Exam - RoboticsCompetition07

 

Robotics Team

Robotics team after school starting next week

We could use some people familiar with C/C++

 

Courses for next year:

Tech Ed

Principles of Technology

Full year engineering - Level one

Robotics

Build Repair

 

Computer Science

Intro to programming - c++

Intro to programming - Java

Web Design

AP Comp Science

 

After School Technology/Engineering club

come by after school if you have a project you would like to work on.

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1-18-08

Alden Competition

Pack up projects,

Plastic bags are available.

Our audience is in 4th grade.

Behavior counts

helping the event counts

Use appropriate language

Walk quickly!

 

During set up, some of us will show cars to the Alden students and answer questions.

What did you like about the project?

What did you learn from the project?

If you had more time, what would you do differently?

 

 

1-17-08

In class competition practice

We will be going to Alden tomorrow to show our work.

you will need to have your vehicle running the best it can.

The location of the middle school competition is still being negotiated.

Rules for the competition.

Bracket for the competition.

 

1-15-08

Today

Get the vehicles ready to function, Leave them on the tables at the end of the period in running condition.

FabCarCriteriaF08

Basic Criteria for cars:

Check the link at FabCarCriteriaF08

 

In the next period, we will test out the competiton in class. if you need to come in after school to get your vehicle running, come on in!

 

15th last block - Completed vehicles due/prepare for competition

17th 2nd block - in class competition

18th 4th block - Alden? competition

23rd 1st exam - DMS competition

 

1-11-08

FabCarCriteriaF08

Basic Criteria for cars:

Check the link at FabCarCriteriaF08

 

Cars will be checked early next week.

 

Dates for the end of Semester:

9th, 4th block - Get vehicles ready, form competiton criteria

11th 1st block - Get vehicles ready for inspection

14th 3rd block - Completed vehicles due

15th last block - prepare for competition

17th 2nd block - in class competition

18th 4th block - Alden? competition

23rd 1st exam - DMS competition

 

 

Competition

What will be the rules of the competiton?

 

WeeklyUpdate due

If you don't have it done, hand it in later today. Do not work on it during this class.

 

 

1-9-08

FabCarCriteriaF08

Basic Criteria for cars:

Check the link at FabCarCriteriaF08

 

Cars will be checked early next week.

 

Dates for the end of Semester:

9th, 4th block - Get vehicles ready, form competiton criteria

11th 1st block - Get vehicles ready for inspection

14th 3rd block - Completed vehicles due

15th last block - prepare for competition

17th 2nd block - in class competition

18th 4th block - Alden? competition

23rd 1st exam - DMS competition

 

 

1-8-08

Circuit for motors

make sure the circuit is organized and functional both on the vehicle and on the remote

 

Bump switch

There needs to be a switch on the front, back would be great too, that can at least light an LED

The bump switch circuit can do other tasks like start a motor, engage an audio circuit, start a blinking light, etc.

 

Public display of cars

Contest?

video?

Where?

Date?

 

Alternate control circuits

You could also add a wireless remote control by harvesting the parts out of an rc car.

 

Customizing cars

How can you make your vehicle tastefully unique?

 

WeeklyUpdate

Due Friday, include last week

 

1-4-08

 

Botball

There will be a meeting on Monday to start planning for the Botball robotics team competition this spring. Monday at 2pm in Mrs. Lewis' room.

 

WeeklyUpdate

Not due today, include this week in next week's Update

 

1-3-08

Botball

there will be a meeting about the botball competition on Monday in Mrs. Lewis' room

 

Motion

Sensors

Is your remote working properly, both motors forward and backward?

Bump switch on front turning on or off an led (to start)

 

12-20-07

Lighting

Add indicators for each motor forward and backward.

 

Additional circuits

If there is a circuit you want to try, speak with Mr. Connors for supplies and ideas. You will probably need to custom design a circuit board to make it permanent. There are nice little switches in old computer mice that can be added as sensors to detect contact.

 

Movement

Your vehicle should move confidently across the table or floor. It will be controlled by your remote control, but you could add other circuits to control it.

