The Shop

I don't know if anyone is actually reading this right now, but if you are:
What do you think of putting some shelving in the shop? Like, some actual robotics shelving, it might just be a shelf under the table in the back, but we could put, for example, the stuff currently in the corner of the project room down there and free up some space. I think it would be fine down there, we'd just have to make it clear that other people shouldn't touch it.
If there's no room for actual shelving, we might just clear a shelf on that rack by the back door and mark it "Robotics," put the long pieces up there, and store the smaller stuff under the table.


Kersten

Maker Faire Blog Entry

Check out my blog entry on our trip to the Maker Faire here: Maker Faire Blog

Who was there? Kersten, George, Beth, Em, Eric, Debbie, Ryan, Ryan's friend, and possibly Chrissy and Heidi on Sunday?

This lightbulb / egg plotter is one of many cool things we saw!

Where are our bumpers?

Does anyone know?
They're the green ones. They're kindof important. We kindof need them in order to make new and better ones. Yeah. Get back to me on this.

ps- kudos to you who are reading the blog.

general update: packing (oh boy!)

-we're taking our big metal shelving unit (yes, we found the black plastic pieces)
-we've put together three wheels from IFI robotics and they're a tiny bit lighter than our old wheels!!!
-chrissy and sophia will make bumpers
-i think we're meeting everyday this week (mon-fri) after school until about 4:30 or 4:45 (as usual).
-kersten essentially declared herself our resident packing expert, so chrissy and i have decided to let her do everything (ha ha!)

boxes

so you know the two semi-translucent boxes with screws and bolts and such in them- one labelled machine screws, the other wood screws? I think we took them to SVR, but I'm pretty sure they weren't at Portland, and I'm wondering if we actually need them. Does anyone have a reason for why we should take them? Because they're heavy and we already have most (if not all) of the stuff we know we need in other boxes.
Also, I'm thinking we just wrap a lot of tape around the boxes to keep them from coming open (in addition to using the little holes for zip tying them closed), but does anyone have doubts about that? Because I can try to contact 114 and ask how they secured their stuff to Portland in the boxes, cuz that seemed to work.
We've got two boxes packed and (according to J Rock's unreliable scales) under the 50 (or is it 55?) lb weight limit, and looks like we can fit the rest of the stuff in the remaining three boxes fine. I hope nobody minds that we have some chunks of noodle in the bins, because we're too cheap to get actual bubble wrap. Since most of the stuff from the bins will be moved to the shelves, I figure storage for the noodles shouldn't be a problem in the pit.
If anyone is reading this, how about you give me a call and tell me if you can meet on Sunday (bear in mind that it's Easter for some of you). I think I might be able to, if I get my homework done.
Kudos to all the people who did cool stuff over break.

Kersten

Because 18 comments doesn't need one more

Hey! Has anyone by any chance seen the black pieces to hold up those nice, shiny, metal shelves? Also, have you guys seen any loose allenwrenches anywhere?
Thanks!


-the Dungeon Master
P.S. Yeah, I know I sent most people an email about this, but a U.R.L. told me to blog it as well.

Atlanta

So the championship is april 27-29.
I was just thinking about stuff we need to get done (because you guys wouldn't let me start a list last night), and here's a preliminary list:
-pack tools and parts
-buy parts (like more zip ties. Unless we still have the billions that people gave to us)
-make a mobile pit, which we will actually need in Atlanta
-take more batteries
-repair our current bumpers
-make more bumpers (preferably better designed...)
-figure out how to attach bumpers (preferably some method that does not require zip ties, cool as they are)
-figure out how to tension our chain (also preferably some method that does not involve zip ties, because it means replacing them after every round)
-figure out what to do about our HUGE chassis rail bending/crooked wheel problem. We now only have two chassis rails that we can use from Thor, and as we now know, just replacing the ones on Rosie doesn't actually work. Unless maybe we try replacing the inside ones.....? We can discuss this.
-wash our gatorbotics shirts, because I'm sure they all smell.
-What else?

Yay, everybody, we're going to Nationals!!!!!!!!

