Competition

We finished the design expo competition in 4th place and also received an award for best manufacturing.

We never ran the roller due to unprovoked triggering of the timing system during testing, and fear it may malfunction causing us to be disqualified. However, we ran it after the competition, and were pleased to see it ran just as expected.

Intro Video!

Here's our intro video for the Tech fair on Thursday:



The video was done with some some interesting rigs, kind of like this:

Top of the box with batteries as rollers, a wooden plank for the slider, and doorstops to change the angle of the camera.

Project Update

We have passed our MS9 due date and were able to run both Autobot and Decepticon on Monday (12/5/11). We have resolved the last few problems we have encountered which include the coupling between the motor and the drive shaft as well as the timing circuit. Decepticon’s sizing wasn’t exactly as expected, and since we had extra acrylic, we decided to laser cut a new body for decepticon to ensure that its defensive purposes will succeed. Today (12/6/11) we have been in the lab using the controller to test our machine’s maneuvering and review our strategy for the competition tomorrow. While testing Autobot, we learned that it was much quicker than expected. Therefore, we have decided after calculations and consideration that it would be advantageous and safer if for the seeding round, we go after all of the front balls (on both our side and opponents side) and then the balls at the base of the tower. With our speed, we should be able to pick up a significant amount of balls this way. Also, because we will be running unopposed, we will be able to get every ball on the front of the arena. This altered strategy provides a safer way to ensure that we get seeded high for the tournament on Thursday.

Our robot introduction video is in the works and will be ready to be played during the competition tomorrow. The final bill of materials is being produced and corrected, and everyone on our team is preparing for the tournament on Thursday.

Manufacturing update

We were not happy with the way the acrylic side plates turned out so we are now  remaking them. There was too much friction between the plates and the wheel axles so we have redesigned the plates to account for the problem.

A problem with the laser cutter caused us to ruin our acrylic plate so we traded for another and are currently in the process of cutting new side plates. We are also printing out Decepticon's body simultaneously. Upon completion of this print we will have Decepticon's pieces done.

Autobot's aluminum side plates also need to be adjusted slightly to better place the roller at the correct height.

Late night in the Lab

Printing a tensioner pulley. Had some trouble with the MakerBot, but it was fixed by Brendon and is now chugging along making more parts.




Also, testing the roller circuit. We've fortunately had the help of a brilliant friend of ours, Nick Clayton of the EECS type, who has been invaluable in aiding in the solving of our timer problems.

Top, sides and back done

The finished Top, Back, and the aluminum plate and acrylic Sides.

Waterjet finished

Our waterjet parts were finished this morning, so all that remains for autobot is to mill the bearing holes and finish grinding the right angle brackets we made using the kit 3/4 inch square stock before we can do our final assembly of the autobot module