Upcoming Winter Evening Courses

METAL Battle Bots

Design, create and build a METAL battle robot. These are not your average sumo battle robots. They will be crafted using metal frames and metal hardware. They are also radio controlled and have weapons!

Safety is the most important thing at Brain Monkeys, and this course is no exception. All power tools will be operated by the teachers.

Because the battle robots will be made from metal, this course will be held at the A2 Mech Shop where tools, hardware and space are available to craft our battle robots. The A2 Mech Shop is also the headquarters for Brain Monkeys and our other two companies: Rocks and Robots and Flutterbot.

This is an 8 week class that meets once a week from 6:30-7:30. The class is held at the A2Mech Shop located at: 240B Parkland Plaza, Ann Arbor.

Ages 12-15

Pumpkin Chuckin UPDATE!!!!

We are entering phase two!! These next two weekend workshops will be building events.

We are entering phase two!! These next two weekend workshops will be building events.

Phase two is a fine time to join the team. The current design has a pivot point at 1 meter and is 3 meters tall from floor to beam to sling. The projectile is a tennis ball and the counter weight is a five gallon bucket of sand. Come help build and test!!

Overall Plan

Table top catapults are fun but imagine building a huge pumpkin chucking machine! Join us for a class where we will design, build and enter a trebuchet in the 2010 Lake Orion Pumpkin Launch.

We will start out with small designs and progress to larger ones. The preliminary plan is to build in three phases.

Phase one: We will start with small table top size models. These will be quick to build so that we can explore many different designs. We will also model the different designs using computer modeling programs. After we select one or two designs we will enter phase two.

Phase two: These will be mid-sized floor model designs. First we will predict the performance with the computer models, then we will build the mid-sized machines and test them to see how well the computer models predicts their performance.

Phase three: Big, bad and powerful!!

Then we are off to compete in the 2010 Lake Orion Pumpkin Launch! Fly pumpkins fly!

Next Steps

Phase two will start with two build events on Saturday March 24 from 2:00 pm until 5:00 pm and again Saturday April 8 at the same time. Both are at the A2Mech Shop located at 240B Parkland Plaza, Ann Arbor, MI 48103

Ages 10-16 Younger ages may register but must have a parent accompany them to help.

You did not have to be part of phase one to join us for phase two. No experience necessary.