Publication Date

Fall 2018

Document Type

Final Report

Problem Statement

For our project, we designed a canister vehicle that fits the design specifications of the ARLISS competition. For the ARLISS competition, the vehicles are loaded into a rocket, launched approximately 10,000 feet into the air, released, and then must autonomously navigate to a predetermined target on the ground. Because of our time restraint, we are focused on designing a vehicle of the correct dimensions (a maximum mass of 1050g, a maximum diameter of 146mm, and a maximum height of 240mm) that can simply travel on the ground over multiple types of terrain. Additionally, we designed a parachute release mechanism so that the vehicle would be able to land safely on the ground after falling from thousands of feet in the air. We began by conducting research for product design by analyzing existing product concepts as well as conducting an interview with the customer, Dr. Potter. After analyzing the user needs, we generated four different potential concept designs and evaluated them based on our selected criterion. Upon choosing a concept, we applied various engineering relationships and arrived at the concept embodiment. We then developed three performance goals before working on our prototype. Our goals were: the vehicle can withstand a 1 meter drop on surface of the turf, the vehicle can travel one mile without needing to recharge the battery, and the vehicle can travel at 3 mph. Our final prototype met all three of these performance goals.

Author's School

McKelvey School of Engineering

Author's Department

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Class Name

Mechanical Engineering Design Project (MEMS 411)

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