Waddles!
Waddles is a 30lb modular combat robot I work on with a team of a few other WPI undergraduate engineers in the WPI Comabt Robotics Club. Waddles is a modular robot, so it can switch it's primary weapon between fights to better suit it's opponent and give a strategic advantage. At the 2023 NHRL World Championship, we reached the semifinals with Waddles! Working on Waddles not only gave me technical experience working on a complex, robust robot, but also experience collaborating and iterating on a group project.
Check out more Waddles! fights on our Wiki page https://wiki.nhrl.io/wiki/index.php/Waddles!
Teamwork is Key
We began Waddles as a team of 5 in January of 2022, with none of us having any previous combat robotics experience above 3lb robots. Creating such a complex robot with many machined parts was a real challenge, and we were only able to overcome it by working together and learning from each other. From simply learning to communicate design ideas effectively to managing CAD files among a large team, I gained a number of skills that are applicable to any team setting.
Waddles! V1
My primary role on Waddles! is the drive train design and manufacturing. The first iteration of drive I made used a brushless motor attached to a gearbox, which used a belt to drive a custom cast foam wheel.
Waddles! V2
For Waddles! V2, I designed a drive pod that was more durable, faster, and manuverable than the drive on V1. In addition, we finished creating the vert module, allowing us to switch between configurations to gain a strategic advantage against different opponents.