Kersten

CG

Anyone who is thinking about how we might lower our CG:
Kersten's mother kindly reminded us that we can add 15lbs in bumpers to the base of our robot...!

List from Chrissy/Kersten

To do before SVR:

-Make bumpers (Saturday, time TBD)
-Figure out if/how we're going to remodel our robot
-Tell people to bring the goggles they were given
-Advertise SVR to school
-Figure out what's going on each shelf
-Label shelves
-Velcro a power strip to shelf
-Take apart shelves
-Colaborate with the electronics team (what needs to be brought?)
-Put black shelves in car, to bring into pit only if necessary


To buy before SVR:
-green electrical tape
-black electrical tape
-bungy chords
-red locktite
-blue locktite

Tuesday

Hey guys!
So if you take a look at the project room, well, it's an organized mess. We unpacked everything and had to go before we could relocate most of it into the boxes or tool chests. On the plus side, though, we have a mostly comprehensive first draft of a packing list of stuff to take to SVR (having inventoried what we unpacked from Portland). We also learned some more about shipping heavy things in plastic containers. What a 'learning experience' this has been. Yay.
See everyone tomorrow at the lunch meeting!

Kersten

not finished yet...

hookay, so...

PLEASE COME HELP KERSTENS MOM UNPACK TODAY! SHE IS COMING AT 3:30 AND NEEDS HELP MOVING BUNCHES OF SUITCASES UP THE STAIRS AND UNPACKING THEM

THANK YOU!

Portland regionals

Without help from our mentors for the first two days, we successfully managed to repair all problems that came up including the chain falling off and turret comming loose. Thank you to all our wonderful mentors who taught us the skills to be able to fix these daunting problems!

Acidicly, we ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i would just like to offer up thanks to everyone who helped us...yay!!!

kersten? is the digging machine party on? who do i talk to about that?

BUILD_ WE ARE NOT FINISHED, THIS WEEK WE NEED TO MAKE THE BUMPERS AND GET TOGETHER WHAT WE ARE GOING TO TAKE WITH US TO PORTLAND. AND NO, WE CANT TAKE EVERYTHING. WHEN WOULD PEOPLE LIKE TO MEET THIS WEEK? PERHAPS FRIDAY OR SATURDAY? OR IF WE END UP HAVING A PARTY, THAT COULD POSSIBLY INCLUED THE MAKING OF BUMPERS, (WHICH ARE NOT THAT COMPLICATED TO MAKE)
ON THAT SAME NOTE, DOES ANYONE HAVE 6 POOL NOODLES THAT WE COULD HAVE?

Under the hood

Sophia, under the hood, re-soldering the connections to the potentiometer - worth its price in gold to see. Today has been a really amazing day. We spent the better part of the morning until early evening at IDEO and a certain office van dweller named Sven helped us transport Rosie back to Castilleja.

I'm overwhelmed and amazed by the generosity of so many people - Jim Feuhrer for stepping up this week pulling through a full seven days of midnight departures to build the hopper and the ramp, rebuild the turret plate, and mount multiple sensors, George Schnurle for coming by to give moral support and good humor even though his daughter is 3000 miles away, Doug Bourn for somehow managing to find time to come by even though he is up against an even tighter and tougher deadline at Tesla Motors, Eric Macintosh for some serious coding prowress, Bud Delisle for being there for the girls, Chris Countryman for animation advice and helping me in my braindead state to implement an RC switch debounce, George Aye for coming ALL the way from Chicago to offer his rendering expertise to Shirin, Beth Schnurle, Debbie Hara, and Heidi Crone for their undying wisdom, encouragement and support, and of course, David Berger for the famous quiche that keeps me coming back for more.

The Castilleja gymnasium is officially taken over by robotics for the next 48 hours. I think Rosie can go up against any basketball player. The kiddos brought a couch into the gym - they are all becoming serious couch potato roboticists.

