Friday, February 14, 2014
1/21/2014 Day 17: A Breather
Today was the break after the marathon day, and consisted of mostly using it as a break and seeing if any teams created anything that may be useful to learn from. As a whole, most of the videos of team's shooters were just so-so, and mostly consisted of teams making shots from ranges between 9' and 14', but Team 842 (Falcon Robotics from Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix, Arizona) did release a video showing off a 10 second cycle and consistent shot from the same distance, which definitely changes strategy up quite a bit. This would mean they could score nearly 150 points on their own, which is more than 5 full 2-robot cycles. Judging from the video, a lot of previous strategy discussions will start becoming useless, and a lot of defensive strategies will most likely start forming.
1/20/2014 Day 16: Success!!! (again) and Affirmation for MLKJ Day
Today was the first of several weekdays of school missed by the team, but today is due to a holiday rather than a competition or lack of sleep. As the first marathon day (what most robotics kids call a holiday during build season) of the marathon of a build season, a lot was done and, as the title suggests, affirmation of concepts, as well as pleasant surprises.
Shooter Assembly
As the shooter was the main mechanism for scoring and getting points in general for this game, the shooter was worked on heavily today, with a positive outcome. After taking out the pistons, we put on the crude version of the tower (a large thing that sticks out the back to hold the surgical tubing) we made earlier, and started lacing the surgical tubing in loops around the top piece of conduit at the top of the tower and the catapult.
Also, we finally finished the winch (something that can drive something one way, but be loose when the direction of travel is reversed) (kinda like a motor attached to a ratchet). For the winch, we just used one of our two-speed gearboxes from last year, and took out a gear, so its two motions are forward and neutral. The gearbox has an axle in it that acts as a spool, and there is a strap attaching the axle to the catapult, so when the axle turns, it wraps the strap, again, similar to what a spool does with thread, pulling down the catapult and stretching the surgical tubing in the process. For today, we had the winch be driven by only one CIM motor, which is different, as we plan on using two Mini CIM motors (two mini CIMs has 30% more power than one CIM). Although we had less power, the winch didn't have much trouble with pulling back the catapult and latching it.
As for the shooter performance itself, the shooter had enough power to accomplish what we needed, with a straight-on view of the robot shooting here, and a video of its best shot here. The average shot (as it says in on the page with the video) was similar to the video, at 13.5' high and 33' away, which was fairly high, but solid distance. After changing the angle by elevating the back, we were able to shoot the ball nearly 40'. Even though this was fairly successful, we definitely could add more surgical tubing to increase power.
(For grins and giggles, we also shot the 2012 game piece, the foam basketball, which has a radius one-third of the big ball. Makes for one impressive shot, and that video can be found here.)
This prototype showed us the surgical tubing concept was definitely the way to go in terms of types of catapults/shooters, at it was just a matter of beginning to move into the detailed design process finally for the shooter.
Intake
Since most of the day was taken working on the shooter, the intake side rollers were only partially designed today, in terms of their position and their mounting. Other than that, not much else happened, since the shooter was the big event today.
Drive Base
Similar to what happened with the intake today, not much really happened for the drive base, since everyone was outside socializing and watching the shooter, although the new kit of parts drive train should be coming reasonably soon.
Approximate times of working: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Shooter Assembly
As the shooter was the main mechanism for scoring and getting points in general for this game, the shooter was worked on heavily today, with a positive outcome. After taking out the pistons, we put on the crude version of the tower (a large thing that sticks out the back to hold the surgical tubing) we made earlier, and started lacing the surgical tubing in loops around the top piece of conduit at the top of the tower and the catapult.
