For almost the whole meeting, we worked on wiring the robot and trying to get it to move correctly in teleop. It took quite a while to mount the motor controllers, then when we ran the teleop program, nothing seemed to work right. We finally fixed the problem (I think), but our robot is still not functional. We can't run the conveyor belt, because it's twisted to one side, and we also haven't mounted the scissor lift yet.
Fortunately, Saturday is a scrimmage (not a real tournament) because we plan to do some building once we get there! We'll probably also need to work on software. In addition to mounting the scissor lift and making the conveyor straight, it would be nice if we could make the back wheels chain-driven and write some simple autonomies. However, we probably won't get that far. The most valuable part of the scrimmage, in my opinion, is being able to see other teams' ideas, getting a feel for the game and strategy, and being able to connect with other teams. Even if our robot doesn't work well, we can certainly get a lot out of the scrimmage.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Rewiring and rebuilding
Last night, we realized that we had a two-wheel drive chassis instead of a four-wheel drive! So we had to add two motors to our drive train, which was sort of difficult since the scissor lift was in the way. We ended up raising the scissor lift, which created another problem: a crate on top of the scissor lift would be too high for us to deliver racquetballs to it via the conveyor belt. We are still working on this!
While all this was going on, we also mounted the front arm so we'd be able to pick up crates. This was one of the tasks we'd been trying to do for a few meetings, so at least we made some progress.
We also had to write a teleop program so we'd be able to drive the robot on Saturday. This was done, but we can't test the program until the robot is actually wired. As you can see, there are quite a few things we need to finish or fix before we have a working robot- even one that can just drive! Hopefully, we can make a lot of progress on Thursday.
While all this was going on, we also mounted the front arm so we'd be able to pick up crates. This was one of the tasks we'd been trying to do for a few meetings, so at least we made some progress.
We also had to write a teleop program so we'd be able to drive the robot on Saturday. This was done, but we can't test the program until the robot is actually wired. As you can see, there are quite a few things we need to finish or fix before we have a working robot- even one that can just drive! Hopefully, we can make a lot of progress on Thursday.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Scrambling to get ready for scrimmage
We've been trying to get our robot together so we can compete in a scrimmage next Saturday, but we still have a ways to go. Last night, we had several projects going on, but the really essential ones didn't get done. We really needed our crate-grabbing arm mounted, but it didn't get done (we've been trying to get it done for about a week) and we hope to finish that task Monday. We don't want to go to the scrimmage with a robot that just picks up racquetballs and spits them out the other end!
PHI Alpha added the tread gears to our front-facing conveyor belt, making it functional, and they also mounted it to their robot. It worked really well. Since there's a rule that we can only be able to hold 15 racquetballs at a time, this conveyor is great because it's so small. It picks balls up quickly, too, so once we get the tread gears we ordered, PHI Omega may add it to our robot, too! (See previous post for a picture of the front-facing conveyor.)
We also worked on the scissor lift quite a bit, and at the end of the meeting, it was able to raise two crates- one sitting on top of a platform and one attached by little hooks. (See previous post for pictures.) The scissor lift isn't mounted, though, and I hear it still needs some work. A teleop program so we can drive the robot is also on our list of things we really need for the scrimmage. Of course, we'd love to have some autonomous programs, too, but that's a little ambitious....
PHI Alpha added the tread gears to our front-facing conveyor belt, making it functional, and they also mounted it to their robot. It worked really well. Since there's a rule that we can only be able to hold 15 racquetballs at a time, this conveyor is great because it's so small. It picks balls up quickly, too, so once we get the tread gears we ordered, PHI Omega may add it to our robot, too! (See previous post for a picture of the front-facing conveyor.)
We also worked on the scissor lift quite a bit, and at the end of the meeting, it was able to raise two crates- one sitting on top of a platform and one attached by little hooks. (See previous post for pictures.) The scissor lift isn't mounted, though, and I hear it still needs some work. A teleop program so we can drive the robot is also on our list of things we really need for the scrimmage. Of course, we'd love to have some autonomous programs, too, but that's a little ambitious....
Thursday, October 20, 2011
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| The scissor lift raises a crate and Tyler measures the height of the crate to determine its point value |
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| Our robot with the front conveyor belt mounted |
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| The scissor lift raises two crates, the red one on the platform and the blue one attached to hooks |
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| The scissor lift raises another crate |
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| Working on the scissor lift |
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| Front-facing conveyor belt mounted to PHI Alpha's robot |
"Jiggles's Revenge"
Today we have been mounting the many new devices to "Jiggles". These include a conveyor belt, an arm, and a scissor lift. Also"Jiggles"is getting his revenge for my last post by having caused massive frustration with 18.5" wheel base. He has also drawn some blood from Tyler and me.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Making progress
Today we continued to work on our scissor lift and front conveyor belt prototypes. The scissor lift works pretty well (it's able to lift crates) and has the added "cool factor" as opposed to a plain arm. We're still working to improve the design, though.
We also replaced the rubber bands on the front-facing conveyor belt with treads, which work a lot better; however, we're not able to test the prototype until we can get our hands on some more tread gears. (Alpha is using them for their conveyor belt right now.) Still, we determined that the conveyor belt should be able to pick up racquetballs off the floor, although it would need to be angled slightly.
