There are 16 design videos to walk the student through the assembly and animation of the Clawbot. Click on each video to review the content. Pause, rewind, fast forward and stop features are available as the student reviews the content. The workflow in these videos includes
- Assembling the base frame using simple pick and place techniques
- Placing gears and wheels
- Inserting motors
- Aligning the gears so that they drive the other gears and wheels correctly
- Using Inventor Studio to create rendered images and an animation of your robot desig
Overview
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In this video, all the key phases for modeling a VEX Clawbot robot in Autodesk Inventor software will be reviewed. Modeling the robot in Autodesk Inventor consists of assembling parts from the virtual kit of parts library. The key phases in the required workflow are reviewed in this overview video.
Video 1: Review the Robot Model
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In this video, students will learn how to use Autodesk Inventor project files to organize file location. An overview of project files and how to set the active project file is shown. The completed robot is opened in Autodesk Inventor. With the file opened, the view manipulation tools are demonstrated.
Note - The files required for this activity must be downloaded. Please select the data set which matches the version of Autodesk Inventor will be used for this activity. Unzip these files and save them a new project folder called Clawbot.
Video 2: Start a New Assembly
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In this video, the students learn that the structural frame members have square holes that have to be aligned correctly. Assembling the parts using the iMates attached to each hole simplifies the process by reducing the number of clicks required. This workflow enables you to snap each part into its correct location.
Video 3: Complete the Base Frame
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In this video, the students will assemble all the parts required for the base frame by adding three more C-channels and a bumper.
Video 4: Add Standard Parts to the Assembly
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In this video, the students use standard parts to assemble the frame. Autodesk Inventor provides standard parts such as nuts, bolts, and washers. They can be placed in an assembly using Content Center. In this project, the standard parts are provided and are constrained to the base frame using the iMate workflow used previously.
Video 5: Assemble Bearing Flats and Rivets
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In this video, the students add bearing flats and rivets to the base frame. VEX robot drive shafts rotate in bearing flats. These flats are held onto the frame using bearing pop rivets.
Video 6: Assemble the Driveshaft and Collar
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In this video, the students add the driveshafts and collars to the base frame assembly. The drive shafts are inserted into the bearing flats. Collars are added to the ends of the shaft to hold the shaft in place.
Video 7: Assemble a Wheel
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In this video, the students add a wheel to the Clawbot. The wheel assembly consists of a 60 tooth gear, spacer, 4-inch wheel and a collar. These parts are placed in the assembly and constrained using various workflows. Constraints are placed between each part to make sure that they rotate correctly.
Video 8: Create a Wheel Subassembly
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In this video, the students simplify the placement of wheel parts by creating a subassembly. To reduce the time required to create a wheel assembly, the parts are demoted into a subassembly. With the wheels in place, a 60-tooth gear is added between the wheels, and motion constraints are added to the gears.
Video 9: Align the Gears
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In this video, the students use work planes to align the gear teeth. To correctly align the gear teeth, work planes are created through the center of the teeth or a gap between the teeth. These work planes can be used to align the teeth by constraining the work planes to each other.
Video 10: Assemble the Claw Arm Drivetrain
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In this video, the students build the claw arm drivetrain using gears, shafts, and shaft collars. The claw arm drivetrain is assembled using 84 tooth gears, 12 tooth gears, shafts, and shaft collars. The gears are aligned using work planes like the wheel drivetrain.
Video 11: Add the Cortex Microcontroller
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In this video, the students assemble the Cortex microcontroller and battery straps onto the base frame. Motors are added to the wheel drivetrain and the motion of the gears and wheels is checked.
Video 12: Assemble the Claw Arm
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In this video, the students add the claw arm to the Clawbot assembly. The channel is constrained to the 84-teeth gears.
Video 13: Complete the Robot Assembly
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In this video, the students add the remaining parts to complete the robot assembly. The claw is constrained to the claw arm. Braces are added to provide additional support to the vertical channels.
Video 14: Render and Animate the Robot
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In this video, the students use Inventor Studio to create rendered images and an animation of the robot.
Summary
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In this video, the student reviews the workflow required to model the robot. Modeling the robot requires a number of different workflows in Autodesk Inventor including:
- Assembling parts using iMates
- Adding standard parts
- Creating subassemblies to speed up the process
- Using Inventor Studio to create rendered images and animations
Want to try more projects based on VEX robots and other exciting challenges? Click the link to access the Autodesk Digital Steam Workshop.