2016-2017 Team Members

Luis was part of the Spartan Superway 1/12 scale Vehicle Controls team. He was responsible for designing and implementing the programming methods for the sensing when the bogie should switch track paths. His background in Arduino, programming in C, basic through-hole soldering, knowledge of CAD programs such as SolidWorks and Creo, familiarity with Matlab, Microsoft Office and LabView make him perfect for this role.

Chris was part of the Spartan Superway 1/12 scale Vehicle Controls team. He was responsible for track sensor placement and designing the 1/12th scale bogie. His background includes soldering, electronics construction and repair, mechanical construction and drafting, SolidWorks and Microsoft Office Suite.

Steven was part of the Spartan Superway 1/12 scale Vehicle Controls team. He was responsible for designing and implementing the programming methods for the sensing when the bogie switches track paths. His background includes Arduino, programming in C, basic through-hole soldering, knowledge of CAD programs such as SolidWorks and Creo, familiarity with Matlab, Microsoft Office and LabView. 

Kevin was part of the Spartan Superway 1/12 Scale Track Fabrication Team tasked with addressing any issues regarding tolerances of the 1/12th Scale Track, especially at the bends and designing a solar panel rack with an attached support.

Shengsong was part of the Spartan Superway 1/12 Scale Track Fabrication Team tasked with addressing any issues regarding tolerances of the 1/12th Scale Track, especially at the bends and designing a solar panel rack with an attached support.

Ernest was part of the 1/12 Scale Mechanical Bogie Improvement team. His main task involved designing the cabin that houses the electronics in SolidWorks and using a variety of 3D printers to fabricate the final assembly out of PLA and ABS filaments for its integration with the Track team.

Moralma was part of the 1/12 Scale Mechanical Bogie Improvement team. Her main task involved making improvements to the switching mechanism of the 1/12 Scale Mechanical Bogie for the bogie to run more smoothly, especially at the intersections of the 1/12 Scale Track.

Andrew was part of the 1/12 Scale Track Development Team. His main responsibilities included designing and manufacture components of the track to provide proper alignment and clearance for the bogie.

Jezreel was part of the 1/12 Scale Track Development Team. His main tasks were being the principle CAD designer of the team that designs a track assembly that would be easy to break down, transport, and reassemble as well as producing 2D drawings for documentation. 

Franklin was part of the 1/12 Scale Track Development Team. His main responsibilies were communicating with other subteams about sensor placement and any necessary changes, ensuring the team is organized and be in charge of documentation.

Derick was part of the 1/12 Solar Improvement Team tasked with improving on the previous 1/12 Solar Rack and ultimately designed and fabricated a practical solar racking system. The solar rack is self-contained, forms a curvature of along thin film solar panels, can be assembled and disassembled in minutes, and does not interfere with the operations of pod cars on the tracks below.

Alan was part of the 1/12 Solar Improvement Team tasked with designing the components of the Solar Rack in SolidWorks and creating the blueprint for its manufacturing to take place.

Susana was part of the 1/12 Solar Improvement Team. Her main responsibilities included aiding in the design of the Solar Rack mounts in SolidWorks, being in charge of the wiring management for the solar panel and ensuring there is no interference with the 1/12 scale track and bogie.

Neil was part of the Spartan Superway 1/2 scale Active Suspension system team. His main tasks included designing a "tilt mechanism" in SolidWorks that aims to be a self-leveling system that retracts and expands over a large distance while traveling in a straight line. In addition, Neil was in charge of providing the necessary calculations and software results from MatLab and ANSYS before manufacturing it to be integrated with the 1/2 scale bogie assembly.

Brean was part of the Spartan Superway 1/2 scale Active Suspension system team alongside Neil. His main tasks included aiding in designing a "tilt mechanism" in SolidWorks. Additionally, Brean was in charge of fabrication and assembling the parts of the suspension system with the 1/2 scale bogie assembly. 

Michael was part of the 1/2 scale Bogie, Steering and Failsafe team. The goals were to change the material of the previous bogie design to reduce weight and buckling while maintaining rigidity. Secondly, to integrate two linear actuators into the system to minimize the number of linkages. Lastly, to add one wheel on each side of the bogie instead of two as a failsafe so as to not overconstrain the system. Michael was responsible for conducting FEA, design CAD drawings and manufacturing of the components.

Jorge was part of the 1/2 scale Bogie, Steering and Failsafe team alongside Michael. Similar to Michael, Jorge was responsible for the design of the bogie components in SolidWorks with a heavy emphasis on the failsafe portion of the project. 

Craig was part of the 1/2 Scale Braking and Suspensions Team tasked with ensuring the bogie is able to move along the guideway and stop at stations. His responsibilities include selecting a motor powerful enough to withstand the frictional forces while braking, designing the Braking components in SolidWorks and prototyping parts out of PLA filament.

Randy is the second member of the 1/2 Scale Braking and Suspensions Team tasked with calculations and analysis of the braking system. Additionally, he was in charge of the validation, testing and integration of the braking systems with the 1/2 scale bogie.

Patrick was part of the 1/2 Scale Mechatronics and Integration Systems team. This team is responsible for maintaining the controls for the bogie movement. When a human input is received on the control panel, the bogie control system must register the steps needed to move each electrical component. Each sensor on the bogie is responsible for relaying data to the microcontroller and algorithms uploaded to the microcontroller. This is important because the bogie must iterate any possible safety checks on its own when it encounters any danger. Patrick was responsible for drawing block diagram schematics in addition to working on the code. Additionally, he collaborated with the rest of the Half-Scale Team to ensure efficiency. 

Matthew was part of the 1/2 Scale Wayside Power Team. The goal was to ensure that energy can be supplied to the 1/2 Scale bogie so that onboard operation can continue smoothly and all motors will be able to operate when necessary. Utilizing his skills in welding, programming in C and Arduino and metalworking, Matthew successfully fabricated a fourth rail system (essentially 2 lines of conductive material that are attached to a power source, with one rail reserved for current and the other for return (ground)). These rails will have a specified current and voltage derived from the power source and will be tapped into using a collector shoe that is attached to the bogie and is easily implemented.

Kha was part of the 1/2 Scale Wayside Power Team. His contributions included designing the fourth rail system assembly in SolidWorks in addition to successfully fabricating and testing the fourth rail system and implementing it into the 1/2 Scale Bogie system. 

Winter was part of the Full Scale Railings and Supports Team tasked with designing the first wooden prototype of the column. Winter was responsible with the thermal expansion/contraction calculations for the beams and columns of the project for vibration control.

Claude was the second member of the Full Scale Railings and Supports Team. He played a pivotal role in designing the second prototype of the Railings and Supports in SolidWorks along with utilizing cost-effective materials such as PVC, wood and PLA filament to build prototypes.

Kathyln was the third member of Full Scale Railings and Supports Team. She was responsible for concept generation for all four rail and support designs and conducted extensive Finite Element Analysis on the models to test its safety and rigidity before manufacturing/prototyping.

Kevin was the last member of the Full Scale Railings and Supports Team. He was responsible in the planning and manufacturing of the third and fourth prototypes of the support and rail structures. In addition, he was in charge of the documentation of the group, including generating a Bill of Materials and weekly updates.

To learn more about the 2016-2017 Spartan Superway team, visit their team blog below.

2016-2017 Team Blog