An alarming day at Robotics!

When we arrived at the lab today, we found that the fire alarms were being tested! Every couple of minutes, an alarm would go off, Victoria would do a crazed werewolf impression, and everybody else would moan about ringing ears. It wasn't the easiest place to work. Nevertheless, we continued on.

The first half of the day was spent designing full prototypes for our second Design Review. We developed two types of conveyor belt: one with surgical tubing and a v-shaped wall on the other side, and another that was 2-sided. We also developed two types of wheeled shooters: one vertical with adjustable angles, and one horizontal. Programming worked on getting the camera to function, and by lunch it was identifying different "blobs" of color.

After lunch, we finished our prototypes and the had our Design Review (thanks to all who came!). Conversation mostly focused on the specifics of the belt and shooter, as well as what would connect the two.

Finally, the team gathered to discuss further plans. We decided to create better prototypes of the two types of conveyor belt as well as a Sadie-type mechanism. (Sadie is a robot from a few years ago.) We also want to investigate the two different types of shooters more in-depth, and one of our overarching goals for the week ahead is to start getting dimensions for the parts.

Design Reviews One and Two

This past Wednesday, we had our first design review! Parents of team members came in to see what we'd been working on and to offer feedback. Here are the notes courtesy of Alice:

Carly and Katie: Catapult

• Using different release mechanisms [ex: pneumatics]

Devanshi and Katherine: Defensive Robot

• With a kicker we have to be able to maneuver the robot and the ball so that we have a “clear” shot
• Conveyor belt drops ball in a “hole” in the canon where it would later be launched (maybe using pneumatics)
• Is it possible to store more balls? With a longer conveyor belt
• Pros: this is a good design in terms of the guiding
• Cons: lots of moving parts
• How is the pushing mechanism going to be strong enough?
• What will be the aiming mechanism? If this is a defensive robot, then it doesn’t matter. But we can potentially use it as an offensive robot and aim the canon by angling it
• Pneumatics: FIRST sets maximum pressure teams can use…
• Conveyor belt: smooth, rugged, etc?
• How does it get it off the ground, how fast will it get into the canon, how can we make sure the ball doesn’t roll off the conveyor belt?
• Combine rollers and canon to create shooting mechanism

Balancing Ideas: accelerometer, shifting weight
Aneesha, Caroline, Sarah, and Karina: Conveyor Belt

• Straight-up-and-down conveyor belt that can pick up balls and that can shoot them straight down into the first and second hoops, or bring it up to a catapult on the top to aim for all the other hoops (including the higher one that couldn’t be reached with just the conveyor belt!)
• Might get harder to bring it up to the top with the change in pressure (pressure?)
• How does it enter the conveyor belt? If we get it at the right height, it can just enter from the ground [Popular design in 2008]  
• We can use other types of material: if the two strings are widened then it can be more stable
• Outer strings with more tension can match the shape of the ball
• Think about the wall: would we create a piece of metal that would be V-shaped so that the ball would go in naturally and there would be no need to worry about direction/guiding it – also think about friction! If there is too much the ball will get jammed and stop moving…
• Can be both offensive and defensive…but would probably be better for offensive
• Two conveyor belts: one that picks up and loads (slower), one that shoots (faster)
• Think about angling the wall

Chloe, Yael, and Karina: Sweeping the ball in with brushes

• Change the brush (the current ones are flimsy!) and maybe use a pliable plastic (or rubber…)
• Lazy Susan @ the bottom = more power
• Think about curving the plastic
• Need to consider being able to change the direction of the sweeper in case a ball becomes jammed and stuck
• If the mechanism is simple, then we can have multiple ones on the robot
• Old lawnmower’s (lolwhat are those!?!?) curved piece of plastic

A few more things…

• Anna and Shifrah’s Tank Drive: might enable us to go over the ramp, stronger, more stable
• Getting on the ramp/bridge…tilt it with something (lead (sp?) screw to push down on the ramp -- someone needs to prototype this!!!)
• Not limited by wheel diameter with the tank design
• Able to push other robots really well, and other robots won’t be able to push us
• Lots of friction with the carpet surface
• Anna’s (leads’?) Chassis:
• Programming:
• Considering other balls being shot

We are having another design review tomorrow, so stay tuned for more info!