Also, we finally finished the winch (something that can drive something one way, but be loose when the direction of travel is reversed) (kinda like a motor attached to a ratchet). For the winch, we just used one of our two-speed gearboxes from last year, and took out a gear, so its two motions are forward and neutral. The gearbox has an axle in it that acts as a spool, and there is a strap attaching the axle to the catapult, so when the axle turns, it wraps the strap, again, similar to what a spool does with thread, pulling down the catapult and stretching the surgical tubing in the process. For today, we had the winch be driven by only one CIM motor, which is different, as we plan on using two Mini CIM motors (two mini CIMs has 30% more power than one CIM). Although we had less power, the winch didn't have much trouble with pulling back the catapult and latching it.
As for the shooter performance itself, the shooter had enough power to accomplish what we needed, with a straight-on view of the robot shooting here, and a video of its best shot here. The average shot (as it says in on the page with the video) was similar to the video, at 13.5' high and 33' away, which was fairly high, but solid distance. After changing the angle by elevating the back, we were able to shoot the ball nearly 40'. Even though this was fairly successful, we definitely could add more surgical tubing to increase power.
(For grins and giggles, we also shot the 2012 game piece, the foam basketball, which has a radius one-third of the big ball. Makes for one impressive shot, and that video can be found here.)
This prototype showed us the surgical tubing concept was definitely the way to go in terms of types of catapults/shooters, at it was just a matter of beginning to move into the detailed design process finally for the shooter.
Intake
Since most of the day was taken working on the shooter, the intake side rollers were only partially designed today, in terms of their position and their mounting. Other than that, not much else happened, since the shooter was the big event today.
Drive Base
Similar to what happened with the intake today, not much really happened for the drive base, since everyone was outside socializing and watching the shooter, although the new kit of parts drive train should be coming reasonably soon.
Approximate times of working: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
1/19/2014 Day 15: Beginning of Week 3 and Time to Judge Prototype Robot
As yesterday the robot was modified based on what happened early in the morning, it was time to test everything again with the modifications. We pulled out the carpet (what the robot drives on at competition) and the wood/rope truss we made (didn't quite finish the wooden high goal yet, but fairly close to done) and setup on the docks, so we could test general mechanisms, and make sure everything works the way it is supposed to. Pictured below is the prototype robot with a couple students and a mentor.
Shooter
As can be seen (or not seen) in the picture above of the robot, the shooter takes up very little space, and cannot really even be seen from a front view, although the ball is currently sitting on it (the front of the shooter peeks out a little, but not much. After attaching the latch to pre-pressurize the shooter, the shooter worked much better, shooting around 18' on average, and had one shot of 20'. In addition, each of the shots went over the practice truss easily, and had the right height to score in the high goal (bottom of high goal is only 8" above the top of the truss). While this worked for now, we decided this was the best it could do, but that means it isn't strong enough for our requirement of scoring from the white zone in autonomous mode. Because of this, we decided the pneumatic shooter is not the way to go, and surgical tubing is much better, since adjusting power is a matter of putting on more or taking off more surgical tubing. Also, the maximum power for the surgical tubing catapult just depends on how strong the steel bar on top is, and the indicator of too much is the bending of the conduit.
Intake
Since we had everything out, we retested the intake with less coarse plastic, so more of it was in the middle. Unlike what we thought, that didn't do much, and just did the same as making a smaller intake, since the ball has to be picked up with the middle of the intake, so any ball that hit the side would not get pulled in. While this was somewhat disappointing, we came up with an idea of having rollers on the sides also. This would easily solve the problem of the ball getting rammed into the structure, as it would quickly roll the ball into the middle of the intake. To test the idea, the only things needed would be a small motor, a small wheel, and extra motor controller, so we were ready to start designing this by tomorrow, since the day was already beginning to end by this time.
Drive Base
As the drive base was now decided upon to be wide, we were just waiting for the new kit of parts to come in the mail. We wanted to keep this 32'x32' base together as something to test the intake and the shooter, then cut it once the other drive base is finished, and get the currently built one anodized. As of now, everything on the base works well, and there is space for mounting everything.
