Today was the last day before the signal for the alarm bells will be going off for most teams, not only because the month of February has arrived, but also Week 5 is beginning tomorrow. While we are basically just manufacturing and assembling whatever we need to be manufactured and assembled, so not much has been happening recently in terms of the engineering design process as a whole. But most of today was recapping what was happening, and making sure everyone was on the same page, as well as reminding people that there are things other than robots due relatively soon, so it wasn't too productive in terms of robot stuff, but some stuff did get done.
Shooter
Today we spent a lot more time on shooter stuff today, just putting the catapult and tower together, mounting it all to the frame, as well as the winch, and beginning to design the latch. Pretty much, it is the exact same as the practice bot, but made with square aluminum tubing entirely, rather than both tubing and wood.
Intake
Today we finished up adding the zipties onto the intake to make sure the wires didn't get in the way or caught on anything while driving the robot around, and not much else happened today for the intake, and it is just a matter of waiting for everything else to be finished.
Drive Base
Today the frame was worked on again, but just for mounting stuff, mainly the tower, and beginning to mount the shooter stuff.
Approximate times of working: Meeting Not Attended (out of town)
Thursday, February 20, 2014
1/31/2014 Day 27: Everything Slowly Coming Together
Today was another day of working on awards and other things, but we did start getting everything together, and should be done by either end of this week or early into Week 5.
Shooter
Today was the beginning of cutting the catapult parts and assembling the catapult and tower. The shooter was only worked on lightly due to trying to get everything else mounted and attached.
Intake
Today, the structure of the intake (intake without the pistons or motors) was finally mounted onto the robot frame. Also, we went ahead and started attaching the motors, chains, and sprockets, so we entirely finished mounting the intake subsystem onto the practice bot.
Drive Base
Today we finished the frame stuff, and started mounting things, and ended up getting all of the intake on today, and began mounting parts to the frame to mount the frame onto the drivetrain. After the difficulties of last year, we decided this year to use pins to keep the frame on the drivetrain, so we can easily take the frame off to get to the electronics within the drive base.
Shooter
Today was the beginning of cutting the catapult parts and assembling the catapult and tower. The shooter was only worked on lightly due to trying to get everything else mounted and attached.
Intake
Today, the structure of the intake (intake without the pistons or motors) was finally mounted onto the robot frame. Also, we went ahead and started attaching the motors, chains, and sprockets, so we entirely finished mounting the intake subsystem onto the practice bot.
Drive Base
Today we finished the frame stuff, and started mounting things, and ended up getting all of the intake on today, and began mounting parts to the frame to mount the frame onto the drivetrain. After the difficulties of last year, we decided this year to use pins to keep the frame on the drivetrain, so we can easily take the frame off to get to the electronics within the drive base.
Approximate times of working: Meeting not attended (out of town)
1/30/2014 Day 26: Day/Night Before Disneyland/Assembly
Today was my last meeting attended not during the normal SRP time frame. For most of today, Chairman's Award was worked on, and the assembly of the frame/subsystems continued.
Shooter
Today we started cutting out parts for the catapult, but didn't do a ton in terms of trying to mount shooter things. Pretty much another slow day for the shooter people.
Intake
Today the intake was lightly further worked on, and everything was beginning to come together, in terms of the structure of the intake, and making sure all of the holes are in the right place. The intake is pretty much ready to be mounted, and is just waiting for the rest of the frame to be finished so it can be mounted.
Drive Base
Today was the continuation and beginning of finishing the robot frame. We finished drilling out whatever holes needed and riveting the remaining gussets needed onto the robot frame. Below is a picture of the frame with gussets.
Shooter
Today we started cutting out parts for the catapult, but didn't do a ton in terms of trying to mount shooter things. Pretty much another slow day for the shooter people.
Intake
Today the intake was lightly further worked on, and everything was beginning to come together, in terms of the structure of the intake, and making sure all of the holes are in the right place. The intake is pretty much ready to be mounted, and is just waiting for the rest of the frame to be finished so it can be mounted.
Drive Base
Today was the continuation and beginning of finishing the robot frame. We finished drilling out whatever holes needed and riveting the remaining gussets needed onto the robot frame. Below is a picture of the frame with gussets.
Approximate times of working: 3:30 PM - 7:30 PM
1/29/2014 Day 25: The Strength Test
Today was the beginning of figuring out whether or not the wooden gussets work/are sturdy enough to be on our robot. As everything was prepared yesterday, it was just a matter of riveting everything together, testing, and deciding whether or not to wait for the metal gussets for both bots.
