This is our daily log of our progression on our Atlas Stones NXT robot
Oct 13, 2011
Today we designed our intial plan for our NXT robot. You can find this in the initial design page.
We are planning to directly attach the motors for movement to the side of our NXT.
We plan on using a slider/ castor wheel combination to hold the third motor for the crane.
Oct 14, 2011
Today we began building our initial NXT design and we completed the basic wheel frame structure.
We have yet to begin our gearing but have left enough space so that it wouldn't be difficult to complete the gearing.
Other than that we began to design our line following program without the proper line thresholds so we can easily change them later on.
Neither me nor Schneider were previously a programmer so we are getting help from Drew M.
Oct 17, 2011
Today we continued building our NXT robot. We build the frame behind our robot to support the third motor, which will power our crane.
Schneider began building our slider/ castor wheel combination to hold the weight of the third motor.
We first designed our robot's wheel gearing for speed but per other groups recommendations we changed the gearing to be a torque advantage.
The NXT programming is still slow but we are experimenting with using switches and stops.
Oct 18, 2011
We are finally put on our light sensors and got their reading so we can begin to accurately map the program.
Additionally, we began to build our crane structure using the light sensor supports as the main recipient of the weight's weight.
Upon further examination we added additional support attached to our vertical motors to take some of the weight off of our light sensor supports.
Our program is still in its infancy but we got our wheel diameter reading so that we can hard program our turns.
This is going to take more time to program but we are still struggling with the light sensors so we decided to take the risk.
Oct 19, 2011
We are definitely behind but our program is taking shape. We can pick up and deliver the first weight but we
struggled to find the right reversal distance to turn our robot around to go and get the second wieght.
Our castor wheel/ slider combination keeps getting dragged along the black tape and is altering our measurements.
We designed a new castor wheel to minimize this dragging. Our robot is having difficulty turning around with the second
weight but we managed to turn it around and deliver it to the bin. We are going in tomorrow early so that we can
work on the final leg of our programming.
Oct 20, 2011
Now is crunch time because the hard deadline has been exteneded to tomorrow. Our robot is all assembled and we added a
place to put the counterweight underneath our crane winch structure. Our programming ran into some glitched today with inconsistant trails.
We ran our first trial today and received a lowly 18/40 because our robot went on the fritz after picking up our second weight.
I am currently working on making myblocks for all the parts of the course so that I can know what works and continuously use it.
Our turning is one of the main sources of frustration because now not only does our castor wheel drag enormously,
but it also turns so far that it begins to skip when turning around. It provides such a force that it makes our turns like rolling dice.
We are going in tomorrow for the hard deadline in the morning. I hope we will be able to complete the course and get better than a 45%.
Oct 21, 2011
We did it! Well sort of. We were able to get a 30/40 with a two trial over penalty of 4 points. We had to put our robot back
on the course and our lowering of the weights was scrappy at best. Overall me and Schneider are both happy with this result
as opposed to the alternative. As it turns our a major source of programming issues turned out to stem from our hard
programming of not taking into account the line reading. For future projects we will learn to better utilize the line follow function
instead of hard programming some points.
This is our daily log of our progression on our Atlas Stones NXT robot
Oct 13, 2011
Today we designed our intial plan for our NXT robot. You can find this in the initial design page.We are planning to directly attach the motors for movement to the side of our NXT.
We plan on using a slider/ castor wheel combination to hold the third motor for the crane.
Oct 14, 2011
Today we began building our initial NXT design and we completed the basic wheel frame structure.We have yet to begin our gearing but have left enough space so that it wouldn't be difficult to complete the gearing.
Other than that we began to design our line following program without the proper line thresholds so we can easily change them later on.
Neither me nor Schneider were previously a programmer so we are getting help from Drew M.
Oct 17, 2011
Today we continued building our NXT robot. We build the frame behind our robot to support the third motor, which will power our crane.Schneider began building our slider/ castor wheel combination to hold the weight of the third motor.
We first designed our robot's wheel gearing for speed but per other groups recommendations we changed the gearing to be a torque advantage.
The NXT programming is still slow but we are experimenting with using switches and stops.
Oct 18, 2011
We are finally put on our light sensors and got their reading so we can begin to accurately map the program.Additionally, we began to build our crane structure using the light sensor supports as the main recipient of the weight's weight.
Upon further examination we added additional support attached to our vertical motors to take some of the weight off of our light sensor supports.
Our program is still in its infancy but we got our wheel diameter reading so that we can hard program our turns.
This is going to take more time to program but we are still struggling with the light sensors so we decided to take the risk.
Oct 19, 2011
We are definitely behind but our program is taking shape. We can pick up and deliver the first weight but westruggled to find the right reversal distance to turn our robot around to go and get the second wieght.
Our castor wheel/ slider combination keeps getting dragged along the black tape and is altering our measurements.
We designed a new castor wheel to minimize this dragging. Our robot is having difficulty turning around with the second
weight but we managed to turn it around and deliver it to the bin. We are going in tomorrow early so that we can
work on the final leg of our programming.
Oct 20, 2011
Now is crunch time because the hard deadline has been exteneded to tomorrow. Our robot is all assembled and we added aplace to put the counterweight underneath our crane winch structure. Our programming ran into some glitched today with inconsistant trails.
We ran our first trial today and received a lowly 18/40 because our robot went on the fritz after picking up our second weight.
I am currently working on making myblocks for all the parts of the course so that I can know what works and continuously use it.
Our turning is one of the main sources of frustration because now not only does our castor wheel drag enormously,
but it also turns so far that it begins to skip when turning around. It provides such a force that it makes our turns like rolling dice.
We are going in tomorrow for the hard deadline in the morning. I hope we will be able to complete the course and get better than a 45%.
Oct 21, 2011
We did it! Well sort of. We were able to get a 30/40 with a two trial over penalty of 4 points. We had to put our robot backon the course and our lowering of the weights was scrappy at best. Overall me and Schneider are both happy with this result
as opposed to the alternative. As it turns our a major source of programming issues turned out to stem from our hard
programming of not taking into account the line reading. For future projects we will learn to better utilize the line follow function
instead of hard programming some points.