Lots of Prototyping

Almost a week into the season and we’re busy prototyping, connecting our computer to one of our previous robots, and creating a new website.

Today, we split into small groups again and focused on various projects.

 Nicki M., Yael, and Chloe worked on prototyping the device for collecting the basketballs, creating a design where two bent plastic pieces rotate and guide basketballs into the robot. 

Sarah, Austin, Dani, Katie, Yael, and Nicki M. worked on a more detailed prototype of the conveyor belt, using pool noodles duct-taped around metal rods, surgical tubing stretched between the two metal rods, and wood with holes drilled in it to put the metal rods into.  They also worked on prototyping the wall behind the conveyor belt, using two pieces of foam core connected with L-brackets to create a corner for the basketballs to move up. 

Alice and Aneesha worked on a prototype for the basketball shooter, while Claire worked on building a model of the robot with a tilted conveyor belt.  Anna researched tank treads; we’re still unsure about our drivetrain. Nina and Sara drew a potential robot design.  

In programming, Shifrah, Katherine, and Kylie succeeded in getting a robot to communicate with the computer!  

Becky and Carly worked on the new team website (coming soon!). 

To see more from Team 1700, watch the fiveawesomerobots' YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/fiveawesomerobots), follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.

Who Knew You Could Prototype with Swiffers and Chocolate Bar Wrappers?

The team is officially complete again and ready to get this season going!

Tonight, we started by splitting into small groups to brainstorm and prototype specific parts of the robot. One group worked on the kicker, another worked on a pick-up mechanism, more worked on shooters, and a few more prototyped barriers and blockers. Nicki M., Dani M., Chloe, Yael, and Caroline C. worked on pick-up prototypes. They began with an sort of conveyor belt using surgical tubing, but by the end of the night, they had progressed to a spinning windmill/Sadie spin-off pick-up model. They showed their creativity when they dismantled a Swiffer to use in their prototype! Devanshi and Samra worked on the idea of a cannon and trying to implement something similar, yet explosive-free, for a shooter. Katherine and Nickie P. worked on improving the kicker design and improving our defensive strategy with a net/blocker. Carly, Katie, and Caroline D. created a catapult out of legos that could serve as a passing mechanism or a shooter. Initially prototyping with a chocolate bar wrapper, Sarah R., Samra, Nickie P., and Aneesha worked on trying to block balls with a net, but also using gravity to catch and control the ball in the net, moving it through a funnel, and then passing it to teammates all from a stationary position.

Anna and Sarah R. discussed the ramp. It soon became clear that the ramp will spring back to zero degrees when there is no weight on it; however the material with which the ramp is coated is still a mystery...

Meanwhile, on the programming end, Kylie and Katherine were programming a target tracker (for those targets around the backboards).

If you'd like to see more from Team 1700, check out the five awesome robots youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/fiveawesomerobots), follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and keep checking back for more updates!

Welcome Back Juniors!

Today our Juniors returned! Welcome back!

We finished the barrier/threshold, but we were not able to attach any screws. We might want to reinforce it later. More people worked on cutting, gluing, and screwing parts of the balance bridge together.

In addition, some of us went down to the lower gym to test out the tennis ball pitching machine to see if it was viable as a shooting mechanism. We plan to test the basketball shooting machine as soon as we find Jez.

Down in the lab, Shifrah re-imaged the cRIO, Kylie worked on downloading robot test code, Ana used SolidWorks to modify the CAD of our robot, Sarah and Aneesha played with chain and masterLinks, and Nina and Katherine examined our 3-D accelerometers.

Near the end of the day, almost the whole team gathered on the circle to watch our off-season robot try to get over the barrier. It didn't work for a long time.

Also, remember to check the fiveawesomerobots youtube channel for team 1700's second video!