This is a huge accomplishment for the team this year. We went from Thor, a robot with five motors and no sensors and no autonomous code last year to Rosie, a robot that has eight motors, three complicated sensors with interrupt code, and some sort of autonomous behavior to be yet determined. Still going with another 60 hours left. I'm really amazed that this team pulled it off. Even if Rosie is still in its infancy in terms of intelligence, she'll do some serious damage on the field . . . . ;)

Extreme weight loss program worked! Jimmy and Bud and the gang took out all sorts of stuff - motor sprocket got taken down to half the weight, all the dead weight was removed, the transmissions were pulled out and the gears were pocketed, the 80-20 frame struts were removed (and still quite stable), the metal plate underneath the electronics box was cut down, the chain tensioners replaced by half links, chester turned into a leaner meaner metal plate . . . that's an entire 20 lbs gone!

9:30 pm Chrissy and I hooked both the launching motors and the gate motor up to a battery and successfully launched two balls in succession. Definitely a jumping up and down moment!!

One ounce at a time.

Jimmy and Bud can't help themselves. Both lathes whirring, 1 ounce at a time, they are determined to get the robot in shape. Everything that can be turned down in diameter is getting turned down . . . sprockets, gears, everthing.

20 lbs = 320 ounces. One ounce at a time.

Not my idea, but I was working on the mill and it was really a kodak moment see both Jimmy and Bud work on the lathe at the same time for the same cause. The two of them are on a crusade now.

24 hour Hollywood Diet

our robot is fat
i'm thinking south beach, or maybe slim-fast, 24 hour hollywood diet, perhaps the grapefruit or juicing diet, atkins, low-carb, low-fat, low-calorie, low sugar diet?

think light thoughts
think helium
think how we can lose 20 pounds

we'll make a fortune, "lose 20 pounds in under a week!"

for referance, 20 pounds is 2 batteries.

what could we cut holes in? what can we remove? what can we do without?

sleep on it, keep it in the back of your mind, and tomorrow we'll get something done.

IDEO 11:30 pm Valentines Day

Jimmy just went home. Just wanted to post these two important photographs.

1. Jimmy, in all his kindness and generosity, couldn't put up with a direct drive motor, so after a quick mad race to find v-belt pulleys and a v-belt, we had something running by 11 pm tonight at IDEO. It is geared down by a factor of four, which means when you run the motor at maximum efficiency right now (approximately 6v), you get a really beautiful smooth motion.

2. We had to clean up the shop. It is becoming a bit of a problem here with the amount of room we are taking up. I also erased everything off the whiteboard so I've attached a photograph for programming above, just in case you need your pinout information. Eric McIntosh and Doug have been a great help getting the indexing system working with the interrupt.

It's been a tough tough week. Remember that although you can stay up late and have fun in your teens, us old and crotchety mentors don't last too many 11 pm days in a row.

I am going home now so I can sort of do my part on my real job.

- Emily

I love you all

Regardless of how things turn out, and how robotics goes, I want to let you know, especially on this special day, that you are all fantastic individuals. It has been my privilege and honor to get to know you. Working in teams is a really really hard thing - there are multiple areas of academia that study teamwork alone. Sometimes it is really hard to work with our best friends. Sometimes our best workmates are not our best playmates. Working together requires a very different type of respect for each other than playing together. When you are on a team, like a soccer team, you want to know that when you kick the ball to someone, that they will be there for you to receive your ball. You kick the ball to people who you know will move your team towards the goal. Sometimes, your best friend isn't the best person to kick the ball to even though you can count on her to help mend your broken heart or cheer you up on a cloudy day.

To this day, I remember and regret losing a few great friendships because we didn't get along as a team on a project. It takes maturity and openmindedness to look beyond a tough and challenging experience to maintain a friendship through the trials and tribulations of team work.

In the end, even if we don't have a robot that is working, we have a friendship that we can cherish. Happy Valentines Day Gatorbotics!

A plea from programing

We need to get sensors up and runing as fast as possible. Programing has done their part: The code is mostly up and running. Unfortunately, before they can debug they need a platform to run things on. If you have any hope of autonomous, you need to get the GTS mounted. I know this is no easy task (it needs to be under 1.5-2mm from the gear, but please, don't let all the wonderful coding go to waste. Also, if you have anything else you want programmed, you need to let programing know ASAP.
Thanks!