The manufacturing team was hard at work today on the mill, lathe and CNC mill. We made countless shafts and spacers, several major CNC'd parts that need to be powdercoated and worked on endcaps and the elevator second stage side rails on the manual mill.
Design & Prototyping
The design and prototyping groups were busy today working on their iteration of the minibot design. With this design, they are trying to make the robot as lightweight and fast as possible utilizing several minibot-legal custom parts including a sheet metal frame. The prototype was not yet completed.
Programming & Controls
The programming & controls team was working on a number of tasks today including preparing our new Custom Controls Interface for interfacing with the software. Furthermore, they are working on the simulator and working to setup the new 2011 wireless bridge.
Today was our second day off of the season. We're trying to take Sundays off so that team members have time to get all their homework done and just take a break from robotics.
Although there was no regular meeting at the lab, our sister team 1868 was meeting, so the mentors were still in and the CNC machine kept running. The arm tubes were completed today and will be ready for welding tomorrow.
Today, the programming team was hard at work on a number of projects. Their PID control of the robot is starting to work aweseome and the robot is at the point where it can traverse the whole field while only turning 1° (this translates to a ~1" left-right difference from perfectly straight)
Furthermore, Daniel was able to implement motion control as a new method of controlling the robot. Using a PS3 controller, he has full control of the robot's drivetrain, as demonstrated in the video below.
Prototyping
The prototyping group was hard at work today working on a completely new minibot prototype. After a review of the engineering design process, they worked on a new design that should deploy onto the pole even easier than any of the other prototypes. The design is slow and climbs the pole in about ten seconds, but is a step forward as far as deployment goes.
Manufacturing
Today, the manufacturing team was working on a number of parts. They finished the carriage bearing blocks and grabber piston mount pieces. Furthermore, the group was able to machine the short plugs for the arm pivot tube and the arm pivot tubes. Finally, they turned the polycarbonate spool body for the elevator spool.
Today, the minibot group worked to put their minibot design into the computer. Furthermore, another group worked on finalizing the arm design. It was decided that the arm would need to be longer in order to properly grab the tube.
Manufacturing
The manufacturing team was working hard today to finish some parts. The parts are coming along great and we hope to finish all welded parts by tomorrow.
Programming
Today, the programming team was hard at work installing another encoder so that they can better drive in straight lines.
Today, the minibot prototyping group continued to work on their small prototype utilizing small, machined concave-style wheels. They attached tread to the wheels and worked on weight distribution.
Manufacturing
Today, the manufacturing team was working on all of our machines in the lab. The lathe group worked on drive gearbox spacers. The mill team was drilling holes and preparing the rear supports for the elevator. Finally, the CNC group was milling several gusset plates for the elevator rear supports.
At the end, we were able to assemble one of the drivetrain rear supports.
Programming
Today, the programming team was here working on several crucial parts of the code. Groups were working on the robot, simulator and dashboard.
Today, the prototyping team was hard at work on another minibot prototype. This prototype has had much of the weight removed in order to speed ascension times.
Manufacturing
Today, the manufacturing team worked to finish the drivetrain cams and start several superstructure gusset plates and gearbox spacers.
Programming
The programming team worked today on their straight drive code.
Design
Today, the design team worked on finalizing a list of bearings for the robot and parts to be manufactured. Furthermore, the team worked to detail the arm gearboxes, belts and rollers.
Today was our 2011 Critical Design Review (CDR). The CDR follows the Preliminary Design Review and includes nearly completed detailed designs. Many of the items presented may already be complete or in progress. This review phase is considered critical because it is at a point in the schedule where the detailed design should be complete and manufacturing is partially in progress, costs and completion dates are better known, and the remaining details have been worked through to ensure on time and thorough completion of the project fulfilling the objectives outlined in the PDR. It is critical in the sense that any unforeseen hurdles, oversights, delays in schedule, or design challenges may cause the project to be delayed or become unsuccessful. This review gives the key players (mentors, sponsors, and involved students) the opportunity to address concerns and to give a critical analysis of the design decisions made and the path forward being taken to ensure their time, money, and resources are being spent in the best possible manner.
Prototyping
Today, the prototyping team was hard at work working on the minibot. They developed a new concept for a clamping latch which has functioned well in the prototype tests.
Programming & Controls
Today, the programming team reached several major milestones. The simulator team successfully modeled a basic dead-reckoning autonomous mode. Furthermore, the robot team was able to successfully control Onslaught's pneumatic system.
The controls team also came up with a preliminary list of sensors for the robot.
2 Drivetrain Encoders
Drivetrain Gyro
Elevator Encoder
Arm Potentiometer
2 Roller Encoders
Roller Limit Switch
Manufacturing
Today, the manufacturing and assembly team was very hard at work. We received the water jetted base plates from our sponsor BAE systems and assembled the frames. On the mill, the team was working on several parts for the elevator.
Tomorrow, we will bring our first batches of parts to the anodize and welding sponsors.
The design of the robot is coming along spectacularly. Since Saturday, we have continued the detail work on the various robot gearboxes and have continued on into Subsystem #4: Minibot Deployment. We have decided to build a secondary linear slider that will extend out the back of the robot, very similar to a horizontal version of our elevator.
We are building this instead of buying COTS linear sliders because off the shelf aluminum linear sliders cost upwards of $150 each and will struggle to get the kind of extension that is needed to get outside of the robot bumper zone.
Furthermore, we have begun the long and painstaking process of going through the models and picking out each and every fastener that is needed. We then must search the lab for the fasteners and if needed, add them to an order list.
Manufacturing
The manufacturing team was very busy today working on a myriad of parts. From tube standoffs to spacers and plugs, a number of parts came off the production lines on the bandsaw, shear, mill, lathe and CNC mill.
Prototyping
The minibot prototyping group was hard at work today changing up the design of the minibot. They are experimenting with different tread to see how it affects the climbing. Unfortunately, they blew a fuse on the minibot battery, so they are testing with an underpowered VEX battery for now.
Programming
The programming team has been hard at work! The robot team is working to implement PID control of the robot to ensure perfectly straight driving during autonomous. Furthermore, today they started looking at implementing control of the pneumatic systems of the robot.
Furthermore, the simulator team has successfully added a 3D view to the robot simulator and modeled the entire playing field and a mock-up of our robot with an elevator and an arm. The mock-up has the ability to hold on to tubes and score them on scoring pegs in all three dimensions of beautiful wireframe rendering.
