Vlogƽ Today will be following a group of six Golden Flashes for the 2024-25 academic year chronicling their efforts and successes during the fall and spring semesters. The group of students are at various places in their Vlogƽ academic careers and will share their experiences throughout the year as they take part in our distinctive programs, research and global experiences.
When meeting with with junior mechatronics engineering technology student Jude Carver a few weeks ago his combat robot, named “Gondola” still lived only in models on his laptop’s computer-aided design program.
The ‘bot is named “Gondola” because its shape is modeled after the long, low railway cargo cars of the same name. “Gondola is coming along nicely,” Carver said. “I have the (design for) the assembly where the wheel motors are and the body. It’s all in the (CAD) assembly file. And I’m designing the weapon which will be a vertical spinner.”
The weapon has presented him with design challenges. “I’m trying to make sure it’s not too big so it doesn’t run into the ‘bot, but make sure it’s big enough to have an effect,” said Carver.
With the KSU Combat Robotics Tournament on March 22 fast approaching, Carver has to create the ‘bot’s plastic parts on a 3D printer and then make a “shopping list” to collect all the non-plastic parts, motors and controllers he will need to assemble Gondola before the competition. The tournament will be held in the Timken Atrium of the Aeronautics and Engineering Building from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Students and faculty in Vlogƽ’s College of Aeronautics and Engineering look forward to these robot battles each year. In the tournament-style competition student members of KSU Combat Robotics will showcase their engineering skills and battle it out with their custom-built, three-pound plastic robots.
Before the Battle
Trent True is a Vlogƽ alumnus who is a lecturer and Florida Engineering Foundation (FEF) professor in Vlogƽ’s College of Aeronautics and Engineering. He’s also the faculty advisor for the student organization. He detailed the steps tournament competitors needed to complete before the big day. The club meets every Friday and True uses those meetings as checkpoints in preparing for the competition. “The plan for this week is to finish doing design reviews with the students to make sure they've got all their design features in mounting screws, everything that needs to be accounted for in their CAD models,” True said. ‘Then we're going to spend spring break printing everything.” The club competitors use both 3D printers on campus and some home printers.
KSU Combat Robotics has some equipment, like remote controls (transmitters and receivers) and battery chargers for students that need them.
“The Friday after spring break would be a week before our competition, and that's when we're going to do the bulk of assembly and wiring and testing and function checking,” he said. “Then, obviously, the Friday before competition weekend is about safety; safety testing for the bots that are competing.”
What Else is New This Semester?
Carver does not have any classes in Japanese Studies this Spring Semester, but he is still practicing writing Japanese characters in anticipation of continuing those studies in the fall. He has memorized one of the most complicated Kanji and can draw it from memory.
“Kanji” are ideograms; each character has its own meaning and corresponds to a word. The character Carver has mastered is called “Taito.” It’s the largest Japanese character, containing 84 strokes and means “the appearance of a dragon in flight.”
VIDEO: Carver recreates one of the most complex Kanji -from memory - in less than 30 seconds!
“It means ‘the illusion of a dragon in the sky,’” Carver said. He showed the character on the screen of his laptop and then closed it “Just so I’m not looking anywhere for reference.” Then Carver sat down at a table and drew the character – in less than 30 seconds.
New Flags and New Recipes
One of Carver’s hobbies is collecting flags – flags of current countries, states and organizations as well as historical flags. The newest flags in his collection are the LGBTQ+ rainbow “Pride” flag, as well as the flags of Cambodia and Spain.
Carver lives on campus but when he is at home with his mother, he enjoys baking and cooking with her, experimenting with seasonings and collecting favorite recipes.
'The Fun of Robot Fighting'
Carver’s mother will be on campus on March 22 to cheer on her son as he competes in the KSU Robotics Competition. When asked if he thought his ‘bot “Gondola” had a winning design for combat, Carver said “In this competition, I’m not focused too much on winning. I am more in it for the fun of robot fighting.”