Build Log

Week 3 and 4

2/16/2020

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Mechanical

Prototypes
- Mechanisms
  - The Rotation (Ball shooter and collector)
  - Our ball collector
    - It can hold many balls at once
    - Wanted to have the ball shooter immediately center balls in order to allow it to
      - We used team 118 as inspiration:
  - Considerations: This gives us less room for the climber, so the climber design needs to be much smaller

Team 118 Inspiration

Robot Design

Design

The Super Structure.
- Our super structure acts as a box-like structure. It is unique in that the bumper studs are attached to the super structure instead of attached to the chassis itself by brackets.
  - This allowed us to save considerable amounts of time in design and in building the part as we do not have a CDC machine

Drive Train

The Drop Center Wheel
- The drop Center wheel is dropped a few inches like on a shopping cart.
  - In a six-wheel system such as our tank drive train, it means that you will only be driving on four wheels at a time.
- So why do we need this?
  - Well, when we think of a drive train being able to drive over things, then we can engage all 6 wheels,, but we can turn easier by using only 4 when regularly driving—similar to a grocery cart.
  - Often times, people just use a pneumatic wheel.

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Week 2

1/20/2020

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System's Integration (Design)

System’s integration has been working on finishing the frame of the robot.
They looked at Team 118’s robot, which has a great intake ball system.
We will be pursuing this system!
Check out the link on the right!

Team 118's Design

The Ball Picker-Upper (Modified)

Mechanical Fabrication
- PROTOTYPES!
  - The Ball Intake Systems
    - So as we stated in our last blog post, our top priority is the lower power port. We want to be able to pick up balls from the ground in large quantity and then funnel them.
    - Our first prototype failed epicly, so we modified it.
      - youtube.com/watch?v=yeKlx9b9iKE
      - This did work. However, we would like to create a prototype that centers balls as it enters, so we do not need to add an inner mechanism.
    - Our second prototype was a conveyor belt style. We started a prototype with flexible tubing that we planned to have move in a conveyor belt style. We were going to have this on either side of the ball to lead the ball up the double-sided conveyor belt.
      - (Look at the pictures. I know that’s a confusing explanation)
        This is one half of the conveyor belt. (below)
This is how we viewed the mechanism as a whole (on the left)
This design was not chosen because it is not space efficient

The next ball collector prototype works as a funnel. In theory it is in the shape of a trapezoid
- Gets many balls in and then funnels them back because we can be carrying 5 balls at a time.
However, we will be trying out a similar design to the Everything bot’s design team 118 The one I linked in the design section. Check it out!
The Climber
- We have the same design as last week, but we hope to work on an elevator for it soon!
The Chassis (so far)

Control Systems
- They have been working on the pigtail three Andersons to connect the motors to the battery
Fundraising
- They have been working more on our awesome business plan
  - SWOT analysis!

Outreach
- This week we worked on Chairman’s essays and activity ideas for this year’s FIRST Theme for FLL—city planning! We have tons of great ideas check them out below.
  - Check for more next week!

Outreach Activity Ideas
Build Structures with toothpicks and Marshmallows or Playdough and Straws

Toothpicks
Marshmallows

Who can Build the Strongest Bridge

Blocks
Paper
Marbles
Paper Cups

Who can Build the Tallest Tower

Plastic Cups
Cardboard and toilet Paper Rolls

Jenga Game

Jenga Blocks
Wooden Blocks

Legos

Build Houses
Build Bridges
Building Cars

Coloring Images

Lego Marble Run

Marshmallow Catapult into Hoop

Toothpicks
Marshmallows
Plastic Spoons

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Week 1

1/12/2020

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Mechanical

This tear we have two new mentors that are also alumnis this year
They worked on a chassis bot form the kit of parts.
- We are not using this for the actual robot, but it is helpful to test prototypes on a chassis that is steady like a robot
- It allows us to test prototypes more accurately than you can with your hand
We also worked on a few prototypes
- the first we worked on is a ball intake from the ground mechanism, which had a few issues
- The main issue was the wheels did not lead the ball in.
- However now we are working on re-adjusting the wheels and placement based on the size of the ball
- We also worked on a prototype to hang on the generator