A Great Start to the Season

Today, members of Gatorbotics split into two groups in which one group would focus on building and the other on prototyping. The building group examined the instructions on planning to cut the plywood for the barrier/ the "threshold". The group made careful measurements and spent a good portion of the day learning how to cut the plywood gotten at Home Depot. After cutting, the group actually tackled the building part of the threshold, using the pieces. One main challenge when trying to attach different parts was to work with slightly uneven pieces since glue did not completely do the job. Clamps worked pretty effectively along with the glue and the building group hopes to complete the barrier by tomorrow. The prototyping group brainstormed ideas for the robot getting a ball to be shot into the hoops. This team thought a conveyer-belt mechanism might work but are still finetuning this idea. At the end of today's work period, the team agreed on goals to accomplish by this upcoming Tuesday and Friday:







Things to do by Tuesday (Jan 10th):
1) Build threshold/bump
2) Build hoops
3) Build Thing in front of hoops
4) Interface with Kinect
5) Working prototype of conveyor belt
6) Reimage cRIO
7) Figure out accelerometer

Things to do by Friday (Jan 13th):
1) CAD of Chassis
2) Laser cut electronics board
3) Buy a band saw and drill press

~ We also figured out the gameplan for the programming team:

Things for programming to do:

1) Hopper
go, stop, reverse
2) Balance
correct itself
3) Aiming
recognize target
lock
adjust power/angle
height feedback
4) Drivetrain (should be done soon)
tank drive

~ A quick reminder: Remember to read the rules/manual as soon as possible!

Kickoff 2012!

Today was the day we had all been waiting for! Kickoff 2012!

This year's challenge is called Rebound Rumble (the video can be seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzpoMzLMhcw ). It involves a basketball component and then teams can balance on three different ramps at the end of the match to get more points.

After reading the manual the first thing that we did was come up with a list of what we Must Have, Want to Have, and things that would be Cool But Not Necessary. Here is the list below:

Must Have

Drivetrain

Shooting or Dunking

Pick up balls from floor

Hold 3 balls

Angle/Height adjustment if we have a shooter or dunker

CAD of the robot

Want to Have

Short length (to make it easier to put three robots on one ramp)

Drive over bump (maybe pneumatic tires?)

Tipper for bump

Kinect, targeting hoops (aiming)

Computer controlled shooter

Low to ground

Get balls to driver side

Defense

Shoot quickly

Parking break

Cool but not necessary

Pretty (powder coating)

Flying

Bball jerseys

We then came up with the following list of strategies:

Distraction

Blocking

Short

Be the last person on the ramp

Passing/Kicker

Fast

High Torque drive train

Balance

Automated Shooting

Dunking

Attach to other robots

Look at FTC from last year and robots from 1717 and 254 from 2009

Communicate with opposite alliances

Accelerometer for feedback on balance

We then broke into groups to brainstorm specific ideas for the robot. Tomorrow we are going to get the materials for the game pieces and start building them. Good luck to all of the teams!

Fall 2011 Update

Happy New Year! Though it is already 2012 and the build season is coming up we are excited to share the progress that we made on our off season project. This fall we decided to try and design a two speed transmission that we could potentially use for future robots. The project is essentially divided into three parts: gearbox, programming and the chassis.

Programming

The transmission code we wrote is broken up into two classes: one for driving and one for changing gears. In the drive class, we use a simple tank drive with four motors (two for each side) and two joysticks. To change gears, a pneumatic system opens and closes a solenoid when a button is pressed. "Open" represents one speed while "closed" signifies the other. If you would like to see a copy of the code feel free to leave a comment with an email for us to send it to you or you can email us at castilleja.robotics@gmail.com

Gearbox

We decided to create a two-speed transmission as an off-season project this year. The transmission should allow us to drive at two different speeds (we aimed for around 7 and 15 ft/sec) with full power. With the drivetrains we used in the past, our robot could move at different speeds, but it involved reducing the power. Having a transmission means we can have a setting for high speed and low torque for times when speed is important, and another with low speed and high torque (torque and speed are inversely related) that would be easier to control and would be able to push more strongly. As the CAD drawings show, we calculated the gear ratios in the two situations (you can email or comment again for these specific values, but while writing this post I can't seem to find them). We also have a pneumatic actuator that slides the middle set of gears back and forth between the two sets of gears on the side to create the right gear ratios.

