One Step Closer

One Step Closer to Success!
January 11, 2009
Today some of the robotics team worked on the chassis; the dimensions weren't right so the group took it apart and rearranged it. In addition, we talked about the programming behavior and action:

Behavior	Action
Turn right	Right wheels back, left wheels forward
Move forward	All wheels forward
Stop	Al wheels slow to stop in 5 seconds
Shoot all balls	Gate open
Shoot one ball	Gate open, wait, gate close
Move backward	All wheels gradually rotate back
Pivot turn right	Right wheel stop, left wheel forward
Save power	Reload motors A and B off, camera off, fire wheel off
reload	Reload motors A and B on
Avoid (touch sensor on)	Wheels stop, reverse, stop, turn, stop, forward

as well as other variables and how to control them.

January 13, 2009
Today we broke into a programming group, chassis group, and trailer group, continuing to assemble everything. The chassis group tried to attach the chains and worked with practice chains.

January 14, 2009
At our lunch meeting we voted on names for the robot. Here are some the creative names:
-colbot deux-steve in space
-lunatic
-space waste
-apocalypse tank
-ragna moon rock
-lucy
The tentative winner was Lucy. However, since not everyone came to the meeting, some students did not like this name. Therefore, we re-voted at the build sessions, modifying Lucy to Luc-E, and adding to the list: Moon Rock me Amadeus, Monte, and R.L.A. The winner again was Luc-E!

At the build session, we also worked on finishing the chain, programming, and protyping our chute design.

On the 18th, we discussed possible chute designs:
Design 1:
simple chute with gate
Design 2: chute with gate, then piston that raises the base of the hopper to roll the balls into the chute
Design 3: chute with two gates, drum with conveyer belt