Hanging Generator Prototype

1st Ball Intake Prototype

Recent Ball Intake Prototype

Design

The chassis was designed this week. It is a west coast drive, so that it is sturdy and cannot get pushed around by other teams (we have had issues with defenders pushing too hard in the past).
There are 3 CIM motors on each side giving our robot a realistic speed of 14 ft/sec.
Each side of the chassis is 29 inches.
The wheels we decided on are traction wheels that are 6 in in diameter
We worked on designs for 2 types of power cell mechanisms
- one is an intake with mecanum wheels to center the cells
- the other is able to pick up, store, and deliver power cells

Control Systems

Control systems disassembled last years robot
Although it was sad to destroy last years robot, it allows us to not only recycle the old parts, but it also allows us to save money by reusing more expensive components and parts
We reorganized the cart because organization is always better
We also began to wire up the sensor bot or Kit of Part's Chassis

Programming

this week, our new programming lead and mentor trained our new programmers and set them up for this years work

Strategy and Drive

As of now, this is our focus for strategy
- Main goals
  - Move off the initiation line (5 pts)
  - Shoot power cells in low power port (15-30 pts)
  - Hang on the generator (25 pts)
- Additional goals
  - Be compact enough to fit under the trench
  - pick up power cells from the ground
We tried to focus on a specialized strategy and work on doing it well
We are taking a Quality over Quantity approach this year

Future plans

CAD for cell mechanisms
Finish wiring kit of parts chassis
Continue prototyping

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Week 5

2/19/2019

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Build Log: Week 5

The Ball Shooter:
- The ball shooter has been quite a roller coaster this week. We had it all attached to the frame and the chassis—until we realized the gearboxes were assembled incorrectly and the hex shafts were too close together (12 inches and the ball is 13 inches).
- Therefore, we moved the bracket and shaft up ½ an inch and made the wheels with a considerably smaller diameter.
- We also ran into an issue with the aluminum rod on the bottom getting bent. While the adjustable contraption works quite well, we must seek to improve the aluminum rod by making it sturdier

The Hatch:
- The hatch has made substantial progress. However, when assembling he did have to switch out the original pistons we were using with new ones.
- The original one was a spring piston. However, we struggled with the piston being strong enough.
- Therefore, we switched to a piston that had the regular two attachments to the piston to give us more power.
- However, we had to mill out more of the 2x1, which held it on the frame.
- Another thing to keep in mind is the rods, which it slides on. We had to tap both shafts and drill a center hole.
- In order to keep it exact, we used a rubber holder used to hold golf clubs to allow it to be placed in the vice.
- We then had a 3-D part printed with one side that attached exact to the hole and then has a layer above with a 5/32 hole. Therefore, we were able to keep it straight and on center.
- From here, we decided to use self-tapping screws to attach them and worked to center the shafts perfectly as to allow for the completely smooth move of the hatch back and forth.

The Field Pieces:
- We have continued to work on the field pieces, but have come at them in a new direction this year.
- Many years, we have spent the first week working on these pieces. However, this set us behind extensively. This year, we have worked hard to prioritize the robot and work on field pieces when we have time.
- We have finished the 2nd platform, created the first platform (with two ¾ inch sheets of plywood and a 2x4), the single bay side (19106), and are almost finished cutting the double bay side cargo ship or (19107).

The Climber:
- We finished the climbing brackets.
- As we explained in the previous week, these are very study blocks meant to be attached to pistons which will lift to robot.
- The biggest problem we ran into was cutting the hole on the chassis to large. However, we fixed this by adding a bushing.
- We did end up testing it as you can see in the video below, and it did work fairly well. Although there are a few kinks, testing will continue, and it works overall.
- The next step will be trying this with bumpers

Climber Test

The Upcoming Week:

This upcoming week we will be finishing up loose ends such as bumpers, field pieces, ball shooter testing, minor issues, etc. However, we will also be working in particular to finish the camera mounts in order to allow programming to practice more.
We also need to make sure that we finish with loose ends ASAP in order to allow for auditions of drivers, drive team, and extensive testing.