Catcher
Today was the first day in a while we worked on the catcher. As we already had the folding sides idea prototyped, we just had to build a prototype a folding out corners idea, which we did out of PVC pipe and PVC crosses. The difference in surface area was very noticeable, as the surface area of the robot frame with the catcher folded in was about a quarter of the surface area with the catcher folded out. This presents a huge target for other teams and human players to hit, at approximately 20 square feet, as opposed to the tiny 5 square foot 23"x32" area before. This shows the general concept can definitely work, and it's just a matter of figuring out how to mount it after everything else is mounted.
Approximate times of working: 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Shooter
As can be seen (or not seen) in the picture above of the robot, the shooter takes up very little space, and cannot really even be seen from a front view, although the ball is currently sitting on it (the front of the shooter peeks out a little, but not much. After attaching the latch to pre-pressurize the shooter, the shooter worked much better, shooting around 18' on average, and had one shot of 20'. In addition, each of the shots went over the practice truss easily, and had the right height to score in the high goal (bottom of high goal is only 8" above the top of the truss). While this worked for now, we decided this was the best it could do, but that means it isn't strong enough for our requirement of scoring from the white zone in autonomous mode. Because of this, we decided the pneumatic shooter is not the way to go, and surgical tubing is much better, since adjusting power is a matter of putting on more or taking off more surgical tubing. Also, the maximum power for the surgical tubing catapult just depends on how strong the steel bar on top is, and the indicator of too much is the bending of the conduit.
Intake
Since we had everything out, we retested the intake with less coarse plastic, so more of it was in the middle. Unlike what we thought, that didn't do much, and just did the same as making a smaller intake, since the ball has to be picked up with the middle of the intake, so any ball that hit the side would not get pulled in. While this was somewhat disappointing, we came up with an idea of having rollers on the sides also. This would easily solve the problem of the ball getting rammed into the structure, as it would quickly roll the ball into the middle of the intake. To test the idea, the only things needed would be a small motor, a small wheel, and extra motor controller, so we were ready to start designing this by tomorrow, since the day was already beginning to end by this time.
Drive Base
As the drive base was now decided upon to be wide, we were just waiting for the new kit of parts to come in the mail. We wanted to keep this 32'x32' base together as something to test the intake and the shooter, then cut it once the other drive base is finished, and get the currently built one anodized. As of now, everything on the base works well, and there is space for mounting everything.
Catcher
Today was the first day in a while we worked on the catcher. As we already had the folding sides idea prototyped, we just had to build a prototype a folding out corners idea, which we did out of PVC pipe and PVC crosses. The difference in surface area was very noticeable, as the surface area of the robot frame with the catcher folded in was about a quarter of the surface area with the catcher folded out. This presents a huge target for other teams and human players to hit, at approximately 20 square feet, as opposed to the tiny 5 square foot 23"x32" area before. This shows the general concept can definitely work, and it's just a matter of figuring out how to mount it after everything else is mounted.
Approximate times of working: 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM
End of Week 2: Comparison Update
So far the time restraint has had almost no effect on the project as a whole, and everything flowing well this year. As of end of Week 2 this year, we have a robot that can drive, somewhat pick up balls, and at least shoot them into the low goal. By the end of Week 2 in 2012, we were still finishing learning how to use tools, and how things are built as a whole, and just started making drawings using CAD programs to understand and create the concepts of how the robot can work. By the end of Week 2 in 2013, we were doing something similar in terms of making sure people know how to use the different tools, but we were at least beginning to build the first prototype shooter out of 2"x4", as we had a general concept down for a linear shooter, a style of Frisbee shooter where the Frisbee travels along a straight track rather than around a circular path, after observing other teams having linear shooters.
As seen, we are far ahead of where we were in past years, when we were crunched for time, and we have still run relatively on the schedule created in the syllabus, although it was created before the game was announced. If the team/project continues to run on that schedule, or even if it lags behind by a couple days, the product will definitely be in good shape and be more likely to produce higher quality results, at least as it appears now.
