WEEK 2

MR. SCHUETZE'S WEEKLY UPDATE

I shared the design decisions with the students present this evening and then formed working groups to tackle the various mechanical sub-systems.

Item 3 has been removed from the design and the harvester bars and conveyor systems are being designed to achieve the same proficiency without that sub-system. This will save us a motor and third conveyor system.

The chassis went together very quickly and work was done to mount the transmissions at the 52 degree angle needed for our omni-drive system.
Prototypes were made from PVC and zip ties for the sweeper bars.
Design concepts are being prototyped for the harvester conveyor.
A second chassis was fabricated so that work on the ball cascade storage system could be designed while work on the main chassis was on-going.
Considerations to use structures from both the ball cascade storage system and the harvester conveyor to support the middle conveyor/ball cannon.


1> Sweeper rollers on three sides to harvest balls and push them into the center of the robot undercarriage. A linear array of conveyor tubing will move any harvested balls to the rear of the robot and feed them into our first conveyor system.
2>The first conveyor system will constantly move balls to the top of the robot and feed them into a unique dump storage bin on the opposite side of the robot. We will experiment with a cross weave pattern fabric used as carpet stays for area rugs or runners. The exit from the conveyor will be metal conduit rails.
3> The gravity feed storage system will have cascading ramps and very likely could be a continuation of the conduit tubing bent is some very sever series of 'S' turns. Their will be two exits from this storage system. The primary will feed the second conveyor which feeds the ball cannon. The secondary exit will be via a ramp out the side which can be used to score in the low goal.
4> The second conveyor will likely be surgical latex tubing.
5> Dual wheel ball cannon with the ability to vary the launch angle. More than likely the simplest means of adjusting the angle will be to pivot from the ball feed and move the end of the launch tube up/down & side to side.


We now have plenty of design projects for students to work on this week.
1 chassis and then blocks to mount motor/transmission and axle shaft
2 design and prototype the sweeper bars
3 under-carriage linear tubing array which moves balls to the rear vertical conveyor
4 rear vertical convey (must be approx. 24 inches wide at the base and narrow to 8 inches wide at the top.
5 conduit tubing rail system to move balls to storage bin
6 storage bin with exits on out side with ramp and inside to 2nd conveyor
7 second conveyor (latex tubing (amber colored))
8 Ball cannon system with vertical and horizontal adjustments at the exit

-Schuetze

LOG ENTRIES

Fri Jan 13, 2006 4:46 am    

 

We are calculating Trajectories of (ball launching). We also tried to how far we needed to be to score. It was a lot of work using trig and all these weird formulas but I think we are almost there!!!

 

     - Jack

 

 

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 2:10 pm    Post subject: Jan. 16th, Design meeting notes

 

Greetings to all,

A very productive discussion was held this evening with some of the mentors and a few students. I feel as if we have a direction that we can move forward with and achieve success.

First thing, a big thanks goes to Dory Kramer for all of his research and drawing work on what looks like a killer crab steer system. It is a unique solution and worth following up with for next season or a summer project. Time and material constraints have put that idea on the shelf Sad

Plan B move forward with a design using omni-wheels. These wheels have rollers in them which will allow us to drive forward in any direction by adjusting power to each wheel. They must be mounted at something of a 45 degree angle in the corners of the robot. The purchase requisition has been submitted and work on the robot can proceed with a set of standard six inch wheels for the time being.


What followed then was a lively discussion which moved around the room and even splintered at times to small groups regarding the base frame and the poof ball harvestor/collection/storage/launch systems.

We will build a base from using the kitbot frame rails in the legal FIRST size footprint. We will run it with the flat side to the floor and build mounting blocks for the wheels such that the axle shaft is five inches below the frame putting the frame @ eight inches off the floor. We will have the following mechanisms with a few add on features.

1> Sweeper rollers on three sides to harvest balls and push them into the center of the robot undercarriage. A linear array of conveyor tubing will move any harvested balls to the rear of the robot and feed them into our first conveyor system.
2>The first conveyor system will constantly move balls to the top of the robot and feed them into a unique dump storage bin on the opposite side of the robot. We will experiment with a cross weave pattern fabric used as carpet stays for area rugs or runners. The exit from the conveyor will be metal conduit rails.
3> The gravity feed storage system will have cascading ramps and very likely could be a continuation of the conduit tubing bent is some very sever series of 'S' turns. Their will be two exits from this storage system. The primary will feed the second conveyor which feeds the ball cannon. The secondary exit will be via a ramp out the side which can be used to score in the low goal.
4> The second conveyor will likely be surgical latex tubing.
5> Dual wheel ball cannon with the ability to vary the launch angle. More than likely the simplest means of adjusting the angle will be to pivot from the ball feed and move the end of the launch tube up/down & side to side.


We now have plenty of design projects for students to work on this week.
1 chassis and then blocks to mount motor/transmission and axle shaft
2 design and prototype the sweeper bars
3 under-carriage linear tubing array which moves balls to the rear vertical conveyor
4 rear vertical convey (must be approx. 24 inches wide at the base and narrow to 8 inches wide at the top.
5 conduit tubing rail system to move balls to storage bin
6 storage bin with exits on out side with ramp and inside to 2nd conveyor
7 second conveyor (latex tubing (amber colored))
8 Ball cannon system with vertical and horizontal adjustments at the exit

The hard part begins but it is a lot more fun for me. I have the most difficult time sorting through the myriad of excellent ideas during the initial design phase.
Very Happy

-APS

 

Monday 19 Jan 2006
We found a jumper for the camera to reverse the direction of the servo so it would track properly. We also replaced the pan-pivot bolt with a bolt with the correct diameter. It tracks a little smoother now.

We used computer 1-02 for working with the camera. For the classroom upstairs there is a profile for the settings for the camera which enable it to track the 'green' target without getting lost. It is important that a few team members, 4-5, know how to calibrate the camera for the lighting conditions. We will need competition settings saved once we get to the competition, a classroom setting and a workshop setting. They can be saved on the computer.

We also discussed how to use the angle of the camera to find the launch angle. Finally, we discussed a little about how the omni drive will work.

 

Finally, we all went down to the shop to take a look at the drive configuration so we could get a better idea of what we are working with.

        -D. Sean Kelly

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 2:43 pm 

Today the drivetrain team mounted the 4 transmissions to the chassis and tommorow we will begin construction of the parts that drop down to hold the omniwheel axel. Estimated time of completion will be friday if we can get into the shop.

-Lucian