For this process we first started by determining the number of teeth that we would want on each of the gears. Then we modeled the system in SolidWorks. We were then able to use our new laser cutter to make a prototype out of acrylic. While this prototype was not especially sturdy and could not be useful for the final product, it was useful to see what the system would look like. If we continue to pursue a transmission during the season we will continue to refine this design.

Below are the pictures of the acrylic prototype.

Chassis

The chassis that we modeled in the fall is slightly different from what we have used in previous years. We decided to narrow the chassis so that we could put supports for the bumpers. With this new design we could easily modify the height of the bumpers depending on the rules for the challenge.

The second modification was that we made was to have a piece of sheet metal (or potentially another material) for the base. We could store the electronics board here, and in the current CAD the location of the battery mount is included as well.

In this design the wheels would also be mounted so that they are visible from the outside, and supported on one side. This is a six-wheel drive set-up, and we have not yet figured out the details of the how the chassis would work with the transmission system.

Here is the CAD that we have made.

That is it for now. If you have any other questions or feedback feel free to comment! We are excited for kick-off tomorrow.

PS Make sure to check out the Five Awesome Robots project that we started at youtube.com/fiveawesomerobots

BAGGED AND TAGGED

(in Shelbyville)...

Thanks everyone-- students, parents, and mentors-- for a wonderful build season! Watch the blog as we add videos and pictures in the coming days!

Functioning Robots and Double Dream Hands

Today was a great day! After a great relaxation session drinking pearl tea and watching The Office we were all ready to get to work. Some team members went to IDEO to pick up the parts of the arm and the programming go to work wiring up the chassis. Caroline, Gadre, and Katie led the bumper making, and they are almost done! The bumpers look beautiful (We went with reversible ones and got numbers printed on the fabric. Other team members worked on modifying last year's cart to work for this year's robot. I believe they are also looking into adding some storage areas for batteries, gloves and other things to the cart.

We also found out yesterday that SVR is actually a bag and tag event for us. This means that instead of shipping the robot on Tuesday we will actually put it in a giant plastic bag and keep it at at school until the competition. We aren't allowed to open it except for a total of six hours the week before SVR, which is great because it means that we will be able to get in a little extra practice.

But the best part about today was that we got the robot up and running! We only have the motors for the drivetrain set up, but the first time we tested the code we were driving! And to make it even better this was all wireless! We had to do a little bit of fine tuning to get some things worked out, but we are making great progress.

Hopefully we will be able to finish a majority of the robot tomorrow so that we can attend the practice matches at NASA.

This will be a busy weekend, but we are off to a great start! Also, check out the new pictures added to the Picasa.

PS. The title of the video gives a hint to a little something special we have been up to...

Hope everyone got their homework done today!

because most of the team took the Sunday off to finish it...which sounds like a smart decision in hindsight because I do have quite a lot left to finish tonight. Whoops! On the other hand, programming did get stuff done (Shifrah, Katherine, and mentors Stephen and Emma). We added to the autonomous code so that the arm goes up once the robot reaches the Twor (the robot would know that it reached the T by using the line tracker/ light sensor provided in the KoP). Afterward, we tried to get the ultrasonic sensor working in the case that the robot does not have space to extend the arm upwards when positioned at the T; the ultrasonic sensor would basically tell us when the robot was far too close to the wall for comfort, and therefore tell the us when the robot should back up a bit. Unfortunately, the ultrasonic sensor did not work properly as it kept spitting out 0.0 as the distance to the nearest object. After we Chief Delphi'ed the problem, we realized that the Parallax brand sensor didn't interface with FRC code as easily as some other sensors from different brands. (Time for another shopping trip!)

