Robotics Build Report

January 26, 2012

Day 4, Week 3

Things Done Today

Mechanical

Centrifugal Pitcher

We need to confirm the final design and start making the pitcher. We are waiting to check off from mentors and we need 1/8 inch metal for both the cannon and rational

The Chassis

The Balance/Arm

Conveyor System

Electrical

We got started on the electrical board. We put on all of the components and we are working on wiring it all together.

Programming

I worked with both the programming mentors to get the image tracking program to work, mostly utilizing NI Vision Assistant.  Trevor continued to work on the drive.  Peyton floated between Trevor and I.

CAD

We completed the design of the conveyer belt.

Marketing

Items for Next Meeting

Mechanical

Centrifugal Pitcher

The Balance/Arm

Conveyor System

The Chassis

Electrical

• We will finish the robot electrical board tomorrow on time.

Programming

• Continue to work on exporting c code from the NI Vision Assistant. 
• I will probably come in early to install all of the required software.

CAD

• We will finalize the conveyer belt.

Marketing

Robot Build Report

January 25, 2012

Day 3, Week 3

Things Done Today

Mechanical

Centrifugal Pitcher

Finished the rotational prototype.

The Chassis

Battery box is completed and mounted, electrical board is 80% completed/ mounted.

The Balance/Arm

Conveyor System

Electrical

We worked on the electrical board

Programming

Since the prototype was mostly completed for the shooter, I started trying to convert the Vision Assistants script to c++ without much luck.  Attempts using the WPILib fared slightly better.

CAD

Kyle finished the shooting mechanism.

Marketing

Items for Next Meeting

Mechanical

Centrifugal Pitcher

• Finish cad design of pitcher and rotational unit.

The Balance/Arm

Conveyor System

The Chassis

• We need to finish electrical and begin drive, electrical, and program testing.

Electrical

• We will finish the electrical board tomorrow.

Programming

• Continue programming horizontal image tracking.

CAD

• More prototyping of different designs.

Marketing

Robotics Build Report

January 24, 2012

Day 2, Week 3

Things Done Today

Mechanical

Centrifugal Pitcher

We prototyped the rotational unit of the shooter.

The Chassis

Today we finished making and bending the battery box.  We also planned the rest of the electrical board mount.

The Balance/Arm

Conveyor System

We came up with a great design, this design, in my opinion, should and will be the final design. We will be using a combine wrapped in surgical tubing powered by a window motor or other. That will transfer the ball to a holding area, and then when it’s ready the vertical tower will essentially shoot the ball up to the launcher.

Electrical

We were mostly deadlocked today. We tried to throw together some of the components and we put together another test board.

Programming

With Laura, Peyton, and Trevor, I had them make a program to move a motor (via a victor) using input from a joystick.  From there, I had Peyton code teleop control for the combine and belt system.    This may need to be revised later.  Trevor worked on drive and balancing in the separate room.  Also, I put in a request for an LED to shine on the reflective tape.

CAD

Marketing

Items for Next Meeting

Mechanical

Centrifugal Pitcher

• Finish last touches ready for programming

The Balance/Arm

Conveyor System

The Chassis

• Next meeting we plan to finish mounting the battery box along with the electrical box.
• By this point we may be able to test drive, electrical, and programming for drive.
• Finish the prototype.
• Prove the design.
• Make sure the parts are ordered.

Electrical

• We will put together the robot electrical board.

Programming

• Continue to program the different parts of the robot.  Revise current ball gathering programming.  I will continue to look into image tracking.

CAD

Marketing

Robotics Build Report

January 23, 2012

Day 1, Week 3

Things Done Today

Mechanical

Centrifugal Pitcher

Rational design is being prototyped and will be finished by Wednesday

CAD designs of the centripetal pitcher is now being made

The Chassis

The Balance/Arm

Today we figured were it would b most effective to mount the piston on the arm. And thought about and made how we would attach the piston to the arm.

Conveyor System

Electrical

We were mostly deadlocked today. We tried to throw together some of the components.

Programming

Found a rough way to determine horizontal tracking of one hoop.  We went over the shooter prototype code to find the problem.  It may have been due to the watchdog or misunderstanding the slot number in conjunction with other problems.

CAD

Marketing

Items for Next Meeting

Mechanical

Centrifugal Pitcher

Finish cad design of pitcher

Continue prototyping rotational turret

The Chassis

The Balance/Arm

We are at a standstill because we need welding and Devan is out of practice.

