning as a sponsor for our 26th annual invitational tournament next year. Our team, school, and community greatly appreciate your continued support.

Cherese Fiorina (Head Coach, Solon High School Science Olympiad)
Nick Maurer (Assistant Coach, Solon High School Science Olympiad)






Voorheesville Praetorians Robotic Team 5964


The Voorheesville Praetorians robotic team 5964. Designatronics helped us by donating some parts to our team last year. We are getting ready to compete at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. – Joe McDonnell...

RENSSELAER NEWS
TROY, N.Y. — Hundreds of high school students will find themselves immersed in a challenging space-themed simulation as they compete for a slot in the FIRST World Championship and more than $80 million in scholarship funding. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will once again host the three-day New York Tech Valley FIRST Robotics Competition starting on March 7, 2019. Continue Reading






Industrial Technology (ITec) Club Robotics Team


Taken From: The Iowa State University 2048 ATMAE Robotics Competition, Technical Report.

The Industrial Technology (ITec) club’s robotics team placed first in the Robotics Competition overall while also receiving the Stephen Harris Cup. This was the first time that the ITec club Robotics team took first in this competition and only the second time in the history of the competition that an Iowa State team had brought home the competition title. The team is multidisciplinary and comprised of the following students: Ben Gibson, ITec; Nathaniel Hall, ABE; Cody Kapka, ABE; and Nathaniel Stewart, ITec. The team also received the Robotics Competition Peoples’ Choice Award....

SODA (Semi-automated Object Detection and Avoidance). SODA was the Iowa State University Industrial Technology Club’s entry for the 2018 ATMAE annual Robotics competition. The development of SODA utilized a wide variety of skills and tools. Nearly every part of the robot was modeled in CAD prior to construction, and a range of fabrication methods were used. We utilized CNC vertical mills, FDM 3D printers, a water-jet cutter, and a sheet metal brake in addition to drilling and tapping. Electronic fabrication work included soldering, prototype board construction, and terminal crimping. Software work included Arduino programming, firmware flashing, serial communication, Windows and Linux environments, and Robot Operating System development.

The motors are mounted in custom machined aluminum fixtures that hold not only the motors, but the rotary encoders. The motor fixtures are more complex than necessary, but were designed this way so that they would qualify as a final project for a manufacturing class. The wheel axle is mounted in a separate machined block. The axles, bearings, belts, and pulleys were donated by Stock Drive Products – Sterling Instrument.