Then we had a lunch break...Unlike Saturday's conversation on genetic cloning (Victoria: "So should we have a philosophical discussion on cloning?"), it was more AWAH, "would you rather," and showing off gymnastic, juggling, and Rubik's Cube talents (apparently, Emma keeps a Rubik's Cube in her purse for those pesky traffic jams).

After lunch, we brought all the files from the various laptops together on Silverado and tried to make sense of the Gyro values. At first, the Gyro kept spitting out multiples of 7 for each timestep, even when the gyro was left alone. However, some Chief Delphi'ing allowed us to realize that leaving the Gyro still when it is first enabled allows it to calibrate itself, and so after leaving it be for a couple of seconds, it was a little more accurate. As far as we know, the gyro is kind of accurate. Meh.

Summary of what has been finished: first draft code for driving (plans to add PID if the robot does not strafe smoothly); first draft code for lifting or lowering parts of the arm to specific heights and manual override control of these arm parts; first draft code for having the robot follow the line until the T ...First drafts because none of this code has been loaded onto the actual robot...But it will soon...like couple of days soon! Great job everyone! :)

33.33% To Go!

Incredibly, we only have one third of the build season left! Today we made quite a bit of progress.

The minibot group worked more on their two-wheeled prototype and began working on a stabilization wheel to keep it on the pole. We're planning to run it tomorrow.

Caroline worked on the deployment of the minibot by researching racks and pinions along with drawer slides. We also made the deployment system in CAD to add to our robot model.

Others designed an aligning device for our robot to make sure it is perfectly centered on the pole and is the right distance from the center. It will most likely consist of a piece of sheet metal cut in a semicircle to complement the shape of the base of the pole and will be deployed by servos.

Programming worked on gripper code and encoders for the different positions of the arm. They discussed how best to control the robot and decided that an override of the gripper arm would be beneficial. They also made a pretty button board for the set heights of the arm but are planning on making a simple joystick version first before getting too complicated just so we have something to fall back on.

Two weeks left everyone, let's keep up the enthusiasm and great work!

~Annie, Build Lead

Getting a little stressed...

Today we found out some bad news that all of the BaneBots orders are backed up by at least 10 days. This means that it is likely we may not even get the motors by the ship day, which makes us very stressed since we were relying on these to power the arm. Currently we are looking for alternatives which would be

• planetary from AndyMark (they are behind on shipping, but it would work)
• lead screw (we wouldn't need to use a BaneBots motor for this, but it would take more space on the bottom of the robot)
• hope that they let us use a CIM motor since many teams are having difficulty from this backup and bad weather
• maybe use a drill gearbox... or try to make something on our own

If you have any ideas or solutions, let us know in the comments!

Yesterday we thought that we broke one of the motors, because it started smelling really bad and wouldn't run. We probably did do something wrong to make it smell that bad, but once the battery was charged it worked again. So either it healed or we just didn't check that it was charged....

Minibot has been making progress on deployment and design, we have had some difficulties with the parts and getting the materials to connect the gears the way that we want to but we are making progress.

Programming has been making lots of progress! They discussed various electronic parts that are related to the robot.

So close, yet so far...

Today marks the end of week 3, beginning of week 4. Time is running out!

However, this week we've made a lot of progress. In programming, after the wireless on Silverado was turned off properly, it finally communicated with the cRIO. After testing for buttons and axis for the wheel and the videogame controller, the programmer pairs revised their code. Luckily, all sets of code managed to move the wheels! However, since the wheels are not mounted on anything, the team cannot yet determine whether or not their code will maneuver the robot as they want.

On the build side, we completed the CAD for the "final" prototype of the robot. We've decided on the lifter mechanism to be the four bar linkage (we threw out the scissor lift idea for good because of the difficulty in making it... and we want Jimmy to stay with us ^^;), and now we're just waiting for the omni wheels to arrive to finish up the real chassis. However, what we're not sure on just yet is the gripper and the mini-bot deployment system.