In terms of the effects each of the phases experienced thus far have had on each other, the conceptual design process was definitely worth every hour spent on it, because now every single one of us knows exactly how everything is supposed to work conceptually, and everyone is driven and determined to follow the design concepts, rather than internally still wanting to build something else. Before, when we did not use the engineering design process, most of the members were a little unsure how things were supposed to work while building the mechanisms, and only understood after everything was built. With the talking through things happening during the conceptual design process, we made sure everyone was on board, and almost all potential flaws of each possible mechanism was discussed during these conceptual design phase meetings/decisions.
This has had a big impact on the preliminary design phase as a whole, with the speed of building the prototypes and communication between each of the subteams, making sure each mechanism is compatible with the others.
So far, not much has been changed from the conceptual design process in terms of types of mechanisms as a whole, but there has been a continual change in the catapult so far, as we are finishing prototyping our third concept, and will find out tomorrow which to go with. Other than that, the coarse plastic idea may slowly change, and the catcher concept hasn't been finalized in terms of the folding from the sides or the edges of the robot.
As seen, we are far ahead of where we were in past years, when we were crunched for time, and we have still run relatively on the schedule created in the syllabus, although it was created before the game was announced. If the team/project continues to run on that schedule, or even if it lags behind by a couple days, the product will definitely be in good shape and be more likely to produce higher quality results, at least as it appears now.
In terms of the effects each of the phases experienced thus far have had on each other, the conceptual design process was definitely worth every hour spent on it, because now every single one of us knows exactly how everything is supposed to work conceptually, and everyone is driven and determined to follow the design concepts, rather than internally still wanting to build something else. Before, when we did not use the engineering design process, most of the members were a little unsure how things were supposed to work while building the mechanisms, and only understood after everything was built. With the talking through things happening during the conceptual design process, we made sure everyone was on board, and almost all potential flaws of each possible mechanism was discussed during these conceptual design phase meetings/decisions.
This has had a big impact on the preliminary design phase as a whole, with the speed of building the prototypes and communication between each of the subteams, making sure each mechanism is compatible with the others.
So far, not much has been changed from the conceptual design process in terms of types of mechanisms as a whole, but there has been a continual change in the catapult so far, as we are finishing prototyping our third concept, and will find out tomorrow which to go with. Other than that, the coarse plastic idea may slowly change, and the catcher concept hasn't been finalized in terms of the folding from the sides or the edges of the robot.
1/18/2014 Day 14: First Prototype Bot
Today (although it was an early morning, meeting started around 8:00 AM) was where we've been trying to get to this week, have a prototype robot that can do the basic playing of the game. We are now well into the Preliminary Design Phase for the robot as a whole, as we have now begun the prototyping of the robot as a whole, and are far past the Conceptual Design Process, since we are no longer making the concepts of what the robot may look like and do.
Shooter
Today we finally mounted the shooter to the drive base frame on top of the drive base. The catapult today was not shooting terribly far, only shooting around 8' and at most 5' high. This is was without using a latch, meaning the pistons weren't already filled/pressurized, so the shooter team began making a basic latch for the shooter. As teams 842 and 1726 have already built this type of shooter, one with two cylinders, one with one, and both work in terms of distance and height, we know we can improve it with the latch, and it is only a matter of how much time and what the limit is for the cylinders.
By the end of the day, we were able to use a normal gate latch, attaching the part that locks and unlocks on the drive base frame, and the rest of the latch on the catapult. To make the latch return (automatically close again), we put a piece of surgical tubing through the hole where the lock goes, which causes the latch to spring back after being pulled back/opened.
Intake
Today we tested the intake as well as the pneumatic shooter, and found an interesting problem with part of the concept. While it took under a second for the robot to pick up the ball when the ball was within the sides of the intake, the ball would get caught and not be picked up, and would just be continually pushed into the tube structure of the intake. After this problem, we decided it was the coarse plastic that was a part of the problem, and not letting the ball slide toward the middle of the intake, so we spent most of the day figuring a possible solution for the problem and applying this solution, but did not get enough time to test it all.