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Week 4

2/6/2019

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Build Log: Week 4

This week has been quite hectic! The robot is currently designed, the first chassis is driving, electrical has finished the electrical board, and programming and strategy and drive are working on the driving robot.
By Week 5 of Saturday, we hope to have the robot built completely.

ROBOT DESIGN:

BALL SHOOTER:

We have the ball shooter almost completely built. The only addition needed to be made are the motors and we need to test the placement of the rods that hold the cargo/ball the best.
If you notice from the picture below the back bracket has holes every .5 inches in order to all the rod to be placed in the best possible spot.

THE HATCH:

Now, there is a lot of work still need to be done on the hatch. While we have cut some of the pieces, we are currently struggling to drill holes in the linear rods that the hatch moves back and forth on.
However, one of our juniors, Julia Bader, came up with the idea to drill a hole in a piece of wood that is the size of the rod.
We will then place circular collars on either side in order to hold it in place.
We will then tap it. The hope is to have this done by Saturday

Hatch Milled Piece

THE CLIMBER

Our climber is making considerable progress: slow but steady. In order to make a bracket strong enough to hold the entire robot, we are using an aluminum block with flanged sides with a single hole to attach the piston.
- Note: Pre-drilled the attachment holes before adding the wheels.

THE CHASSIS

Our robot is currently driving and being tested by Strategy and Drive and Programming. We are assembling the upper framing, hatch mechanism, and ball shooter separately.
- Add pic of chassis

THE ELECTRICAL BOARD:

Control Systems has finished the electrical board.
With the final robot design ready, they are beginning to measure and work on the wiring to attach the mechanisms.

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Week 3

2/3/2019

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Week 3 Build Log:

Chassis:

We finished attaching the gearboxes and assembling both the first and second :

Ball-Shooter:

We continued to work on the ball-shooter prototype, which will now be used by Systems Integration in order to design the ball shooter on Solidworks.
- Add pic/video
Now, we did work on this during week 2. However, we continued to work on it during week 3 and began testing multiple variables such as allowing the ball to enter if off center. However, we found that this was an extremely successful prototype. It worked 100% of the time. On the official robot, we hope for System Integration to design it with room for the movement of lexan/bars that wil allow us to test the ball being held in the robot.
We also learned that it is crucial to have two motors in order for it to shoot well. However, the speed needs to be turned down from what it currently is.

HATCH:

We decided on the most recent of the hatch prototypes. We are sticking with it, and Systems Integration will now design it.

CLIMBER:

We have essentially decided that we will have our robot climb and will use the Robot in 3 Days design. Our prototype worked fairly well. However, we are concerned because the pistons are on a slant. This could lead to the eventual ware down of the pistons.
While this seems like a difficult prototype, we kept it simple by cutting the ends of a 2x1 in half, so that one side is exposed. We then used the mill to make a hole in which the piston and nut are attached. We then attached this to the top of the sensor bot with clamps

Climber Test

MTR:

MTR has also made considerable progress. We began to majorly branch out with the types of students on our team. While we often want the students who have engineering minds, we often forget that it is crucial to encourage those such as photographers, passionate social justice advocates, writers, and film students in order to better advertise our "brand," contact sponsors, etc.

We are also beginning to devise a camp for students interested in coding and programming. However, in order to create the best possible curriculum, we are being paired with a local charity that is mentoring us through the process

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Week 2

1/23/2019

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This week has 2 deadlines: The subsystem 1 (aka the hatch collector) must be designed and the ball collector prototype must be finalized.