For the gripper, Stephen advised us to actually make a gripper to test with - a prototype that is much closer to the real thing than blocks of wood nailed together and wheels connected with duct tape (not that duct tape is not a good tool...) and so that is the direction we're planning on going. As for the deployment system, we met after the meeting today to talk about ideas. Some ideas included a sliding-drawer system, an extending scissor-arm, and a "catapult." There was also the talk of accuracy, and in having a semi-circle guide extend from the robot to help align it perfectly every time. Our focused has really moved to the deployment system so that we can complete the robot quicker. While the robot has to be finished in three weeks, the mini-bot can be completed after the ship date, so we're putting emphasis on the robot itself. We will then base the structure of the mini-bot with the most efficient deployment mechanism that we think of.

Oh, and on the topic of the mini-bot, we've been working with three main ideas in terms of attaching the robot to the pole: magnetism, securing it completely around the pole via hinge, and forcing the wheels around it. The prototypes are still being worked on, and we bought two strong magnets to help. However, we seem to be lacking some tetrix components, and the Lego pieces, while handy, are not optimal in seeing how the real mini-bot will behave. Still, we're getting somewhere, and I'm excited to see where we end up!

Til next time!

~Tobi - the random senior

PS - A team 1700 music video? To be continued...

Silverado is acting up

Today, we talked to Jimmy a lot about the tower and getting the height and we decided to use the four-bar linkage. We also discussed gripper designs and we don't need chain, the surgical tubing should be enough to power the front and back wheels. For the mini-bot, we are looking at using magnets (we tried some strong ones!). We kept prototyping minibots and minibot deployment, but we are still waiting for motor hubs to come so we can use the tetrix pieces for testing.

Programming tried to get the netbook, Silverado, to download code but it kept connecting to wireless networks and making an automatic ip configuration so it didn't work. They got mimi to test the getDegree method for the joystick which Carly and Katherine's code used. It turned out that it went from 0 to 180 and 0 to -179 (basically it wasn't like a unit circle).

Most of the team is out tonight either at the Middle School Musical, Annie, or FOMF (Friends of Millard Fillmore Trivia Hunt), so we had a low key evening with delicious Indian food.

The Animation team was working a wheel hub and they are having a sleepover to watch an early morning webcast tomorrow!

January 25

WEEK 3

CHASSIS: We gave the chassis metal to our mentor Jimmy.

ARM: We are deciding between a four bar linkage and a scissor lift.

CLAW: Finalized basic claw design involving surgical tubing and wheels

MINIBOT: Prototyping design and deployment, perhaps using drawer slides

PROGRAMMING: Programming drivetrain and discussing controller designs

ANIMATION: Still working, still frustrating, but making progress.

Please comment if your team was missed.

Tuesday, 1/25/11

Yesterday, Jimmy said that our scissor lift would take a lot of machining and work, so we reconsidered the four-bar linkage. A group made the dimensions for the four-bar linkage so we can put it into CAD.

One minibot group learned how to solder and wired a light switch, while another worked on the “sliding drawer” idea for deployment.

Animation continued as usual, and some Animation people watched tutorial videos.

Programming was planning to hook up Will-Da-Beast, last year's robot, and drive him, but Mimi the Classmate got the flu (a virus!) and we now have to re-image Mimi and we’re making a back-up computer as well.

A shout-out to our readers in the Netherlands!

-Carly

You know you're on Team 1700 when...

1. You're a girl (unless you are a mentor, in which case you may be a boy)

2. You have seen "Baby Monkey Riding Backwards on a Pig"

3. You eat over half of your meals at Castilleja

4. Spending 12 hours of your day at school is normal

5. When someone says Free Willy, Shamu, Moby Dick, or Physeter, you think of pneumatic actuators. And you know to which one she is referring...

6. "Can you get me a bag of chips?" really means "can you throw food over the wall for me?"

7. The only time you see boys is at robotics competitions...

Add more in the comments!

Thursday (Happy Birthday Stephen and Gadre!)

