T-shirt device ready to reach audiences
Washington Area Career and Technology Center mechatronics instructor Tim Angert, center, works with students Jett Klinzing, a junior from McGuffey, and Tabitha Denmam, a junior from Trinity, on the robot cannon the class built recently. The robot is capable of propelling T-shirts from the three pressurized barrels into crowds at sporting events.
Circuitry inside the robot cannon a class at Washington Area Career and Technology Center built recently. The robot is capable of propelling T-shirts from the three pressurized barrels into crowds at sporting events.
HOUSTON – Students in the mechatronics course at Western Area Career & Technology Center have created some promotional firepower that will be on display beginning with tonight’s Washington Wild Things game.
The project, a robotic T-shirt launcher, is the brainchild of mechatronics instructor Tim Angert, who was looking for a way to incorporate the application of pneumatics into last spring’s classes. He said it took about six weeks to design and build the 100-pound launcher.
WACTC introduced mechatronics last fall, which combines the disciplines of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, programming and control technology. The application of the principles teach people how to work on the latest production equipment in a factory, mine or natural gas drilling site.
The robot launcher incorporates all electrical work through a control board in the same way that control panels are used in manufacturing to run equipment, Angert explained.
In addition to having students build the control panel, they also learned about pipefitting and did all of the calculations for volumes of air needed to propel the shirts.
“They also worked on the safety aspect of it,” Angert said, explaining that the robot has a “safety button” that must be operated in tandem with the “launch” button.
WACTC Director Dr. Dennis McCarthy said the T-shirt launching robot is also a way to showcase the students’ work before a broader audience.
When Angert showed him the project, McCarthy said he called the Wild Things “out of the blue,” adding that the team’s front office was receptive to the idea.
The robot was taken to the stadium for a tryout two weeks ago.
“The whole staff of the Wild Things came out,” McCarthy said. “They absolutely loved it.”
“We thought it was cool,” said Wild Things spokeswoman Chris Blaine. She said the team had tried a commercial launcher last year, but it proved to be too powerful for the stadium’s size, often firing its gift shirts over people’s heads and pulverizing packaged hot dogs.
Because the WACTC launcher has adjustable pressure, it should have no problem reaching its targets with complimentary T-shirts. In addition to a pipe for firing a single shirt, the machine has a larger one for a dual T-shirt charge, as well as a smaller pipe for hot dogs.
McCarthy said the launcher will reach other target audiences this fall, when it will be taken to football games at each of the nine high schools that send students to WACTC.
“The schools get to see what their kids are working on when they’re here,” he said.