This week systems integration ran into a lot of problems. We discovered that we had to add a spacer to the bumper studs so that the perimeter extender wouldn't intersect the rules and we realized that one of the vertical measurements wasn't included on one of our drawings and mechanical had to redo a lot of work.
We also had to redo the bumper studs and mill out the back in order to allow for the attachment of the bumpers
- The rivets blocked the nut from being tightened on the stud.
Outside of that we worked on the hatch mechanism and the ball mechanism in cad ,and we figured out how everything is fitting together.
We did finish building the chassis

We are also focusing on a new possible hatch prototype:
- The issue with the hatch "duck-bill" we originally chose is that it is too long. It requires a piston in order to push it in and out along with long system pushing it outside the perimeter of the robot and back in.
Therefore, we are working on a new prototype that we hope will take up much less room
- We based this prototype off of the Grasshopper's robort (team 95).

New Hatch Prototype Video

Ball Shooting Prototype

We also have been prototyping a ball shooter, which has actually been very consistent
It can take in the ball from any angle, and is able to adapt
It is important to prevent the ball from being compressed. In order to do this, we need to make sure the hex shaft is at the correct length, the wheels are 5 7/8 inches apart on the inside, and that you add bars to push the ball forward and keep it on the wheels.
It is both taken in and pushed out through the same mechanism.
The lexan is also at an angle in order to push the ball towards the balls. We added extra reinforcement on the lexan to heighten it, make it more sturdy, and allow for the ball to stay right on the wheels.
Although there was original concern with the ball falling out, as long as the motor is on the second shaft, it will stay in.

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Week 1

1/19/2019

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This week we had a few deadlines: By Saturday at 4 PM, the chassis was designed. By Sunday at 4 PM, the prototypes for the hatch was assembled, finished, and one needed to be decided on.

The Chassis:

West Coast Drive Train
There has also been space added for pistons and a possible climbing mechanism.

Prototypes:

The Hatch:
- First priority is hatches because we know that based on the skill level of our team, we will be the most efficient and realistic.
- "The Duck Bill"
  - The Duckbill is run by a piston , which is attached to hollowed shafts and has zip ties running through them, attaching them to both the piston and the PVC pipe.
  - Originally, it was very difficult to get the zip ties and previous attachment from the piston to the PVC pipe to keep from twisting and staying out of line, so this specific design works very well and fixes multiple problems.
  - We cut the bills by creating a stencil, tracing it on the PVC pipe, and cutting it carefully on the bandsaw.

NOTE: (There are some issues--mainly--the piston we are using has a leak, and we do not have another piston of that size, so keep that in mind….. Also. The field piece is not fully assembled and still needs to be velcroed to the floor. It will not fall over in real life.)

Duck Bill Video

The Hatch #2:
- The Velcro
  - The Velcro prototype is made by 1X2's, velcro, staples, a 3-D printed cone, springs, and 2 pistons
  - The hatch is held on by two pieces of velcro attached to piece of plywood.
  - We had concern with centering it, so we 3-D printed a cone in order to center it before it attaches to the velcro.
  - We also wanted to give the drive team room for error, so they did not have to be so exact. To do this we added springs between the plywood sheet and the 1x2. We also created 3-D parts, which hold the springs in place.
  - Additionally, the 1x2 is attached to the plywood through a rotating axis.
  - Then, in order to push the hatch off, there are 2 pistons that push the hatch off from the robot and on to the cargo ship.

The Velcro Video

Duck Bill vs The Velcro
- We chose the duckbill because not only was it more consistent, but it also has less unknowns.
- For example, Chief Delphi tried to find out how well the velcro on field pieces will hold up, and the more you used it, the less it held the hatch. For more information, use this pros and cons list.

Ball Shooter:
- The Baller
  - This is the 2nd priority for us.
  - This is a very basic prototype. However, the goal is to have the ball come in, have the wheels stop and hold it in place.
  - The wheels are stopped, yet they will still be touching the ball and will then will shoot it out in the same place it was inputted.
  - The main issues with this are that the bars are too far apart on the sides. They need to be moved about 17 inches apart.
  - The ball also does not always stay pushed up against the wheels and lexan walls must be fit in order to keep it in place and touching the walls.
  - FOR THE NEXT PROTOTYPE: The placement of wheels will be crucial along with the placement of posts and the exact shape of lexan walls. Additionally, it needs to be decided how the motor will run both shafts or only one, and if they will be attached through a belt or chain, etc.
  - This prototype will be continued to be worked on throughout week 2 and 3.