Conveyor System

Electrical

We will put together the robot electrical board.

Programming

Continue to fine tune the image tracking.  Start going over actual code with sub groups.

CAD

Marketing

Robotics Build Report

January 21, 2012

Day 6, Week 2

Things Done Today

Mechanical

Centrifugal Pitcher

The Chassis

Today we started work on the electrical board by getting dimensions and started final design.  We also started to work on the battery box and its location on the robot.

The Balance/Arm

Today we cut out the final parts for the seconded arm. Then assembled them and started to work on a prototype mount.

Conveyor System

We almost have a fully thought out conveyor system, we are currently prototyping the design and will have the full bill of parts (if not already done) done by Monday.

Electrical

We were going to work on the electrical board but we got dragged into the shooting mechanism. Data is not being sent to the motors. It might be a programming problem but I will look into it tomorrow.

Programming

I gathered the rest of the programming team and went through the programming goals for the different parts of the robot.  Then, with them, I went through part of the process of tracking the reflective tape.  Also, using the new cRIO with a single CIM motor had, and continues to have, some issues.  We’ll need to figure this out eventually.

CAD

Marketing

Items for Next Meeting

Mechanical

Centrifugal Pitcher

• We finished large scale proto type of the pitcher made of wood it was accurate with a modified height of hoop 2/13 on the prototype Pico derived physics equations for maw aim.

The Chassis

• We need to finish making and mounting the battery box, finish chains, and finish mounting the electrical board.

The Balance/Arm

• Decide if were using pneumatics or a motor. Then finish a prototype mount.

Conveyor System

• Finish prototyping and have a set design for the robot and order the parts we need.

Electrical

• We will work on the electrical board tomorrow and diagnose the problems.

Programming

• Next meeting will contain finishing finding the center point of each rectangle.  Also, finding out why the jaguar refused to get a signal.

CAD

Marketing

Robotics Build Report

January 19, 2012  

Day 4, Week 2

Things Done Today

Mechanical

Robot Chassis

This team built most of base of the second robot.

Centrifugal Pitcher

We tested out the new motor to wheel piece and found that the hole is not perfectly in the middle of the collar. This could potentially cause major vibrations that could be very dangerous.

Conveyor System

The Balance/Arm

Today we cut out the rest of the arm extenders and discussed if the metal was thick enough. We tried to cut through ¼ inch aluminum but the plasma cam would not cut through it. Also at the end of the meeting we decided that the metal would not be thick enough.

Electrical

We soldered the inclinometers together so it is compatible with the robot. We also fixed the old robots compressor system.

Programming

We continued working on the compressor on the old robot.  It turns out that a couple of faulty PWMs were the culprit.  Because of this, we managed to fix the old robot without reimaging the cRIO and deleting the old code.

CAD

We have completed the base of the arm now we need to mount it.

Marketing

Items for Next Meeting

Mechanical

Robot Chassis

• Built and finished drive system and base except for where we are missing parts.
• All parts are ordered and due for arrival for Saturday January 21, 2012.
• We will completely build both bases.
• Next meeting we will figure out how much we need to cut out of the base and support frame reinforcements.

Centrifugal Pitcher

Conveyor System

The Balance/Arm

• We plan on working out how to cut ¼ inch aluminum and working out the thickness in the arm and the mount.

Electrical

Programming

The team will continue to work with their respective projects.  Meanwhile, I will be working on the NI Vision Assistant  and using the US Digital Inclinometer.

CAD

• Need to complete the micro arm.

Marketing

Robotics Build Report

January 19, 2012  

Day 4, Week 2

Things Done Today

Mechanical

Robot Chassis

This team built most of base of the second robot.

Centrifugal Pitcher

We tested out the new motor to wheel piece and found that the hole is not perfectly in the middle of the collar. This could potentially cause major vibrations that could be very dangerous.

Conveyor System

The Balance/Arm

Today we cut out the rest of the arm extenders and discussed if the metal was thick enough. We tried to cut through ¼ inch aluminum but the plasma cam would not cut through it. Also at the end of the meeting we decided that the metal would not be thick enough.

Electrical

We soldered the inclinometers together so it is compatible with the robot. We also fixed the old robots compressor system.

Programming

We continued working on the compressor on the old robot.  It turns out that a couple of faulty PWMs were the culprit.  Because of this, we managed to fix the old robot without reimaging the cRIO and deleting the old code.

