Top of the hill robot

This was my first try at competing in the National Robotics Challenge. There are a number of challenges involved, but I chose the Top of the Hill challenge. The goal is to pick up ping pong balls as fast as possible on a gravel field. Your robot can be remote controlled.

Design elements:
-Extremely lightweight. The main structure is honeycomb structured cardboard, which is stiff yet light. Electronics are RC airplane parts, wheels are foam, and other pieces are thin PVC sheets.
-Wheel design allows the robot to “float” over the gravel, yet the paddles still sink in enough for grip. For on-road use notches in the paddles allow a rubber band to be stretched over them for use on smooth surfaces
-Claw was originally a vacuum fan, which was much more effective, but took too much current. It was switched out for the large flexible claw at the last minute
-Arm design keeps claw/vacuum at a 90 degree angle, no mater the height

Servo Mods: Modification was needed to give servos 360 degree rotation, eliminate servo creep, and make both right and left sides spin the same direction
Wheels: Back wheel made from scrap, front wheels RC airplane wheels with added pvc paddles to help it traverse gravel. Much experimentation was done to come up with the effective paddle design