Shooter
Today, after we found the wooden gussets will work, we began cutting square tubing for the sides of the tower, which was just 2"x4" on the prototype, and cutting the conduit that runs along the top. Not much happened again with the shooter because people were working on making the robot frame and the awards that were looming ahead (the Chairman's Award especially, as it was only 15 days away from being due, and hadn't had much work on it yet).
Intake
For the intake, we went ahead and cut out the tubing needed, and started drilling holes for mounting the motors and for attaching the gussets to hold everything together, but didn't get too far, as we waited to do the robot frame first to make sure the wood was good enough before moving on.
Drive Base
Today was a big day and moment of truth for our robot. If the wooden gussets were to work, everything would resume and be on schedule, but if they ended up not being structurally sound enough, we would be delayed at least half a week, just from having to hand make the gussets out of sheet metal, or waiting for the gussets to be finished by TMM Precision. We went ahead and riveted everything together, and the wooden gussets ended up working very very well, and was plenty strong enough to hold everything together for the frame, so that was our indicator that the wooden gussets were a okay. We ended up getting most of the frame finished, and we were now set up to go ahead and drill whatever extra holes to mount stuff to the frame, which will be worked on tomorrow. Below is the frame before any gussets were added to connect everything together.
Approximate times of working: 3:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Shooter
Today, after we found the wooden gussets will work, we began cutting square tubing for the sides of the tower, which was just 2"x4" on the prototype, and cutting the conduit that runs along the top. Not much happened again with the shooter because people were working on making the robot frame and the awards that were looming ahead (the Chairman's Award especially, as it was only 15 days away from being due, and hadn't had much work on it yet).
Intake
For the intake, we went ahead and cut out the tubing needed, and started drilling holes for mounting the motors and for attaching the gussets to hold everything together, but didn't get too far, as we waited to do the robot frame first to make sure the wood was good enough before moving on.
Drive Base
Today was a big day and moment of truth for our robot. If the wooden gussets were to work, everything would resume and be on schedule, but if they ended up not being structurally sound enough, we would be delayed at least half a week, just from having to hand make the gussets out of sheet metal, or waiting for the gussets to be finished by TMM Precision. We went ahead and riveted everything together, and the wooden gussets ended up working very very well, and was plenty strong enough to hold everything together for the frame, so that was our indicator that the wooden gussets were a okay. We ended up getting most of the frame finished, and we were now set up to go ahead and drill whatever extra holes to mount stuff to the frame, which will be worked on tomorrow. Below is the frame before any gussets were added to connect everything together.
Approximate times of working: 3:30 PM - 7:30 PM
1/28/2014 Day 24: Another Tuesday
Today not much happened, as there was no meeting, but we did look around and check for who would anodize our parts, and, unless there is a different company that is up for sponsoring us, we pretty much found what we need. Other than that, 842 released another set of videos of their claw system, which somewhat effectively can pick up either rolling or bouncing balls, and of their shooter again, which seems to have two things sticking out of the top to change the angle of the ball. This was helpful to observe, as that is something we may try for changing the angle of the ball when shot.
Overall, we are definitely in the detailed design process, and entering the second iteration, or the robot that can play the game decently but doesn't look quite as pretty/not as precise.
Overall, we are definitely in the detailed design process, and entering the second iteration, or the robot that can play the game decently but doesn't look quite as pretty/not as precise.
1/27/2014 Day 23: Beginning of Building the Practice Duplicate Bot
Today was the beginning of no longer playing with our current bot, but building what we will use for the next large part of time. Unfortunately, our laser-cut metal sponsor, TMM Precision, had a lot of people gone and were really backed up, so we weren't going to get our metal gussets until the beginning of next week, so today was a day of creating a slight change in bot.
Shooter
Today was yet another day of not testing or playing with the shooter much, as everyone was either focused on programming stuff, the drivetrain, or frame of the robot.
Intake
Pretty much, intake was same as shooter, in that it wasn't worked on at all today.
Drive Base
Today was the big day for the drive base/drivetrain. We went ahead and took everything off the prototype practice robot today, and started cutting the pieces down to size, so we could go ahead and send it all off to get anodized. Also, we began to cut out wood gussets to use rather than the metal ones we would get in another week, since we have a wood laser-cutter in house, so we decided we probably could really take advantage of it. In addition to cutting everything down to size and designing/cutting out the gussets, we began cutting out a new frame out of square tubing, so we can go ahead and rivet everything together and see how the wooden gussets hold up.
