Hey Golden Warriors!
We are one day before the closing day. Tomorrow, Goldie will be bagged and sealed until the day of the competition. We tested most of the systems, and all seems to work perfectly now. The intake system worked perfectly once we installed the roof. The output system was tested and worked very well. We still have a couple of issues with the floor system. The push buttons that detect when the floor is up and down sometimes don't change of state. We will have to be careful when we are operating it to not go too far. We made a nod in the middle of the cord we are using to raise the floor, to avoid getting stuck in the gears of the shaft, so there was no need to add bolts for that. We did not test again the climber. The gear holder is not finished yet. We only need the add the acrylic that will keep the gear from falling (we needed to buy 4" bolts).
On the programming side, we have fixed all the problems with the controls. Now we can use both joysticks to control Goldie. We also added the Intake system to the drive joystick. When you push the trigger, Goldie gathers balls. The thumb button throws away balls. It made sense that the driver could also control the Intake system, since he is driving... We still need to configure the camera to have a good point of view for the rope. The Roborio detects the camera, but the LiveWindow is not showing the picture.
Since tomorrow is the last day, students will be meeting from 3pm to 5pm to finish the projects. Mentors will be meeting from 5pm to 7pm to help finish Goldie if needed, and then talk about what is next. We need to brainstorm about what we are going to need for the competition (Cart for Goldie, tools, etc...).
Monday, February 20, 2017
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Last Saturday report
Today was a big day for Goldie. After 8 hours, we have almost finished building it.
1. The intake system works wonders. We need to finish the roof to allow the balls fall in the box. We also need to lower an inch or so the front wall, so balls cannot come out between the intake system and the bottom of the wall.
2. The output system works very well also. We only need to funnel the balls a little better. Idea: Add a side triangular wall once side of the motor.
3. The floor system works correctly, but the cord can get stuck on the gears. We figure out we would add a couple of bolts to keep the cord close to the center of the shaft. We want to add also a couple of sensors at the top and the bottom to detect the position of the floor.
4. The climbing system worked better than expected. One issue is that when the the system is disable, Goldie will fall to the floor one and a half feet... We need to find a solution to keep it at the top of the rope.
5. The programming part did a huge leap today. We have done most of the commands and we tested them all. We are ready to create the interface and the control system.
After all these extra work to do, we won't go to the scrimmage tomorrow. We still have some building to do. We will meet Monday at 10AM and finish Goldie.
Enjoy your Sunday and cyall on Monday!!
1. The intake system works wonders. We need to finish the roof to allow the balls fall in the box. We also need to lower an inch or so the front wall, so balls cannot come out between the intake system and the bottom of the wall.
2. The output system works very well also. We only need to funnel the balls a little better. Idea: Add a side triangular wall once side of the motor.
3. The floor system works correctly, but the cord can get stuck on the gears. We figure out we would add a couple of bolts to keep the cord close to the center of the shaft. We want to add also a couple of sensors at the top and the bottom to detect the position of the floor.
4. The climbing system worked better than expected. One issue is that when the the system is disable, Goldie will fall to the floor one and a half feet... We need to find a solution to keep it at the top of the rope.
5. The programming part did a huge leap today. We have done most of the commands and we tested them all. We are ready to create the interface and the control system.
After all these extra work to do, we won't go to the scrimmage tomorrow. We still have some building to do. We will meet Monday at 10AM and finish Goldie.
Enjoy your Sunday and cyall on Monday!!
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
This week with Goldie
News from the Penthouse!
We are on the last week. We are now putting everything together. We have the top thrower working and most of our hardware is ready or on the workshop.
Mr. Gilihan (our Welder mentor) is building two shafts for us. The first one will be the shaft to climb the rope, and the 2nd shaft will have a steel pipe around it with screws to connect tubes. It will be the ball intake system.
Building hours for this week:
We are on the last week. We are now putting everything together. We have the top thrower working and most of our hardware is ready or on the workshop.
Mr. Gilihan (our Welder mentor) is building two shafts for us. The first one will be the shaft to climb the rope, and the 2nd shaft will have a steel pipe around it with screws to connect tubes. It will be the ball intake system.
Building hours for this week:
- Tuesday: 3pm to 5pm
- Wednesday: 3pm to 7ish
- Thursday: 3pm to 5pm
- Friday: 10am to 5pm (TBD)
- Saturday: 10am to 5pm
- Sunday: If needed (TBD)
- Monday: 10am-...?
- Tuesday: 3pm to party!!
Friday, February 10, 2017
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Hey GoldenBots!
I feel a little guilty. No news in a while from the building side. I will try to fix this up.
Goldie has grown up during the last week or so. We shrunk the electronic system and protected it with plexiglass. We added the structure for the intake and the storage of balls. We also added the structure for the front door to throw the balls in the boiler. We also changed the massive CIM for Mini CIM. These are smaller motors (around 2/3 of the previous capacity), but they will allow the battery not to lose so much voltage. We lost a little bit of torque, but speed seems to be almost the same.
Now we are working on the front wall and the gear holder.
We will be meeting this week everyday and this weekend as usual.
I feel a little guilty. No news in a while from the building side. I will try to fix this up.
Goldie has grown up during the last week or so. We shrunk the electronic system and protected it with plexiglass. We added the structure for the intake and the storage of balls. We also added the structure for the front door to throw the balls in the boiler. We also changed the massive CIM for Mini CIM. These are smaller motors (around 2/3 of the previous capacity), but they will allow the battery not to lose so much voltage. We lost a little bit of torque, but speed seems to be almost the same.
Now we are working on the front wall and the gear holder.
We will be meeting this week everyday and this weekend as usual.
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