One other thing we did was continue mounting the standard conveyor belt on the front of the squarebot. We hope to have it done soon!
We also replaced the rubber bands on the front-facing conveyor belt with treads, which work a lot better; however, we're not able to test the prototype until we can get our hands on some more tread gears. (Alpha is using them for their conveyor belt right now.) Still, we determined that the conveyor belt should be able to pick up racquetballs off the floor, although it would need to be angled slightly.
One other thing we did was continue mounting the standard conveyor belt on the front of the squarebot. We hope to have it done soon!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Lots to do
We have two scrimmages that may be in our near future: the October 29th scrimmage and the possible November 19th scrimmage. The October scrimmage is in Monrovia and will be hosted by Team 25, the Rock and Roll Robots. However, we're not completely sure if we will go; our robot still needs a lot of work, and it's only two weeks away.
The other scrimmage, which would be hosted by us, is still theoretical. We have a probable location, and since there are eight teams (including both PHI teams) in the area, we probably have enough teams to have an event. We still need to determine whether we have enough people to run the event, though, before we can invite teams.
Work on the squarebot "Jiggles" continued today, including rewiring and making a wiring diagram for the robot. We also partially mounted the conveyor belt on the front of the robot, although it still needs to be secured, and the bottom needs to be cut in a straight line. Our front-facing conveyor prototype still needs some work, because the rubber bands (which we're using instead of an actual belt) pop off as the wheels turn. Still, we're getting closer to a working robot.
The other scrimmage, which would be hosted by us, is still theoretical. We have a probable location, and since there are eight teams (including both PHI teams) in the area, we probably have enough teams to have an event. We still need to determine whether we have enough people to run the event, though, before we can invite teams.
Work on the squarebot "Jiggles" continued today, including rewiring and making a wiring diagram for the robot. We also partially mounted the conveyor belt on the front of the robot, although it still needs to be secured, and the bottom needs to be cut in a straight line. Our front-facing conveyor prototype still needs some work, because the rubber bands (which we're using instead of an actual belt) pop off as the wheels turn. Still, we're getting closer to a working robot.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
I am angry at "Jiggles"
We had to rewire "Jiggles" and change its programming to match. After 8 tries, we got all our wheels rolling.
Note: "Jiggles" is the squarebot mentioned in the previous post.
Note: "Jiggles" is the squarebot mentioned in the previous post.
Still working on several designs
We had several projects that we were working on during this meeting, most of them continued from Monday's meeting. This included both software and hardware projects.
Two of our new team members worked on rewiring and writing a teleop program for the squarebot chassis, which they've been working on for a few weeks. Currently, the squarebot has nothing mounted on it, but we hope to add some of our mechanisms to the it soon. The squarebot is designed so we have a space to mount the conveyor belt on the front and something else on the back.
We also continued Monday's projects, the tomahawk and conveyor belt. We motorized the tomahawk, so now it can not only grab the crate, but also rotate it, the purpose being to keep the crates level as we lift them. Surprisingly, a servo is strong enough to rotate an empty crate; we still need to test how many balls the crate can have in it and still be rotated. Our next plan for the tomahawk is to attach it to a rotating arm on the robot. We also made the conveyor belt the right size to pick up racquetballs, although it still needs to be motorized. We plan to do this on Monday.
One other thing we worked on was the scissor lift. We had already built a scissor lift, which we planned to use to lift and stack crates, but it got taken apart. This meeting, the mentors built a scissor lift out of cardboard, and one of our team members was also building a new metal scissor lift.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Tomahawk and conveyor
Today we mainly worked on prototyping ideas for picking up balls and crates, but we also brainstormed some ideas of how to deliver magnet balls to the off-field goals.
One of our prototypes, nicknamed the "tomahawk," was thought up by our mentor Mr. Pahle. It consists of a fixed plastic plate, along with a plastic plate that opens and closes to grab a crate. We programmed the tomahawk to open and close, then tested the prototype. We discovered that it can actually lift a crate, and now we're working on attaching it to a motor and an arm. That way, we would be able to grab a crate and lift it, keeping it level all the time.
We also worked on rebuilding a conveyor belt from two years ago, which we could use to pick up racquetballs. Of course, we are only allowed to hold fifteen balls at a time, so our conveyor belt might be too big at this point. We were also considering mounting a magnet sensor on the conveyor belt and using the sensor to control a flap. The flap would control the racquetballs, sending the magnet balls into a special container and the regular balls into a different area of the robot.
One of our prototypes, nicknamed the "tomahawk," was thought up by our mentor Mr. Pahle. It consists of a fixed plastic plate, along with a plastic plate that opens and closes to grab a crate. We programmed the tomahawk to open and close, then tested the prototype. We discovered that it can actually lift a crate, and now we're working on attaching it to a motor and an arm. That way, we would be able to grab a crate and lift it, keeping it level all the time.
We also worked on rebuilding a conveyor belt from two years ago, which we could use to pick up racquetballs. Of course, we are only allowed to hold fifteen balls at a time, so our conveyor belt might be too big at this point. We were also considering mounting a magnet sensor on the conveyor belt and using the sensor to control a flap. The flap would control the racquetballs, sending the magnet balls into a special container and the regular balls into a different area of the robot.
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