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.

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