 

Botball.org

There are a couple of slots available for a two day conference to get training for Botball, a robotics competition.

Here is a link to a video explaining last year's contest - http://files.kipr.org/botball.org/movies/BB07-game-BOSSKv1-320x240.mov

Here are some photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/botguy/sets/72157594499366666/

 

WeeklyUpdate

due at the start of class.

 

12-19-07

Laser cut pulleys

There are some left if you want to try them. You will need to add a groove to it to hold the rubber band/drivebelt.

 

Lighting

Add indicators for each motor forward and backward.

 

Additional circuits

If there is a circuit you want to try, speak with Mr. Connors for supplies and ideas. You will probably need to custom design a circuit board to make it permanent. There are nice little switches in old computer mice that can be added as sensors to detect contact.

 

Movement

Your vehicle should move confidently across the table or floor. It will be controlled by your remote control, but you could add other circuits to control it.

 

WeeklyUpdate

Due tomorrow at the start of class.

 

 

12-17-07

Laser cut pulley stock

If you would like to try out the 4 inch pulleys, there are a number of them available.

You will need to carve a groove into the rim of the pulley to hold the drive belt.

You will need to get the axle into the hole in the center of the wheel.

 

Lighting

Run a set of lights from one motor to indicate forward and backward. When that motor is done, you will do the same with the other motor. With a 9 volt power supply, you will need to put a 100 ohm resistor in series with the LED. Check the Electricity Circuits books for other circuit ideas.

 

Bump Switches

You can use a bump switch harvested from a computer mouse to create sensing. You can use the switch to trigger a number of different circuits. Check with Mr. Connors for ideas of what your sensor triggered circuit can do.

 

Movement

Your group should continue to make sure your vehicle can move. This means your remote should function properly, and you should be able to have the motors drive the wheels.

 

12-14-07

Lighting

Run a set of lights from one motor to indicate forward and backward. When that motor is done, you will do the same with the other motor.

 

Bump Switches

You can use a bump switch harvested from a computer mouse to create sensing. You can use the switch to trigger a number of different circuits. Check with Mr. Connors for ideas of what your sensor triggered circuit can do.

 

Movement

Your group should continue to make sure your vehicle can move. This means your remote should function properly, and you should be able to have the motors drive the wheels.

 

WeeklyUpdate

Due at start of period. You can hand it in late, but you shouldn't be working on it during class.

 

12-12-07

Lighting

Each car should have a set of lights to indicate the direction of the motors. Think of them as headlights and taillights. When the car is running forward, the front lights should be on, same with backward.

 

Bump switches

You will also need to arrange a pressure switch that will indicate when your vehicle has hit something. Initially, you should set it up so that it turns on an LED when contact is made.

 

Division of labor

If one person keeps working on the motion portion, the other partner can begin to design and fabricate the electric circuitry. Each person should be gainfully employed.

 

WeeklyUpdate

Due Friday

 

12-11-07

Lighting

Each car should have a set of lights to indicate the direction of the motors. Think of them as headlights and taillights. When the car is running forward, the front lights should be on, same with backward.

 

Bump switches

You will also need to arrange a pressure switch that will indicate when your vehicle has hit something. Initially, you should set it up so that it turns on an LED when contact is made.

 

Division of labor

If one person keeps working on the motion portion, the other partner can begin to design and fabricate the electric circuitry. Each person should be gainfully employed.

 

Robotics contests -

FIRST – March 28-29, 2008 – www.bostonfirst.org

Design Competition – June 1, 2008 – http://www.bu.edu/eng/design/

MATE - underwater robot competition - http://www.marinetech.org/rov_competition/2008/index.php

ProDesktop Design contest - link

 

12-10-07

Pulleys

There is one set oflaser cut pulleys. They should give a more favorable gear ratio for low speed. If you would like to try them, let Mr. Connors know. If they work, we can make some more on the shopbot or mill.

