Team Thirteen/Journal
Contents |
Day 1 (1/6/14)
Assembled pegbot mechanics (but not wiring), decided on how to solve problems of ball collection (harvester), lifting (archimedes screw), depositing (drop down ramp + extra roller for green balls) and harvesting from the silo (metal rake). Also decided on the overall strategy that the robot would ideally take (wall follow, and remember where landmarks are)
A lot of parts were scrambled around lab today so we left a little early because we couldn't get anything done. The nuts and bolts didn't seem to be matching.. Will finish kit bot when we have all the parts to do so.
EDIT (1/22/14): DON'T DO A SCREW. NEVER DO A SCREW.
Day 2 (1/7/14)
Spent time today doing most of the wiring on the Kitbot. We ran into some issues with the connection to the battery, which we will work on tomorrow, but it should be easily fixed once the plugs for the battery are delivered (they were delayed by snow). We made a janky tape solution to keep wires attached to the battery, but it's temporary and not really working.
Uploading code to the Maple and installing the drivers was also a pain today. Eventually we got it working, but it took way too long.
We also started thinking about possible designs for the actual competition robot.
Day 3 (1/8/14)
Today we finished the kitbot and tested it with the tablet. We also started prototyping some of the parts we may use in the final design, such as the ball harvester. We experimented with different dimensions and tried to find the optimal design. In addition, we got the visual systems running and tested it, so now the robot is able to track both the red and green balls/lines. We also continued modeling potential designs for the robot while developing our strategy for the competition.
Day 4 (1/9/14)
Clare began working on the ball lifting mechanism using wire. We looked up examples of Archmedes Screws online. We had difficulty prototyping a very durable screw. First the gauge wire we used wasn't thick enough. We had trouble finding a tube/cylinder to make the screw on too. Neil ended up going to racecar and taking a packaging tube. Still stability was an issue. The screw wire would flex around.
Neil continued modeling of robot/parts.
Coding team also developed the visual control system for the robot further.
Day 5 (1/10/14)
Clare and Dabin continued prototyping the Archimedes Screw mechanism using cardboard and a laser cut jig. Lesson learned - laser cut or build a jig so that what you are prototyping is mounted and constrained! It worked wonders in letting us know what was wrong. But still, we continued to have issues with screw diameter and the wire bending.
The coding team continued work on wall following and distance measurements (based on height of the blue strip on the camera)
Day 6 (1/12/14)
Lab was open on Sunday.
In terms of code, developed means of determining how far away we are from the walls.
The Archimedes screw still was having tons of trouble. On Saturday, Clare CADded a screw to laser cut as a solution. We cut it out on Sunday and assembled it. Seems to work? Edited CAD files to incorporate this new design.
Days 7 and 8 (to 1/14/14)
UPOP week - Neil is gone for most of the day this entire week.
The software team focused on improving wall sensing using the camera, and on extrapolating walls in the camera's blind spots. We made progress, but wall extrapolation is still unusable, as of 1/14. We set up ultrasound sensors on the kitbot, as a possible replacement for camera wall extrapolation.
Clare picked up CADing the robot because Neil is gone, and the screw was put on the back-burner in order to finish the CAD. Build team worked on getting the top layer of the robot CADed. We rearranged the ball sorter and inserted holes/pegs to put everything together. Clare became less of a noob at Solidworks.
Day 9 (1/15/14)
On the software side, we gave up on wall extrapolation entirely. Most of the day was spent finding two ultrasound sensors that worked. Added map support for ultrasound.
Finished CADing the bottom two layers. We are a little behind in terms of real construction, so we pushed to get the bottom finished so it can start to be assembled.
Day 10 (1/16/14)
First attempt at wall-following - can kind of do it. Ultrasound continues to be a little flaky.
Mechanical team began cutting out base for final robot. Started assembling the bottom portion of our robot. We had issues finding supplies though - seems like other teams beat us to a lot of equipment..
Day 13 (1/19/14)
Not much work the past two days.
Began work on localization using sensors. Wall-following is hampered by camera performance at close range. Will add forward-facing ultrasound to fix this problem.
Day 14 (1/20/14)
Building - worked on wiring new robot. Stripped down pegbot so we can use its encoder. Made alterations to the top layer of robot - we decided to make it shorter and get rid of the ramp system so there was a pretty big overhaul of our CAD. Hopefully tomorrow we can begin assembling the top half to the bottom half.
Day 15 (1/21/14)
Made a lot of headway on assembling our robot. We wired out breadboard. Clare also got all of our pieces laser cut. We are in the process of putting everything together. Neil put together out aluminum ramp for the ball harvester. We are also working on making hubs and getting all our our pieces connected and able to move.
Goals for the day: Building: Finish assembling the bottom half of the robot today so that it can drive by tomorrow. This means attaching the ball harvester and getting it to work with our ramp. Power it with a motor.
Day 16 (1/22/14)
SCREW IS A BITCH. But it works by hand. We drilled holes into our MDF base to mount the screw. We glued on an aluminum ramp for our harvester. It feeds into the screw well. Plus, the ball exits the screw in the right direction. Successful day!
Goals for the day:
Building: Finish what we didn't last night with getting the bottom half to move. Assemble the top half of the robot. Hopefully fine tune the position of our screw (plus its rod) and get it working with our motor pulley system. If possible, attach the mechanism for ball sorting and the side walls (out of sheet metal).
Day 17 (1/23/14)
Goal for the day: Building: Finish the ball sorting structure. Insert a color sorting sensor. Get the dispenser servo working.
Day 18 (1/24/14)
Goal for the day: Troubleshooting - finish what we got stuck on in the previous days.
