Sunday, September 9, 2012

Group 3: Engineering Notebook

Group 3: Engineering Notebook
  • Progress
  • Problem
  • Plan

27 comments:

  1. Progess: We decided to do our presentation on Swarm Robots.

    Problem: Jules wanted to research autonomous vehicles, but we eventually decided on swarm robotos.

    Plan: Danielle will create a google doc for literature survey, we will begin the concept map

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  2. 1)Good idea to use Google doc for the survey which helps the communication among group members.
    2) Whenever you have a plan, always add the time frame into it.

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  3. Progress: We began working on our concept map and continued to research.

    Plan: To finish our concept map and begin working on our presentation.

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    Replies
    1. Tomorrow is the last chance you can consolidate your concept map before final submission. Plan for it.

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    2. Please refer to the Engineering Notebook of Group 5. They have a very clear task assignments and schedule for their work.

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  4. On September 25 we watched a film about real autonomous vehicles. Different teams created different vehicles which raced against each other. It was interesting to see the failures and successes of each robot.

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  5. Today we began to build our Squarebot. We gathered the materials.
    We are still missing:
    3 motors
    1 antenna
    1 battery holder
    2 enconders
    1 receiver
    2 limit switches
    1 ultrasonic rangefinder
    1 squarebot handbook

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    Replies
    1. Your request has been fulfilled. Please see the following details, and come to me to pick up your parts.)

      3 motors (3x 2-wire motors 269; 3x motor controllers 29)
      1 antenna (1x antenna)
      1 battery holder (1x battery holder)
      2 enconders (2x optical shaft encoders)
      1 receiver (Your group has had 1 receiver already.)
      2 limit switches (2x limit switches)
      1 ultrasonic rangefinder (1x ultrasonic rangefinder)
      1 squarebot handbook (The pdf file is available online. No paper copy is available.)

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  6. Progress: We began to assemble our Squarebot

    Problem: We were having difficulties in the beginning when we were trying to put together our Squarebot since we weren't reading the instructions carefully

    Plan: We will work together and read the instructions carefully to get closer to finishing our Squarebot successfully

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  7. Progress: We continued to assemble our Squarebot.
    Problem: We often had to dissemble and reassemble our Squarebot because we found it hard to follow the instructions. It is especially difficult to differentiate the types of screws.
    Plan: We will continue to work together, as reading the instructions becomes easier. We might have to work outside of school if we do not finish in class tomorrow.

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    Replies
    1. It's the learning curve everybody needs to go through. This hand-on experience will form the foundation of your future labs/projects.

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  8. Progress: We finished the frame and added the wheels.
    Problem: There is a piece that needs to be cut in order for the robot to function. The squarebot instructions say to "Use an appropriate cutting tool to cut the C-channel, 1x2x1x25 hole in two places, so that two five hole long sections are left, along with a central, 15 hole long section.
    Using a hacksaw or other appropriate tool, cut the 12” axle into the measured segments. File down all cut ends afterward to remove any sharp or rough edges." This can be found on page 18 of the manual.
    Plan: We will finish the robot tomorrow 1st period, 6th period and after school tomorrow.

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  9. The progress we made today was finishing the robot and wrapping up the project while finally getting it to work. On the other hand we had some problems with one side of the robot which was not functioning well. The wheels on that side could not move backwards which made the presentation hard. On top of that we did not screw the nuts on tightly enough during the building of the robot and everything was a little loose. The plan now is to move on to the next robot and learn from our mistakes.

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  10. Progress: We decided what kind of wheels our robot will have (track) and began to assemble it.
    Problem: We had a hard time deciding how big to make it, as some group members wanted to make it very large while others did not.
    Plan: Thursday we will finalize the details of our robot, Jules will do some research by then as well, and we will continue to build it.

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    Replies
    1. 1) Can you post the details of the topic and progress of your new robot here?
      2) Consider the weight if your robot is big. However, you can use other lighter materials not in the Vex kit.

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  11. Progress: We continued to work on our main robot and created a mini robot as well. The mini robot will be dragged along my the main robot

    Problem: At first we were not too sure how we should create our mini robot, but after thinking about it and using all our knowledge we known about robotics, we figured out how our mini robot will work and stay balanced while being dragged by our main robot

    Plan: To complete the robot and begin our report

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  12. Progress: We finished programing our robot and we continued working on the mini robot

    Problem: Two of our motors were loose but we fixed it

    Plan: To continue working on our report and tweaking our robot

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  13. Progress: We finished making the claw and the structure of the robot

    Problem: Figuring out how we will get our claw to pick up cans that aren't facing up

    Plan: To connect the claw to our robot structure

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  14. Need to do your daily engineering notes.

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  15. Today we continued to build the base of our robot and began to design the shovel structure we will use to pick up the tennis balls. We decided to use cardboard for the shovel because the material is cheap and easy to work with.

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  16. Today we practiced picking up tennis balls. Our robot was not able to support the tennis balls so we are working on altering our box. We should have practiced with the balls several more times previous to today so we could have had more time to fix it.

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