 

Electric circuits

There are a number of electric circuits you could make to add functionality to your robot car. Check with Mr. Connors for information and supplies.

some ideas:

Lights, indicators for forward and reverse, headlights

 

 

Robotics events at Boston University:

FIRST – March 28-29, 2008 – www.bostonfirst.org

Design Competition – June 1, 2008 – http://www.bu.edu/eng/design/

 

12-6-07

Make a list of what your vehicle needs.

you should have:

Two motors that drive wheels

remote control clicker that can drive the motors and all accessories

terminal connecting strips on car and remote

Axle blocks that hold the wheels accurately and let the wheel spin when under load.

 

You might have:

speed control

lighting

bump switches that turn the motor off when it hits something

 

Presentation/competition

How can we run these cars against each other?

Where could we show the cars so other people can see what we have done?

 

Extra credit/sideproject - WowWee class on programming the Robosapien Media in java - link

 

11-27-07

Instructables lasercutter contest - Link

 

Drill press is still busted

 

What does your vehicle need to move forward and backward?

Gears?

Wheels?

Drivetrain?

Electric Circuit?

 

Your remote cabling should all have strain relief to keep connections from breaking.

 

Motor Speed Control

Build the circuit on a breadboard

building the circuit on the stripboard should take one period or less

Use a similar layout on the stripboard as on the breadboard

 

11-26-07

Instructables lasercutter contest - Link

 

What does your vehicle need to move forward and backward?

Gears?

Wheels?

Drivetrain?

Electric Circuit?

 

Your remote cabling should all have strain relief to keep connections from breaking.

 

Motor Speed Control

Build the circuit on a breadboard

building the circuit on the stripboard should take one period or less

Use a similar layout on the stripboard as on the breadboard

 

 

11-19-07

What does your vehicle need to move forward and backward?

Gears?

Wheels?

Drivetrain?

Electric Circuit?

 

Your remote cabling should all have strain relief to keep connections from breaking.

 

Motor Speed Control

Build the circuit on a breadboard

building the circuit on the stripboard should take one period or less

Use a similar layout on the stripboard as on the breadboard

 

The drill press has a broken drive belt, it will be repaired next class.

 

When drilling small blocks with the hand drill, put the part in a vise

 

WeeklyUpdate

This week will be included in next week's WeeklyUpdate

Have it ready to go at the start of the last class of next week.

 

11-16-07

WeeklyUpdate

hand it in at the start of the period

 

Drive Train

What are the qualities of a properly build pillow block?

Minimum sideways or up/down movement

tight fit, but not overtight

Block is secured to the base

 

Motor Speed Control

Build the circuit on a breadboard

Build the circuit on stripboard

Solder the circuit components

 

Best of the systems so far

clickers

pillow blocks for holding axles

terminal blocks

electric motor speed control

 

 

11-9-07

Drive train

Make sure your pulleys line up

Gears need to be close enough to mesh, not too close or they will bind

The bearing channel for the axle needs to be just wide/deep enough for the axle.

If it is too deep or wide, the axle will move around sideways/up or down/

 

Electric motor Speed Control

Build the circuit on the breadboard

Make sure you have all the correct parts

Adjust the resistor values one at a time to get the right sensitivity

Ultimately, we will want to make a custom circuit board to build this circuit on.

The circuit board could be made chemically or mechanically through the mill.

 

11-5-07

Electric motor speed control

Motion

Drive train

Matching motors are in scarce supply - Be careful

 

11-1-07

Electric motor speed control

Motion

Drive train

Matching motors are in scarce supply - Be careful

 

EndOfTermUpdate

Due at the start of class on Today.

 

 

10-31-07

happy Halloween!

 

Electric motor speed control

Motion

Drive train

Matching motors are in scarce supply - Be careful

 

EndOfTermUpdate

Due at the start of class on Thursday.

 

 

10-29-07

 

Handback

 

Fab Car

Areas to work on:

Electric motor speed control

Check with Mr. Connors for some info on circuits

Motion - Get the car to have wheels and movement. This will be a trial and error process.

Gears/pulleys/direct drive

Matching Motors are in scarce supply, be careful with them!

