Team Five/Journal
Jan 7--We went through the kit and started work on the Pegbot. Considered the thought of stacking the pegboards to create two levels, one for the laptop and the other for other components.
We also looked at the scoring boxes and updated our strategy after learning you can only score with your own balls and the only balls on your side to start are your own.
We saw that the boxes make it hard to "shoot" the balls to score. We got the Pegbot to move!
Jan 8--We attached an IR sensor to our arduino which allowed us to turn away from obstacles in the playing field.
We also decided to create a second level of pegboard to give us a place to mount our computer.
We spent some time cleaning up wiring from yesterday and figuring out the sizes of all the components so we can start planning where these would fit best on our final robot.
We set up GitHub and spent some time thinking about and implementing our existing software on our laptop.
We spent some time at the end of the day thinking about a reliable deployment scheme.
Jan 9--A slow day.
We spent time finishing dimensioning parts for our final CAD.
We also set up a firm schedule for the remainder of MASlab, agreed on our final design and decided upon a high-level software design.
We didn't change anything on our pegbot.
We spent time refining our vision software, which works on our personal computers, but not the lab computer yet.
We met with the staff and discussed our plans.
Lots of work in the coming days likely.
Now that we have it, here's our schedule:
| Date | Software | Hardware | Mechanical | Build | Checkpoint |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Jan | frame rate down | gyro/imu started camera ready for use | design outline | add gyro/imu and camera to peg bot | plan ready |
| 10 Jan | turn, drive toward ball, PID started | gyro/imu properly inputing and set | CAD robot parts figure out drivetrain etc. | evaluate what needs to be built and what can be bought scower the stock | turn, drive toward ball |
| 11 Jan | camera calibration, communicate between computer and arduino | design mounts | CAD robot and budget points/money reevaluate design | go through stock and establish modes of purchase add to budget | Be able to calibrate your camera quickly within 1 minute (ie for changing light conditions). Demonstrate your camera calibration by driving towards a green ball. |
| 12 Jan | Adapt software to new robot | reattach all to full bot | CAD robot | build period | |
| 13 Jan | finalize and apply design | ||||
| 14 Jan | MOCK 1 Start on button press, stop after 3 min | ||||
| 15 Jan | |||||
| 16 Jan | |||||
| 17 Jan | UPDATED PLAN | ||||
| 18 Jan | Mock Competition Day | NON pegbot robot built | MOCK 2 "Successfully calibrate within 1 minute, start on a button press, and stop after 3 minutes.
During the 3 minutes drive towards a red or green ball, then towards a yellow scoring wall. Optional: Pick up the ball. Optional: Score over the yellow wall with the ball." | ||
| 19 Jan | Slush Time: re-configure software, fix buggy mechanical parts, re-construction if necessary | ||||
| 20 Jan | |||||
| 21 Jan | |||||
| 22 Jan | |||||
| 23 Jan | Mock Competition Day | Deployment and storage built BUILD DONE | MOCK 3 | ||
| 24 Jan | Optimization Period Software optimization, mechanical design optimization, make small problems go away | ||||
| 25 Jan | |||||
| 26 Jan | |||||
| 27 Jan | |||||
| 28 Jan | |||||
| 29 Jan | IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN | Seating | |||
| 30 Jan | |||||
| 31 Jan | IMPOUND | ||||
| 1 Feb | COMPETITION DAY | ||||
Jan 10-- Yesterday we decided upon a final mechanical design in principle.
We uploaded diagrams of our design and started CADing smaller components so we can easily include them in our final CAD.
We researched our problem of not being able to communicate between the webcam, computer, and the arduino
Something funny happened, DanO plugged his computer into the arduino and it started moving. Hope that doesn't mess anything up.
Ariel's been working on optimizing the vision software so it will work reliably at any height without compromising speed.
Jan 11 -- Today we decided upon our Mock 1 strategy (super secret)
we successfully communicated between the camera, computer and arduino.
We're working on making sense of IMU input for positioning and accelerometer data.
We're getting the entire robot CADed so we can start construction this weekend.
We're also starting to think about things like optical encoders, drivetrain, and overall robot shape.
Our software is in good shape, so we're trying to work out issues with mechanical and electrical design.
We made a python-to-java socket which allows our java library to communicate with the arduino via PySerial
Got Checkoffs 3 and 4 Boom Got-em.
WEEKEND Jan 12 -- Today we started late, but we have made good progress so far.
We're making some decisions now regarding which programming language to use for our software.
Right now, we're seeing a tradeoff between latency and throughput with each language, but some give us better values for both.
Yesterday, we soldered the IMU together and are getting great, reliable data for the gyro and the accelerometer, although compass data hasn't been so great.
We're CADing our final design now which we agreed upon yesterday. Maybe these will come up here, maybe not.
We made a trip to the home depot for some materials which we can machine tomorrow. We're hoping to god that we can get everything we need for mock 1.
