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
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