 

Vinyl cutter

Groups of two can work on the vinyl cutter to make a sticker for their vehicle.

 

EndoOfTermUpdate

Due at the start of class on Thursday.

 

 

10-26-07

WeeklyUpdate

Due at the start of class

EndoOfTermUpdate

Due last class next week.

 

Fab Car

Areas to work on:

Electric motor speed control

Check with Mr. Connors for some info on circuits

Motion - Get the car to have wheels and movement. This will be a trial and error process.

Gears/pulleys/direct drive

 

Vinyl cutter

Groups of two can work on the vinyl cutter to make a sticker for their vehicle.

 

 

-10-25-07

Building the circuit on the car

There aren't many spare motors. Be careful with them.

Don't overheat the terminals on the motors

If you need a motor after we run out, you will have to use a diffent style motor.

 

Some areas to work on

Making wheels

Making a power train to connect the wheels to the motor

Building a motor speed control circuit

 

WeeklyUpdate

Due tommorow at the start of class

 

 

Next week will be an EndOfTermUpdate

In that you will reflect on what you did and learned over the term.

 

10-22-07

Building the circuit on the car

Next steps

wheels

motor speed control with pulse width modulation

circuit design and fabrication on mill

 

10-19-07

WeeklyUpdate

Hand it in at the start of the period

 

Mythbusters

Watch video, hand in sheet at end of video

 

 

 

10-17-07

Robot car platform

Connecting strip using copper clad board

Stranded wire from computer power cords

 

 

WeeklyUpdate

Due last class of the week

Thursday or Friday

Have it at the start of the period

 

http://www.makerfaire.com/

http://www.makezine.com/blog/

 

10-16-07

Review of the jumper cars

materials for the wooden car

motor holders

soldering wire to the motors

Connection block for the wires

 

10-12-07

WeeklyUpdate

Hand it in

 

Get Peppy

 

10-11-07

JumperCar

Get your JumperCar complete this period

Use Strain Relief on the wires

Attach componenets such as motors securely

Wire your circuit neatly and effectively

You want a properly functioning device that will stay functioning.

Put your car and remote on the table with a grading sheet at the end of the period.

 

Vinyl Cutter

If you would like to learn to use the vinyl cutter, come by after school.

 

WeeklyUpdate

Due Friday, cover both last week and this week in your update

 

10-10-07

JumperCar

Update your JumperCar

Strain Relief on wires on vehicle

Strain Relief on wires on remote

Make the systems work properly

do not overcomplicate the design

Work on the areas that scored low, and don't mess too much with the high scored systems.

If your whole project scored well, you could either

help others on specific tasks

or speak with Mr. Connors about next ideas redesign/competition etc.

 

WeeklyUpdate

Due Friday, cover both last week and this week in your update

 

10-4-07

JumperCar - JumperCarEval

Check out your vehicle against the graded sheets.

Most of the vehicles need to have a strain relieved wire harness for 8 conductors

If there are grades lower than a 2 1/2 work on those today

If your vehicle is pretty much meeting all the requirements then either

• help other groups get theirs done
• meet with Mr. Connors about a competition idea

Competition

How can we design a vehicle for competitive action?

Rules

Design requirements

 

10-3-07

JumperCar - JumperCarEval

At the end of class, you group should have a car that meets the stated goals of the project

Put your car with a JumperCarEval sheet on the table

Cars will be tested against the criteria

 

10-1-07

JumperCar

Scavenged parts are better than cabinet parts.

Vehicle

At least one motor with a wobble weight on it

Vehicle doesn't scratch table surface

Connection point for up to 8 connectors

Remote

Forward and backward motor control

all power cutoff

Direction indicator with LED's

Connection point for up to 8 connectors

 

Competition

How can we design a vehicle for competitive action?

Rules

Design requirements

 

 

 

9-28-07

JumperCar

Use Category 5 cable for control snake

Have 8 wires on the body which can be connected to the snake

red and black is a good choice for the wires on the car.