Approximate times of working: 3:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Shooter
Today was yet another day of not testing or playing with the shooter much, as everyone was either focused on programming stuff, the drivetrain, or frame of the robot.
Intake
Pretty much, intake was same as shooter, in that it wasn't worked on at all today.
Drive Base
Today was the big day for the drive base/drivetrain. We went ahead and took everything off the prototype practice robot today, and started cutting the pieces down to size, so we could go ahead and send it all off to get anodized. Also, we began to cut out wood gussets to use rather than the metal ones we would get in another week, since we have a wood laser-cutter in house, so we decided we probably could really take advantage of it. In addition to cutting everything down to size and designing/cutting out the gussets, we began cutting out a new frame out of square tubing, so we can go ahead and rivet everything together and see how the wooden gussets hold up.
Approximate times of working: 3:30 PM - 7:30 PM
1/26/2014 Day 22: Beginning of Week 4 and CAD Presentation
Today was the big reveal from the CAD team of what the robot looked like on Solidworks, as well as continuing to play with the intake. Also, this was the last day of testing with the practice prototype bot, as we were going to have to start taking it apart to cut down the drivetrain, so the metal bits of the drivetrain can go off to get anodized.
Shooter
Today not much happened with the shooter. We went ahead and reattached the surgical tubing, so we could practice the basic intake procedures, which are to winch shooter back, intake ball, then move the intake up to hold the ball in place. We also found that the moving up of the intake centers the ball onto the shooter, which definitely helps to make sure the ball is shot consistently. Although this is nice, it is an easy indicator for most teams for when we are going to shoot, as the intake drops, which takes a second, then the ball is shot, so teams who scout may see this flaw then know when to bump us to knock us off target.
Intake
As before, the intake works beautifully, and the only problems are keeping the ball in the shooter. Today we practiced getting the ball while driving, and everything seems to work. As of now, the biggest problem with the intake is very minor, and shouldn't affect anything. For the intake, since the square tubing acting as structural support for the intake sits at 25", some balls may scrape that top bar, or not hit the roller, but this has been solved by just driving at it. This problem has thus far only happened with rolling a ball slowly toward a still robot, so it really isn't enough of a problem. Also, we have found it is entirely necessary to winch the catapult back while running the intake and picking up a ball, otherwise the ball gets rolled into the middle of the robot, bounces off the catapult, and popped out a couple feet in front of the robot.
At the end of the day, everything seemed to work the way it was two days ago.
Drive Base
Since we finished the other drivetrain to the correct size, we were ready to put together a frame and everything else to put on top of the frame, but not until tomorrow. Also, we were ready to rebuild everything/take stuff off the current robot, so we can take apart the drivetrain, cut it all to size, and get it all anodized.
In terms of CAD model stuff though of the robot, here is a picture of the bot in Solidworks without the intake.
Approximate times of working: 3:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Shooter
Today not much happened with the shooter. We went ahead and reattached the surgical tubing, so we could practice the basic intake procedures, which are to winch shooter back, intake ball, then move the intake up to hold the ball in place. We also found that the moving up of the intake centers the ball onto the shooter, which definitely helps to make sure the ball is shot consistently. Although this is nice, it is an easy indicator for most teams for when we are going to shoot, as the intake drops, which takes a second, then the ball is shot, so teams who scout may see this flaw then know when to bump us to knock us off target.
Intake
As before, the intake works beautifully, and the only problems are keeping the ball in the shooter. Today we practiced getting the ball while driving, and everything seems to work. As of now, the biggest problem with the intake is very minor, and shouldn't affect anything. For the intake, since the square tubing acting as structural support for the intake sits at 25", some balls may scrape that top bar, or not hit the roller, but this has been solved by just driving at it. This problem has thus far only happened with rolling a ball slowly toward a still robot, so it really isn't enough of a problem. Also, we have found it is entirely necessary to winch the catapult back while running the intake and picking up a ball, otherwise the ball gets rolled into the middle of the robot, bounces off the catapult, and popped out a couple feet in front of the robot.
At the end of the day, everything seemed to work the way it was two days ago.
Drive Base
Since we finished the other drivetrain to the correct size, we were ready to put together a frame and everything else to put on top of the frame, but not until tomorrow. Also, we were ready to rebuild everything/take stuff off the current robot, so we can take apart the drivetrain, cut it all to size, and get it all anodized.
In terms of CAD model stuff though of the robot, here is a picture of the bot in Solidworks without the intake.
Approximate times of working: 3:30 PM - 7:30 PM
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