This week has been full of birthdays! After we ate the wonderful pizza from our sponsor Il Fornaio we were treated to some delicious coffee ice cream cake in honor of Holly, Stephen and Gadre's Birthdays!

Then we went to visit the robot skeletons from past years (2007, 2008 and 2009). We talked about the different motors and looked at the way in which each of the components was controlled or actuated. We wanted to do this to make sure that people started thinking about the stages in between prototyping and the final robot design. Hopefully we can start to think more specifically about the implementation of our designs.

When we returned to the lab and split up into 5 different groups (2 for gripper designs, 1 minibot group, animation and some programming). I believe Mimi is all set up and ready to go so programming is going to start working on and thinking about the drive code for our new drivetrain. We ordered 4" omni wheels and the proper sprockets today, and we are hoping to get started on the chassis sometime next week. One of the gripper groups talked about using surgical tubing instead of rollers. A few advantages may be that the tubing could be in contact with the tubes the entire time, and we could likely add them in addition to the rollers. However, we still need to explore this idea a little more. The Minibot group discussed some new TOP SECRET ideas, which we will explore. I can't say anything except that our Minibot will follow all of the rules and will be named Mulan. (The reasoning for this name is the famous scene in the movie when she climbs the pole http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTqIsB98a1E.) We have also decided that the main robot, or hostbot, is a girl, but we can't name her until we see the final robot (or at least the CAD version of it). Also, a group of perspective parents and students dropped by the robotics lab, so we talked to them briefly about what FIRST is and the competition for this year.

We are meeting again tomorrow the usual 5:30-8 and this weekend we will be meeting on Saturday (10-4).

And We Skip to Wednesday (Holly's Birthday)!

After singing Holly a happy birthday; eating lasagna, salad, and overly processed foods (Cheetos and the like-- my bad, Global Week); and greeting our mentors (Jimmy, Jessa, Holly, and Santhi), we began a group discussion. As we went over the pro and con chart for the gripper design that Tobi, Nina, Aneesha, Victoria, and Devanshi prepared yesterday, the team was conflicted about the gripper design on several points. Jimmy raised the concern that it would be important to pick deflated tubes off of the ground; some team members followed up on this concern by citing that some of our current designs do not allow for the release of the tube onto a peg in the case that the tube deflates while in our robot's grip. Meanwhile, other team members pointed out that with 18 tubes per team, it would be most practical to avoid deflated tubes-- designing the gripper around the off-chance of ourselves deflating a tube would be unnecessary and complicated. Another point of uncertainty was whether or not the gripper would be a claw.

What did all this confusion mean? More prototyping, of course! A group led by Annie "made a V-shaped gripper that is an inanimate spring-loaded thing with two large wheels with the sticky stuff and foam that fits to the shape of the various tubes." Tobi also made a mechanism that would allow the gripper to rotate.

Meanwhile, Sarah, Anna, Shifrah, and mentors Holly and Santhi worked on the minibot. After opening the Tetrix box, they talked about new designs based off of the previous Lego design. They also tested the Tetrix motors and put the wheels together.

All the while, the programming team sat down and listened to mentor Jessa explain threads and synchronization (notes will be uploaded to the website shortly!). Afterward, they downloaded Netbeans and the FRC plug-ins; they then looked at the WPI Robotics Library, "the set of Java classes that interfaces to the hardware in the FRC control system and the robot" and the Calgames code.

And just for reference, here is the time line for the next few weeks:

1/16-1/22: Design Week

1/23-1/29: Design Week

1/30-2/5: Build Week

2/6-2/12: Programming Week

2/13-2/19: Test Week

2/20-2/22: Ship Week

Let's hope that we can follow it!

Also, if anyone has the pro and con chart typed up, post it so that we can document our thought process, yeah?

A Special Movie Event!

A Lego prototype of a four-bar linkage mechanism. Note how the claw can store itself inside of the robot's perimeter. Of course, we're not planning to throw inner tubes during competition, but you never know!