 

Indicator lights

LEDs are Light Emitting Diodes

Diodes allow electricity to flow in one direction

An LED should indicate the power on status

Two LEDs should indicate the direction each motor is turning

 

WeeklyUpdate

You will need to create a WeeklyUpdate each week starting this week.

This process will be allowed during class this week.

In the future, the WeeklyUpdate is due at the start of the last class of the week

 

9-27-07

JumperCar

Make a central connecting point for the control snake

8 connector Category 5 cable would be best to use.

Bring all wires from the car and clicker to one point for connection

Add strain relief to the wires

 

Drawing

Orthographic Drawing of physical layout of car and remote

Show where all components are in top view drawing

Locate motor, wiring, switches, LED's

Locate feet and other attachments

 

Power

All power for the vehicle is to come from a AA battery pack of your making.

You can make your battery pack for 3 volts, 4.5 volts or 6 volts.

Some of the motors have higher resistance, so won't work well on this voltage

Generally, the smaller motors will run faster, bigger ones will run with more torque.

 

WeeklyUpdate

You will need to create a WeeklyUpdate each week starting this week.

This process will be allowed during class this week.

In the future, the WeeklyUpdate is due at the start of the last class of the week

 

9-25-07

JumperCar project targets

Motor reversing by switch

On indicator with LED

Forward/Reverse indicator with LED

Remote control, Use either category 5 cable or phone cable to connect

Make your own switch

3v homemade battery box

 

Mess issues -

Clean up your area

return tools to tool cabinet

 

Daily grades

On task

Being careful with materials and tools

Helping others with the project

 

Engineering club meeting next Tuesday afternoon This year's focus will be on creating a Fab Lab with computer controlled tools.

 

9-24-07

post mortem on old stereo equipment

distance yourself from the car - Add a clicker to your jumper

Put scavenged radios and stuff in the blue cabinet for future picking

 

Engineering club meeting next Tuesday afternoon This year's focus will be on creating a Fab Lab with computer controlled tools.

 

JumperCar has project targets:

Here are the things that you will need to include on your vehicle and circuit:

 

hand made battery box

motor reversing by switch

on indicator

forward/reverse indicator

hand made switch

wobble motor

light body that can be moved by the wobbler

switches and motors scavenged from old electronics

make your own switch

 

This list is subject to change as the project progresses

 

 

 

9-19-07

Each group should now have a battery box and a circuit that drives a wobble motor.

Structure

Use coroplast to form the body of the vehicle

Coroplast is a light material, similar to cardboard. You can attach things to it, and can cut it into a variety of shapes.

 

Attach your motor to the coroplast body.

You will need to raise the body off the table with some kind of legs.

Foam legs can work, other materials may work as well.

 

ElectronicPartHarvesting

 

Engineering club meeting next Tuesday afternoon This year's focus will be on creating a Fab Lab with computer controlled tools.

 

9-18-07

finshing off the battery box

attaching battery box to circuit

switching motors, motor control

making a switch

harvesting parts from discarded electronics

using the wobble motor to move

JumperCar requirements

 

9-14-07

cardboard battery box

soldering wires to switches

soldering wires to circuit board tabs

harvesting parts from consumer devices

 

 

9-13-07

building circuits

solder wires onto motors

solder wires onto switches

make battery box

harvesting parts from consumer devices

 

9-11-07

Robotics/science club meeting this afternoon in room 234 with Mrs. Lewis

Soldering video - http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/01/soldering_tutor_1.html

Soldering demo

Build the FoamJumper circuit

Add weight to the motor to get vibration

 

9-10-07

Hand back Front page assignment

RoboticsSystems

Electric circuits

Electric motors

FoamJumper

Jumper video - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8522394199718784997&hl=en

pictures - http://www.flickr.com/photos/connors934/sets/72057594066578732/

Soldering video - http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/01/soldering_tutor_1.html

 

9-7-07

Make a Student Course Wiki

RoboticsSystems

Soldering

Electric Circuit for motor

 

9-5-07

Make a Student Course Wiki

RoboticsSystems

 

9-3-07

Intro to course

Intro to assignments

Welcome back from summer!