Close-ups of our 2014 Robot Here is a series of photos showing the details of our 2014 robot - it doesn't have the bumpers on it, and the electrical board was reorganized after these photos were done, but it's basic look is the same as the final product.
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Now that our robot is bagged and tagged we will be spending time working on building another bot with which to test code. It won't be identical to our gorgeous finished 2014 Robot, but it will have enough functionality to allow us to work on code and some other things. It will also give us more opportunity to work with team members on the various details of the robot, teaching them more about electrical and mechanical issues.
In addition to working on the code we will be preparing our Pit for the tournaments, making our banner, poster boards, and a lot of other materials that we will hand out during the tournaments. It will be an excellent time for the team members to refresh their memories of all the amazing things we've accomplished over the 2014 Build Season. Last Night, Lots of Junk Food, Time to Test Code! Well, the Big End Of Build Season is upon us! The team is gathered around the robot, making small adjustments and ensuring the wiring is accurate and placed correctly. The time to TEST CODE is here! We are now starting the time consuming yet critical process of testing the JAVA code that will control each aspect of the robot's movement and function.
Redoing the Electrical Board to Make Things Neater and Easier to Access Our mentor Eli came and realized that we needed to redo our electrical board so that we would be able to access the board during competitions. There were many confusing and muddled wires so Eli helped the team members redo the wiring in a logical and safe way.
There are definitely challenges in having a compact robot. Some of those include the necessity to organize all wires, pneumatics and cylinders so that nothing gets crimped or destroyed. 3D Photosynth of our Robot! Here is a photosynth of our robot on Monday, 2/17/14, the day before the last day of build season 2014. This allows you to zoom in and around the robot, viewing details and getting a 3D view. This is a wonderful addition to our media library of information about the robot.
Detail Work at the End of Build Season The Team Illusion 4464 Mechanical, Electrical and Controls team are now working on the precise detail work. Many very small changes are necessary as parts are put onto the robot. When one part is successfully attached the robot it often necessitates the adjustment of another part's placement. This is very important in the creation of such a compact robot.
We Can ALMOST See the Final Product! Team Illusion 4464 in coming into the final stage of the 2014 build season. We are very busy with the fine tuning of the robot, including placing the various electrical and pneumatic components onto the aluminum frame. This involves a lot of drilling onto the frame in tight spaces. This year's robot is very short and compact and we are having to work in much smaller spaces. This is proving to be quite a challenge.
We are also designing the final bumper system, something that LOOKS simple but is far from simple. We have a wonderful two colored bumper system that means we don't have to switch entire bumpers between matches at a tournament. this is a huge time saver. Team Illusion 4464 has been helping Team FRC Team 5269 Sonic Sci-Borgs of JFK High School during their Rookie year. We have invited them to various meetings at our location, including safety meetings, strategy and design meetings. In addition, two of our team members have worked at the Team 5269 location in the last part of build season 2014, assisting with the electrical board and some of the building of the robot's outer structure. Our business team helped advise them on website design and multimedia presentations.
Caleb was able to identify the fact that the electrical board's wiring was not of thick enough gauge while Chenelle was able to discover some small JAVA script issues. Both Caleb and Chenelle helped them build the foldable sides to their robot. On Friday night we spent time cleaning our work space as well as working on business and mechanical issues. The business team was assisted by college mentors with their ten mini essays for the Chairman's Award. Thomas worked hard on creating the 4-H Club Pledge Poster. Joe, Kent and Reed worked with mentors Kanay, Eli, Ori and Nitay on attaching the newly welded aluminum roller and catapult mechanisms. After getting the roller arms attached and applying power, it became obvious that the was too much power in the motor and it needed to be attenuated through the use of a motor controller or replaced with a less powerful motor. Today we concentrated on getting the electrical board built, the gears greased and the code working with the X-Box joystick. There were quite a few rewiring moments - as it was unclear how to attach PWM Cable into the Victor Motor Controller. This is a super important time as the code needs to be corrected and rewritten until the motors respond correctly. |
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