Cardinal Gibbons High School

Evan Patrick Elezaj

Miguel Douglas Chavez

Oliver Dacey McCann

Sean Michael Greene

Brian Alexander Nelson

Sean Michael McDonald

Benjamin Gerard Gravel

Christopher Randall Bain

Christopher John Young

Jon Ryan Riley

Sunkeun Lee

Christopher Uwe Beckmann

Nathan Michael Kearney

Katharine Miranda Priu

Jordan Dominic Salamido

Austin Carlyle Inman Reiss

Kirsten Joanna Keleher

Thomas Anthony Connor

Reade Lawrence McBride

Samuel John Hazinski

Michael Reilly Comstock

Alyssa Mary Nicholas

A robotic vehicle is provided with a novel wheel design and a virtual differential transmission. The novel wheels are generally rounded with scallops along the outer periphery permitting secure engagement of irregular terrain structures, such as the rungs of an inclined ladder. The virtual differential transmission employs rotational sensors in independently driven wheels to maintain information on the relative rotational position of left- and right-side wheels. When necessary, the relative rotational position information is used to selectively drive the left- or right-side wheel until the scallops in a left-side wheel are horizontally aligned with the scallops in a right-side wheel. Thus, the virtual differential transmission can realign the scallops in left- and right-side wheels to facilitate their mutual engagement with a terrain structure, such as a ladder rung.

Robotic platform with wheeled legs and virtual differential transmission

A robotic vehicle is provided with vertical ball cannon and a ball deflector. The ball deflector is mounted over the vertical ball cannon on a vertical linear slide. The deflector redirects a ball shot from the cannon toward a desired target, such as a cylindrical goal. The vehicle further includes a rotating goal-grabber for anchoring a goal adjacent to the vehicle and underneath the output of the deflector. A pair of counter-rotating helical screws capture a ball from the ground and raise it into the ball cannon. The cannon launches the ball toward the deflector, which redirects the ball's upward vertical motion away from the cannon into a downward vertical motion toward the desired target.

Vertical ball cannon with sliding deflector mounted on maneuverable robotic platform

Growing community of inventors

Apex, NC, United States of America

Evan Patrick Elezaj