CAD

We have completed the base of the arm now we need to mount it.

Marketing

Items for Next Meeting

Mechanical

Robot Chassis

• Built and finished drive system and base except for where we are missing parts.
• All parts are ordered and due for arrival for Saturday January 21, 2012.
• We will completely build both bases.
• Next meeting we will figure out how much we need to cut out of the base and support frame reinforcements.

Centrifugal Pitcher

Conveyor System

The Balance/Arm

• We plan on working out how to cut ¼ inch aluminum and working out the thickness in the arm and the mount.

Electrical

Programming

The team will continue to work with their respective projects.  Meanwhile, I will be working on the NI Vision Assistant  and using the US Digital Inclinometer.

CAD

• Need to complete the micro arm.

Marketing

SCHOOL IS CANCELED!

There is no build report available for today.

Robotics Build Report

January 17, 2012

Day 2, Week 2

Things Done Today

Mechanical

Robot Chassis

We finished assembling the robot and now we are waiting on the electrical team to put their board on the robot.  Parts for the second robot have not arrived yet but when they do we will start assembly for that robot.

Centrifugal Pitcher

We actually got the part today to attach the CIM motor to the wheel.  This time the collar is now center and runs very nicely.  We hooked it up to a battery and tested it.  It doesn’t shoot very far right now but we know it works.

Conveyor System

We are looking to order parts soon, even though we should’ve yesterday.  We are making sure the materials we find are actually the right kind.

Bridge Arm and Balancing

The micro arm for bridge lowering was converted and we started to cut out pieces to be assembled.

Electrical

The design for the electrical board is just about done.  We now need the material for the electrical board.  Most likely it will be on Lexan.

Programming

Worked on the 2011 to get it ready for the presentation at Riverview Bank.

CAD

The file for the micro arms has been converted for plasma cam.

Marketing

Had someone start editing the rough draft of the Chairman book, and started on the Executive summary questions.  The Woodie Flowers Award is under way. Congratulations to Teri who got nominated for the Woodie Flowers!

Items for Next Meeting

Mechanical

Robot Chassis

• We need to wait on the parts for the other robot before we really can do anything more.

Centrifugal Pitcher

• We will be getting a new piece for the motor to wheel mount for the pitcher.

Conveyor System

• Create a model to test out how the conveyor is going to pick up balls.

Bridge Arm and Balancing

• We need to cut out the rest of the arm linkages
• We need to try and cut the linkages out of the ¼ inch aluminum.

Electrical

• Need to put together the inclinometers and solder them so they are compatible with the robot.

Programming

• Work on the compressor from the 2011 robot since it is not working.

CAD

• The micro arms are will need to be put into Inventor so we can mount them on the robot.

Marketing

Robotics Build Report

January 16, 2012

Day 1, Week 2

Things Done Today

FRC

Mechanical

Robot Chassis

The C-Base has most of its wheels in place and the gearboxes attached.

Centrifugal Pitcher

We found out today that we need to have some sort of attachment so we can actually get the CIM motor to direct drive the wheel for the pitcher.

Conveyor System

We are still debating over what kind of material we want to use as that will be very important in how we implement the conveyor system.

Bridge Arm and Balancing

We finished working on a design and would like to start cutting pieces out of the plasma cam.

Electrical

Inventoried a lot of the electronics and still deciding on where to place the electronics in given space.

Programming

Finished updating the software for the robot.

CAD

We finished the design of the arm to push down the bridge.

Marketing

Coming Soon…

Items for Next Meeting

FRC

Mechanical

Robot Chassis

• We are finishing up the base and hoping to get parts to work on the other robot.

Centrifugal Pitcher

• We can’t hook up the CIM motors to the wheels as we don’t have the attachment for it. Austin’s dad will make a piece for it to bring in Thursday.

Conveyor System

• Finish research and possibly make a prototype to find different materials for the conveyor system.

Bridge Arm and Balancing

• Convert the bridge arm to a plasma cam file so we can cut the pieces out and assemble them.

Electrical

• Finish with plan of where to put electronics given space constraints.

Programming

• Work on the 2011 robot to get it ready for a presentation at Riverview Bank

CAD

• Convert the file for the bridge arm so that the bridge arm team can cut it out on the plasma cam.

Marketing

• Had someone start editing the rough draft of the Chairman book, started on the Executive summary questions. And Woodie Flowers in under way. Congratulations to Teri who got nominated for the Woodie Flowers!