design. by Nicolas Camacho

Nicolas Camacho

My 2023 3-lb Combat Robot, Fang

Engineer + Maker

B.S. Mechanical Engineering. UCLA '27.

Bio

I am from Santa Maria, California. I went to Orcutt Academy High School, where I graduated as salutatorian. I found my love for engineering as a member of the Spartatroniks Robotics team, FRC 3512. I devoted all four years of high school to learning, mastering, and teaching computer-aided design in Solidworks. Along with technical skills, I learned to be a leader, a collaborator, and that there is always another way to solve a problem.

No matter what struggles I may face in life, I make things happen. I have the passion to bring ideas to life. in all aspects of my life, I strive for nothing short of GREATNESS. oft will I fall short, but failure is what carves a magnum opus from the prototype.

This website serves as a portfolio and a lens into my jampacked life.

As you scroll down, my projects & commitments will appear from most recent to oldest.

ASME COMBAT ROBOTICS at UCLA

Technical Lead

I am currently technical co-lead for the largest collegiate Beetleweight combat robotics team on the West Coast. I have been teaching 40+ engineering & non-engineering students to design, wire, and build robots from scratch. We provide electronics, 3D-printing materials, and order custom metal parts for the teams. I created a website to assist with leading this project: uclacombat.org

Our teams recently began soldering their robots' control systems.

The website's schedule automatically integrates with our Discord & Google Calendar, sending event announcements & updates.

Snapshot of our website's schedule, with user customizable UI
I can create, delete, and change the events from my phone's calendar, and it will notify all of our members!

This year, we'll be hosting an internal competition on May 17th called Mechanical Mayhem. 15 teams of 1-5 members each will put their months of work to the test.

FANG (2023)

my first Combat Robot

Fang was my first combat robot. I designed and built it by myself as a freshman. Prior to joining the club, I had no experience with combat robotics. While high energy spinner robots are predominant, I opted for a more unique, challenging design. It used surgical tubing as energy storage.

Worm Drive

Using a worm gear allowed for an 84:1 total mechanical advantage. The worm gear was bolted to a "slip gear which enabled a reciprocating attack.

Render of the gearbox

ongoing combat robotics projects

BUZZsaw

Buzzsaw is my combat robot design this year. He's still a work in progress, but with my new Steam Deck control setup, it should work like a charm.

Saw wielding robot, with 180° range of motion. Armor is still a work in progress.
The arm is made of titanium, and two bent parts are used. One bent part is used for tensioning the belt.
Steam deck Control system
Wouldn't it be nice to control robots with an ergonomic video game controller that also has a touch screen! The Steam Deck is wonderful for modding projects, and it also runs Linux!

I designed and built a custom circuit board to tackle this using ESP-32 + Bluetooth, but I realized it was a difficult and unreliable approach. I am going to instead use an adapter to send RF signals from the Steam Deck to an appropriate receiver. This should be a more battle-hardened concept that could be utilized in many other projects - not just combat robotics!

The current standard we use to control our robots are these Flysky drone controllers. I'd like to set a new standard, but it's going to take some effort.

Projector Stand

My fancy new Anker Nebula projector!

My skills often come in handy when there's a product I need that doesn't currently exist for my purposes. I recently purchased an Anker Capsule Projector, but it can be annoying to prop it up on my dorm bed.

3D Render of my design using Solidworks Visualize

I designed a two-piece 3D-printed invention to solve this issue and watch Severance in peace. Using my bed's The red part is flexible TPU, and it slides into the rigid blue PETG part. A zip tie secures both parts together.

The projector has a 1/4"-20 hole on the bottom, which I fasten one of my many such screws into. There is also a cutout profile to allow access to the cables on the back of the projector, allowing charging while docked.

Snapshot

A quick glance at some of my featured works

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