The Baller Video

The Climber
- This is low priority for us. We re-designed part of the electrical board in order to allow for the possibility of climbing.
- The current design or way we would do this would be similar to this climb video linked to the side.

Ri3D Team FIRST Climb Video

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Kick Off

1/19/2019

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KICKOFF:

The Game: 2019 FIRST Robotics Competition Destination: Deep Space Game Animation

After we watched the video for Kickoff, we broke into groups to discuss the rules. Now, most groups did not discuss all the rules, but only basic and relevant ones such as the ones relating to how this specific game is played, the layout of the field, robot dimensions and rules as it pertains to size and weight. We also re-watched the virtual game animation.

We then broke for lunch and came back to discuss strategy and our main goals in smaller groups. In each group, we discussed what was most important when gaining points and a reasonable strategy. We used this sheet to propose strategies, which were then discussed at a later meeting.

Basic Strategy Information: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AuTmNiMe9044-Xj2Mi9E6bnn36j-ZwWjYDw5I3DUY0s/edit?usp=sharing
Created by Austin Hildebrand

Meanwhile, new students worked were taught about the basics of robotics, FIRST, and the game itself. We had a few students and a mentor explain these important concepts.

Each of our divisions then broke out to work on necessary tasks.

Strategy and Drive and Systems Integration (Design):

met with a few students from other divisions to plan what our robot will do in order to gain the most possible points
It was also important to take into consideration: reasonability and skill limits
It is important to realize that you should choose what gains the most points, but design and mechanical fabrication could explain if it was possible to build or not
Also, take into consideration, if you do everything, you might not be able to do it well
Does our team have the general skill level and materials to build this?
Our general strategy is to go for low hatches, which will be first priority. However, we will also be able to shoot low balls, and will attempt drive off the second step, and (HOPEFULLY) climb it

Mechanical Fabrication:

Used the shopping list along with the materials we already have to make a shopping list for field pieces
We began to work on prototypes- TOP PRIORITY
- 2 arm
- Duck Bill
- Velcro
- Ball Shooter
We started to disassemble old robots
Finished training untrained students on tools
Printed off and sorted field piece drawings
Began working on assembling (NECESSARY) field pieces
Sat in on meetings between design and strategy.
Taped up the reduced field in the commons area of the school, so we can practice with the robot on it later

Programming:

Downloaded software and updated computers

Outreach:

Worked on Chairman's Essay along with other awards

Identity and Media:

Took and posted pictures
Designing t-shirts
Worked on website
Worked on weekly email to sponsors

Fundraising:

Contacted sponsors

Control Systems:

Worked on disassembling previous robots
Helped prototype
Did major research on prototypes and similar mechanisms

RESEARCH

These are great websites we used in order to better the team and our prototypes:
Improving the Team:
Fall Workshop 2018 - Scouting System Development

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYLG_VdM-QQ&index=6&list=PL6j32uphg3L-iMH8JzEsG34QCMrhU6Q7S

Prototyping:
This one specifically deals with low hatches and balls along with climbing to level 1.
https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/the-robonauts-118-2019-everybot/337838/9

We also had an issue with wiring a photo switch:
https://www.chiefdelphi.com/t/wiring-12v-pnp-photo-switch-to-roborio/155795/4

Chief Delphi is always a great place to look for solutions.

We used Robot in 3 Days:
Look at Day 1. 7 hours: 40 minutes
Robot in 3 Days 2019 - Day 1.0 - FIRST Deep Space
We used this to help us build our hatch prototype.

Robot in 3 Days:
Climber
Ri3D Team FIRST Capital Level 2 Habitat (Hab) Climb - Robot in 3 Days

Orange RObotics- RObot in 3 Days:
Big Orange Robotics - Destination: Deep Space Robot Reveal - 2019 Robot in 3 Days

Ri3D Team FIRST Capital Hatch Angular Displacement Test - Robot in 3 Days'
https://youtu.be/i0jO_Jpt9V4

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