Drive Base
The drive base was worked on a little today, as the shooter and latch had to be mounted today, but everything on the drive base is pretty much set to go, until the new drive base is delivered, as we are just using a kit of parts drive base. As the part of the intake that picks up the ball will be smaller than previously thought, we finally decided to have a robot with a wide drive base rather than a square drive base.
Approximate times of working: 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Shooter
Today we finally mounted the shooter to the drive base frame on top of the drive base. The catapult today was not shooting terribly far, only shooting around 8' and at most 5' high. This is was without using a latch, meaning the pistons weren't already filled/pressurized, so the shooter team began making a basic latch for the shooter. As teams 842 and 1726 have already built this type of shooter, one with two cylinders, one with one, and both work in terms of distance and height, we know we can improve it with the latch, and it is only a matter of how much time and what the limit is for the cylinders.
By the end of the day, we were able to use a normal gate latch, attaching the part that locks and unlocks on the drive base frame, and the rest of the latch on the catapult. To make the latch return (automatically close again), we put a piece of surgical tubing through the hole where the lock goes, which causes the latch to spring back after being pulled back/opened.
Intake
Today we tested the intake as well as the pneumatic shooter, and found an interesting problem with part of the concept. While it took under a second for the robot to pick up the ball when the ball was within the sides of the intake, the ball would get caught and not be picked up, and would just be continually pushed into the tube structure of the intake. After this problem, we decided it was the coarse plastic that was a part of the problem, and not letting the ball slide toward the middle of the intake, so we spent most of the day figuring a possible solution for the problem and applying this solution, but did not get enough time to test it all.
Drive Base
The drive base was worked on a little today, as the shooter and latch had to be mounted today, but everything on the drive base is pretty much set to go, until the new drive base is delivered, as we are just using a kit of parts drive base. As the part of the intake that picks up the ball will be smaller than previously thought, we finally decided to have a robot with a wide drive base rather than a square drive base.
Approximate times of working: 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thursday, February 13, 2014
1/17/2014 Day 13: Final Completion of the Prototypes
Today was a continuation of the high levels of productivity among the team, and the finishing of many things, meaning a potentially fully functioning robot by Saturday. This is nearly 5 weeks ahead of where we were in 2012, and a little under 4 weeks ahead of where we were in 2013.
Shooter
Today we finally finished the shooter!!! All that was left to do was attach the large pneumatic cylinders, but it felt great finally having it. After watching videos from other teams, the pneumatic cylinders has reasonably high expectations, and, as it is flat, makes everything else easier. The shooter is pictured below.
Intake
As the intake was finished yesterday, the intake team spent today mounting both the intake and the pistons actuating it. By dinner time, the intake and pistons were mounted, and in the perfect spots. As a "for grins and giggles", we decided this year to put 7" diameter googly eyes on the top of our intake, so the below picture has our prototype eyes mounted (taped) on our intake system, all attached to the frame on the drive base.
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The grey stuff spiraling around the ABS tubing is the coarse paper, and, after rolling the ball in by hand rather than by motor, everything seem like it will work well, and the geometry is good for now.
Drive Base
Today the shooter team worked on the drive base. After designing the extra mount, the team laser cut the needed gussets and went ahead and attached the bar with screws, and began marking the base for attaching the backstop and where to mount the catapult. Everything mounted onto the drive base should be finished and mounted by early tomorrow.
Approximate times of work: 3:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Shooter
Today we finally finished the shooter!!! All that was left to do was attach the large pneumatic cylinders, but it felt great finally having it. After watching videos from other teams, the pneumatic cylinders has reasonably high expectations, and, as it is flat, makes everything else easier. The shooter is pictured below.
Since it did not take too long for the pistons to be attached (total of 6 nuts and bolts), the shooter team worked on the mount for the shooter and the track/backstop for the shooter. Also, since the shooter is 23" long, the team had to mount an extra wood bar to the frame to entirely support the shooter, so the bar was mounted, and the back designed and made, but not yet attached.
