Aug 23:Full Robot Testing - YES!

Well, after completing wiring and a small programming adjustment we tested a complete, full 1414A robot today and with just a little optimization work on the roller mouth spacing and tensioning it looks like we've got viable solution on our hands.

There will still be some more mechanical tweaking work to do with our polycarbonate, mounting the backup battery, then sensor mounting and autonomous work, but our early results are VERY encouraging.

1414B and C are also moving right along with their build outs and we're well on our way to being ready for fall meetings and competition season. Bring it on!

Aug 17 Meeting: 1414A is complete!

We completed assembly of 1414A today and, after wiring completion, we'll be ready for full scale field testing and optimization work next week.  Teams B and C continue their "build out" work and all is going well.

Look for pictures and video after our two meetings next week.

Aug 16: Optimizing A, beginning B&C

Today's work was all about optimizing our "final" design on the 1414A Chassis, which now includes not only cutting down excess metal, optimizing roller accumulator and lift, but now also incorporating our "left over" motor in our H Drive confiduration.  We had some ups and downs along the way, and we put in a little overtime, but we made good progress today and you all should be seeing "complete" robot video soon!

While our 1414A crew was busy with this, our B and C teams began cutting metal for their accumulators and lifts.  Again, slow today, but we made progress and should be picking up speed with our work from here forward now that our model (1414 A) is all but complete.

Aug 3: Exhaustion Testing

Our August 3 meeting included a full discussion on decisions for the accumulator and lift, lots of drive practice,and the biggest milestone was that we finished all accumulator and lift systems on 1414A well enough to run full exhaustion testing successfully.  See for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5nb-yjJtpc&feature=youtu.be

Conclusions:
1. Two motor lift with latex tubing assist is plenty - no need for another motor (which we can now use for the H Drive if we so choose)
2. Proper tensioning of flexible mouth opening for accumulator along with optimizing roller 
position are keys for smooth accumulation of sacks.

3. For the second year in a row: Spring/latex tubing assist lifts rocks!

With this, we were able to order parts for complete design work on all of our robots.  Woot!

Aug 1: Inspiration Stop #2 R.U.COOL

Today was our second trip of the summer, this time to the Rutger's University Coastal Ocean Observation Lab (or "R.U.COOL") with the UP Robotics FLL students and families along as well to see first hand the most advanced ocean observatory in the world AND arguably the world's most foremost underwater robotics program. 

Our host for the day was Tina Haskins, a young lady who spent her high school days loving AP Biology class and being on the school's robotics team.  Now in her mid twenties, she's a biological oceanographer and a robotic glider technician who just happens to be part of the first team EVER to "fly" an underwater robotic glider across the atlantic ocean - sampling the ocean along the way.  That robot, "The Scarlet Knight" or "RU27" is now in the Smithsonian.

During our visit our students got to see the glider lab, the ocean observatory, the ballasting tank, met a bunch of awesome people, and got to learn nomenclature of the robotic gliders while assembling them.

In short, an INSPIRING day thanks to R.U. COOL!

More photos from the trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uprobotics/sets/72157630860615500/
Video of student glider assembly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evjTKmbaWAs

July 31: Getting so Close!

Today we completed our first iteration of the 4-bar linkage lift system - with a third motor and no surgical tube assist yet.  We were able to integrate the roller and tested the accumulator with minimally positive results.  Conclusions: Roller position, flexible mouth opening tubing, and amount of non-slip pad on roller all need optimization.  Video of some of the testing:

July 20: Roadblocks

It was bound to happen.  A meeting where most things went wrong.  We made little progress today on manipulation systems, spending the bulk of the meeting trying to debug a control system issue with 1414C's robot.  In the end, we learnedthat the joystick is not working.  Resetting, reinstalling firmware doesn't help and some of these processes don't currently complete properly.  After exhaustive forum searching and attempts, our preliminary conclusion is the we may have damaged the joystick from dropping it and there's a good chance it needs to be replaced.  Ughhhh ... yet all experiences, both good and bad, are something we can learn from, and we will use this as a way to refocus all of our team members on how to best handle equipment and we'll move forward all the wiser for it.

July 19: Positive Progress, but slow...

One of the real human parts of a project as complex as competition robot design and development is that things always move more slowly than everyone wants them to, however our progress remains positive and we're getting close to an integrated design.   Today we were far enough along to do some lift testing for the arm under similar-to-competition weight/mass/time conditions.  Conclusion: we definately need to add surgical tube assist to out 4-bar linkage lift and possibly need to add a third motor too.

July 13: Powered Roller Testing

No driver training today as we focused on hands-on design work throughout our time.  The most significant milestone of the day was our first powered roller testing for our accumulation system after the roller was wrapped in no slip pad.  We tested handheld using the temporary frame mount.  Not too flashy a set of tests, but they did show that we should continue forward with this system.  Here's a short video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TChcbBz9Pjk

Looking forward to getting all of the systems integrated together.

July 10 Meeting: Back at it

Today arm/lift work continued for our four bar linkage as well as work on the accumulator roller and driver practice continued as well.  Arm/lift is now powered by two motors and a 7:1 gear reduction (84:12) which was the determined target ratio based on earlier lift testing with our Gateway robot.  The accumulator roller prototype is now mounted to a temporary frame for initial testing purposes.  In all, one of those solid workmanlike meetings thatwill certainly pay off in the long run.

Why Bother? July 9th @ Drexel

In the grand scheme of things, other than competing to "win", why would a team bother participating in VRC?  Simple ... so students can learn and be inspired to consider pursuing a career in the STEM fields.  Well, competing alone without knowing what opportunities exist won't get it done.  So this summer we scheduled a series of visits to expose our students to the possibilities that lie ahead of them.

Today, that meant a visit to Drexel University's College of Engineering in Philly, where we learned about the overall Engineering program at Drexel, visited robotics and race car team labs, got a guided tour of the nanophotonics operation, and saw presentations from a variety of the engineering departments.  Special thanks to Weena Doyle for coordinating our visit and to all the Drexel staff members and students who took time from their schedules for us.  Our visiting students and parents certainly good a great inside look at the Drexel experience, which serves as a great motivator for us all.

July 6: Manipulator Design Execution Begins

Today we made a VERY important decision:
To design, build, and fully prototype of lift and accumulation systems on one of our team's chassis, while we continue driver practice on the other two.  From this point until these systems are complete students will switch out between designing and building to driver practice and back again. 

With our remaining meeting time we were able to assemble our full set of troughs (thanks to an anonymous donation), get in a lot of full field driver practice, begin build on our FRC-style roller for accumulation, and - borrowing a little from past New Zealand type 4-bar linkages - get the key elements of our lift in place.

July 3rd Meeting: Driver Competition

With the 4th of July holiday upon us, we decided to suspend design work and focus on our driver skills by setting up a competition.  Each student had to flawlessly complete a sepentine course without touching sacks or driving off of the tile surface and set a time.  It was fun, it was competitive, and after more than an hour of students refining their skills and lowering the best time to beat the coach posted the best time of all.  However, the important part of the day was finding one more way of refining driver skill while having fun.  Mission accomplished, happy 4th!

Blog Info Blackout Lifted: Sorry!

We know some folks like following our blog and it's been a little over a month since our last post.  Sorry, sometimes life happens and we get behind.  However, all of our archived info is ready to roll out and I'll start putting up blog posts just as if they had been made in a more timely fashion, covering meetings on July 3, 6, 10, 13, 19, 20, 31, and Aug 3 as well as reports on trips to Drexel Engineering and the Rutgers Univ Coastal Ocean Observatory Lab's Underwater Robotics Program.

-Kressly