Chassis Prototype Idea 1: Flippin Tank Drive
Wilson worked on prototyping a tank drive chassis with Tetrix tank treads and urethane flippers for traction. He did a preliminary test in the morning after completing one side of the flippers and it seemed to work well, so he continued with the second side.
At the end of the day, Wilson did a final tank drive test with both sides of the flippers. He found that getting up the very first part of the ramp is hard because there is no traction. The flipper design was a 1/3 success because it fell apart at places and it wasn’t too great at moving.
The idea for the flippers is that they will support the robot on the ground as well as let the robot climb the mountain. The mountain is proving to be tricky to climb, however, because the angle change from ground level to the angle of the mountain is large.
Close up View of Flippin Tank Drive.
Wilson Woring On The Field With Flippin Tank Drive.
hassis Prototype Idea 2: Sled Mechanism
Armon and Peter worked on a sled design. This idea will help us go down the ramp faster. The sled will work by having two PVC pipes on the sides of the robot be able to come down to act as sled runners to get us back to the floor of the field.
Armon and Peter haven’t finished the sled prototype yet, and they are gonna continue to work on it throughout this coming week.
Armon Working On The Sled Chassis.
Backlog work
We worked on getting our backlog system up and running. We started writing tasks that we wanted to start working on soon, as well as tasks that were currently in progress. We have different colored slips of paper for each team’s tasks. This year, we want to be able to move tasks along the backlog depending on how close we are to completion.
Our team’s paper color is orange.
Our New Colorful Backlog.
Mill instructions
Shanti and Samin continued to learn how to use the mill. Gerald gave them a lesson for about an hour to make sure they know how to use the mill safely. They practiced by milling a new bracket for a servo.
Our new machining room is a great place for safe machining work.
Samin and Shanti Learning The Ways of The Mill.
Setting up New Field (Res-Q)
Maddy worked on putting the Res-Q field together. One of the mountains is mostly put together so far. This field proved to be sort of hard to put together, so we will continue it throughout this week.
In our new room, we can have a permanent field set up! In previous years in our old room, we had to set up the field at the beginning of practice if we wanted to use it and then take it down at the end. This took a lot of time out of our practice. This field would have been very hard to move every practice, and so it is great we can have it set up permanently!
Having the Res-Q field set up soon will also allow us to do great prototype testing like we did today!
Setting up The New Field.
Setting up The New Field.
Fan Mechanism
Isaac continued to work on his ball blowing fan mechanism. The gear ratio was increased by 400%, and he upgraded to a more powerful AndyMark motor. It was much more effective, and all the balls were blown out of the cube cluster at a distance of approximately two feet.
This design will be helpful because we plan to only collect cubes for this game because it is a more efficient scoring item (more can fit in each bin).
Next practice, Isaac hopes to make the mechanism more concentrated by having the fan blow through the tube so balls in front of the robot move out of the way. He will also be CADing this design.
Isaac Continues Work On The Fan.
Tread Research
Santi researched tank treads that we could use for our robot. In her research, she requested a quote from a company that sells tread belts.
High Clearance Chassis
Samin worked on a chassis that had high clearance that was meant to be able to go over debri on the field. This chassis had large wheels that were supposed to go up the mountain as well. This design ended up not working because the wheels were not big enough to go up the mountain. Samin wasn’t able to finish it today, but he does not plan to finish this prototype because it proved not to work.
Flipper Code
AJ worked on various club level things. He wrote some prototype code for Wilson’s flipper design.
AJ also worked writing some code goals in the backlog. The coders discussed what their priorities were, and how long they thought tasks would take.
AJ Coding a Basic OPMode for Wilson.
Android phone camera
Matt worked on programming a test application that could retrieve an image from the camera of the Android phone. He is now working on using it to detect what position the button is in.
Project Design and Backlog Presentation
Duncan’s dad came in to help us with our backlog setup. He is a product manager, so he gave a presentation how to use the backlog while in the design process. Duncan’s father also worked with Maddy to help her set up the field.
Duncan’s Dad Presenting To Us.
Safety Presentation and Information
Gerald gave a safety presentation today regarding the mill, saws, and cutting tools we have. In his presentation, Gerald talked about the importance of not having loose clothing and tying hair back. He also gave some rules for using the room which will help to keep us safe while using these tools to make specialized parts.
Gerald Presenting on Saftey.