Intake
As the intake was finished yesterday, the intake team spent today mounting both the intake and the pistons actuating it. By dinner time, the intake and pistons were mounted, and in the perfect spots. As a "for grins and giggles", we decided this year to put 7" diameter googly eyes on the top of our intake, so the below picture has our prototype eyes mounted (taped) on our intake system, all attached to the frame on the drive base.
The grey stuff spiraling around the ABS tubing is the coarse paper, and, after rolling the ball in by hand rather than by motor, everything seem like it will work well, and the geometry is good for now.
Drive Base
Today the shooter team worked on the drive base. After designing the extra mount, the team laser cut the needed gussets and went ahead and attached the bar with screws, and began marking the base for attaching the backstop and where to mount the catapult. Everything mounted onto the drive base should be finished and mounted by early tomorrow.
Approximate times of work: 3:30 PM - 7:30 PM
1/16/2014 Day 12: Finishing subsystems
Today, the subsystem structures were finished being built, and the meeting was a little shorter due to a Xerocraft meeting.
Shooter
Today was the completion of the riveting of the shooter. All that was left was putting bolts through the gussets to hold the two pieces and two pistons together.
Intake
Today the intake team completed the intake. After installing the ABS tube for the roller, the team glued on the coarse plastic paper to help the intake roller get a grip on the ball. Also, the team was able to successfully mount the motor that drives the roller easily, so the intake subsystem was finished for now, and just needs to be mounted to the frame tomorrow.
Drivetrain
As everything was finishing up, talk about what the size of the drive base should be began. As of now, decisions are between making a wide base (23"x32") or a square base (28"x28"), and the narrow base (32"x 23") has been eliminated based on requirements. In terms of holding the ball, the wide or square bases would be okay, and the ball would be wider than the robot if the bot were narrow, making it practically impossible to pick up with a roller intake. The main trade-offs were that the wide base has a huge intake, meaning drivers don't have to be as precise, but is harder to drive, while the square base is easier to drive with, but has a smaller intake, meaning drivers have to be more precise when driving. As picking up game pieces is what takes the most time, we were leaning toward a wide base, and, although it's harder to drive and maneuver with, the intake size compensates for that, and there will be plenty of practice time after build season ends.
Catcher
As the general catcher concepts are finished, and actually making it heavily relies on the rest of the robot, we have stopped practically all catcher action for now and split to help with the other subsystems and awards, so today the catcher was not worked on, and most likely won't be continued until everything else is done.
Shooter
Today was the completion of the riveting of the shooter. All that was left was putting bolts through the gussets to hold the two pieces and two pistons together.
Intake
Today the intake team completed the intake. After installing the ABS tube for the roller, the team glued on the coarse plastic paper to help the intake roller get a grip on the ball. Also, the team was able to successfully mount the motor that drives the roller easily, so the intake subsystem was finished for now, and just needs to be mounted to the frame tomorrow.
Drivetrain
As everything was finishing up, talk about what the size of the drive base should be began. As of now, decisions are between making a wide base (23"x32") or a square base (28"x28"), and the narrow base (32"x 23") has been eliminated based on requirements. In terms of holding the ball, the wide or square bases would be okay, and the ball would be wider than the robot if the bot were narrow, making it practically impossible to pick up with a roller intake. The main trade-offs were that the wide base has a huge intake, meaning drivers don't have to be as precise, but is harder to drive, while the square base is easier to drive with, but has a smaller intake, meaning drivers have to be more precise when driving. As picking up game pieces is what takes the most time, we were leaning toward a wide base, and, although it's harder to drive and maneuver with, the intake size compensates for that, and there will be plenty of practice time after build season ends.
Catcher
As the general catcher concepts are finished, and actually making it heavily relies on the rest of the robot, we have stopped practically all catcher action for now and split to help with the other subsystems and awards, so today the catcher was not worked on, and most likely won't be continued until everything else is done.
1/15/2014 Day 11: Beginning to Finish Next Prototypes for Prototype Robot
Today's building and designing was started a little late due to visiting TFS, Technicians For Sustainability, one of our sponsors. Although we had somewhat less time, a lot got done today within our subgroups.
Shooter
Today was a day of filing, center-punching, and hole drilling for the shooter team. As the stencils were already cut out for the four different shapes of gussets (and 8 of each shape), we went ahead and straightened the unmarked gussets, stacked them and made a "little package" out of them, put the stencil on top, and center-punched the top plate to prepare for match drilling (having several pieces stacked, and drilling through each to get them nearly identical to each other). As we were beginning to do this, one of the mentors suggested only match drilling two at a time. While this was more precise and took away any risk of the bottom gusset slipping too far, this took a lot more time. By the end of the day, we were able to finish drilling each of the gussets out (a few shown below), and began punching and drilling holes on the tubing to attach the gussets. This should be done by either tomorrow or Friday.
Intake
While the shooter team was taking a bit of a while on the gusset plates,the intake subteam continued work on the intake system, getting it all riveted together and adding the holes for the roller. Other than general fabrication, not much happened for the intake team, as all of the parts were already cut, but the team began figuring out where the pistons for actuating the intake need to go, and the general geometry for reaching out just under the 20" allowance.
Drivetrain
Today was a big day for the drive train, as we could now take out the basic 2 CIM motor (the strongest motor allowed by FRC, maxes out somewhere between 5,500 RPM and 6,000 RPM) gearboxes, and build/replace it with the two 3 CIM motor single-speed gearboxes, adding much more power and speed without having to deal with a two-speed gearbox. The assembly of these new gearboxes happened today (pictured below is the new gearbox nearly completed).
Catcher
Today the catcher subteam did not work much on the catcher, but dispersed and helped the other subteams, mostly helped the shooter subteam file gussets and center-punch them, and helped with putting the gearboxes together.
Approximate times of working: 4:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Shooter
Today was a day of filing, center-punching, and hole drilling for the shooter team. As the stencils were already cut out for the four different shapes of gussets (and 8 of each shape), we went ahead and straightened the unmarked gussets, stacked them and made a "little package" out of them, put the stencil on top, and center-punched the top plate to prepare for match drilling (having several pieces stacked, and drilling through each to get them nearly identical to each other). As we were beginning to do this, one of the mentors suggested only match drilling two at a time. While this was more precise and took away any risk of the bottom gusset slipping too far, this took a lot more time. By the end of the day, we were able to finish drilling each of the gussets out (a few shown below), and began punching and drilling holes on the tubing to attach the gussets. This should be done by either tomorrow or Friday.
Intake
While the shooter team was taking a bit of a while on the gusset plates,the intake subteam continued work on the intake system, getting it all riveted together and adding the holes for the roller. Other than general fabrication, not much happened for the intake team, as all of the parts were already cut, but the team began figuring out where the pistons for actuating the intake need to go, and the general geometry for reaching out just under the 20" allowance.
Drivetrain
Today was a big day for the drive train, as we could now take out the basic 2 CIM motor (the strongest motor allowed by FRC, maxes out somewhere between 5,500 RPM and 6,000 RPM) gearboxes, and build/replace it with the two 3 CIM motor single-speed gearboxes, adding much more power and speed without having to deal with a two-speed gearbox. The assembly of these new gearboxes happened today (pictured below is the new gearbox nearly completed).
Catcher
Today the catcher subteam did not work much on the catcher, but dispersed and helped the other subteams, mostly helped the shooter subteam file gussets and center-punch them, and helped with putting the gearboxes together.
Approximate times of working: 4:30 PM - 7:30 PM
1/14/2014 Day 10: Second Day Off
Today was our first break day since last Tuesday. While it definitely was a break, some time was spent looking into what other teams had thus far, and after watching, we are reasonably ahead of everyone else, as we are reaching our third concept and prototype for launchers, with the previous two concepts/prototypes being decent enough, but taking up space. Just from the available machining resources, experience, and knowledge each team members has, time has not been much of a factor, and continues not to be.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
1/13/2014 Day 9: Continued Work on Mechanisms, and Entering Prototyping
Today was our second day back into the separate subteams, all now knowing what exactly needs to be thought through, designed, and built. As most of the thinking through part was done by the end of yesterday, today was a lot of the doing part for each subsystem.
Shooter
Today was a day of making sure all of the parts fit in the drawings the right way, cutting of tubing for the pneumatic shooter, and beginning to cut gusset plates. While the actual cutting of the tubes did not take a long time, the shooter subteam double checked and made sure the sketches of the gusset plates on the tubes were correct before making the (paper) stencils and cutting out the gusset plates. The waiting and double checking is what took up most of the time for the shooter team today.
Intake
Today the intake team began building the intake by cutting out the gusset plates and the tubing. While not getting terribly far, the intake team got the parts cut out and began riveting everything together, and got most of the structure for the intake put together, as the beginnings can be seen below.
The general look of the intake will look like the (cruddy) paint sketch below, according to the concept and current design. The half rectangle with rounded corners is the "drive base", the angled piece is the support/mechanism that is actuated (partially shown above), and the circle is the ABS sewer tube roller. This is very similar to the roller intakes built by the Robot In 3 Days teams.
Drivetrain
As the drivetrain is now already built and was finished being programmed and tweaked to work early in the meeting, and the other parts haven't been finished, the drivetrain/base was mostly left alone. However, the catcher subteam did somewhat do work on the drive base, but that is primarily for the catcher and other subsystems.
Catcher
Today the catcher subteam worked on the frame, laser cutting the wooden gusset plates as soon as we got there. As we planned on using nails for the wooden frame, we got to use special right-angle tube clamps, making sure we were as precise as possible, although this was just a prototype frame. After gluing the gussets on the 2x2 wooden pieces, we went ahead and had fun with hammering in the nails, and laughed at and with each other for our inability to drive a nail straight into a piece of wood. One of our cleaner gussets is pictured below with the 2x2 wood still in the right-angle clamps.
After making the wooden frame, we began mounted it onto the drive base/chassis, using more wood plates. In addition, we drilled out two 1" holes to place the current catching device.
Approximate hours of working: 3:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Shooter
Today was a day of making sure all of the parts fit in the drawings the right way, cutting of tubing for the pneumatic shooter, and beginning to cut gusset plates. While the actual cutting of the tubes did not take a long time, the shooter subteam double checked and made sure the sketches of the gusset plates on the tubes were correct before making the (paper) stencils and cutting out the gusset plates. The waiting and double checking is what took up most of the time for the shooter team today.
Intake
Today the intake team began building the intake by cutting out the gusset plates and the tubing. While not getting terribly far, the intake team got the parts cut out and began riveting everything together, and got most of the structure for the intake put together, as the beginnings can be seen below.
As the drivetrain is now already built and was finished being programmed and tweaked to work early in the meeting, and the other parts haven't been finished, the drivetrain/base was mostly left alone. However, the catcher subteam did somewhat do work on the drive base, but that is primarily for the catcher and other subsystems.
Catcher
Today the catcher subteam worked on the frame, laser cutting the wooden gusset plates as soon as we got there. As we planned on using nails for the wooden frame, we got to use special right-angle tube clamps, making sure we were as precise as possible, although this was just a prototype frame. After gluing the gussets on the 2x2 wooden pieces, we went ahead and had fun with hammering in the nails, and laughed at and with each other for our inability to drive a nail straight into a piece of wood. One of our cleaner gussets is pictured below with the 2x2 wood still in the right-angle clamps.
After making the wooden frame, we began mounted it onto the drive base/chassis, using more wood plates. In addition, we drilled out two 1" holes to place the current catching device.
Approximate hours of working: 3:30 PM - 7:00 PM
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