Sprint 6 - General Building & Autonomous Coding (Kailyn)

[kailyn-s]

Sprint Due Date: Friday, December 20

Overall Objectives:

• code an autonomous program to score a specimen during autonomous period
• possibly score 2+ specimens during autonomous period if previous task is achieved (?)
• complete the assembly of various parts to the robot such as intake and specimen grabber
• wire all parts and test to ensure they are all able to be coded

[kailyn-s]

Monday, December 9

Today I began to learn how to code the autonomous program from Rio. We started with the basics and began with making a function for drive forward, making it easier to code the robot to drive forward on multiple occasions. I also had to set 2 of the motors to a reverse direction to allow me to use power 1 for all wheels to drive forward. We also tested the servo motors using the previous teleop program, but ran into a few wiring and control hub issues.

Issues:

• all servo motors can't move as usual in the teleop mode, likely an issue with the control hub

[kailyn-s]

Tuesday, December 10

Today I worked on adding more functions such as moving forward, backwards, and began testing a function to reach the high rung. Due to the lack of control hub, we weren't able to try this new code.

[kailyn-s]

Wednesday, December 11

Today we worked on rewiring everything to begin fixing both the teleop and autonomous modes of the robot with the new parts we created. We had a few issues with the wiring as we had to rename many motors and servos and many kept getting mixed up. As a result of our efforts, we were able to get the gamepad controller 1 (which controlled the drive train) to work as normal by reverse some of the wheels. In terms of the arm movement, a few of the coding blocks in gamepad 2 still have to be adjusted to new changes.

Issues:

• shoulder motor is reversed movement on the gamepad
• the brake for the arm no longer can hold it in place, we most likely need to adjust the speed
• when the specimen grabber is positioned open, the servo programmer labels it as an invalid value

[kailyn-s]

Thursday, December 12

Today I worked on placing a sample on the high rung during the autonomous period. Using trial and error, I was able to slowly create a code that allowed the robot to move towards the rung, lift the arm and position it above the rung, and attempt to slam the specimen on the rung. Due to the unfinished design of the grabber, we lack the grip to hold on to the specimen hard enough to slam down on the rung. As a result, the specimen either falls off or only lays on the rung, prone to falling off. We plan to use the rubber green wheels to add friction once these materials are obtained.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13HeNp9ufvnzphAEo1_DtaBIgIj1zrKIn/view?usp=sharing

Issues:

• lack of grip on the grabber
• not enough materials to use to add friction between the gripper and the specimen

[kailyn-s]

Friday, December 13

Due to the lack of materials to add grips on the grabber, we decided to temporarily switch back to our design using metal brackets for the grabber. Although this puts us back to where we were before, we came to the conclusion that it would be beneficial in this situation as we wanted to focus on the autonomous portion of our code. With this design, we could continue with the code to score specimens since our original claw idea wasn't able to. Therefore, we spent today's work period disassembling our claw and rebuilding the metal bracket design in preparation to begin autonomous coding again on Monday.

Issues:

• due to various setbacks, our goal to finish the building portion has been set back a few days

[kailyn-s]

Monday, December 16

Today we were able to borrow the green wheels from another team, allowing us to reconstruct the intake method while implementing the extra grips. With this, the period was spent discussing how the wheels were going to be implemented and mounted, how many wheels we needed, and the general implementation of all the aspects. With the previous prototype of the grabber with the green wheels, we changed it slightly by using 120 degree brackets at the end instead to avoid interfering with specimens.

Issues:

• another team member pointed out that the mounting brackets for the gears of the grabber were very slanted and forced together
• with the 120 degree brackets, they extend outwards, hitting the gears, and limiting the amount we can extend the grabber

[kailyn-s]

Tuesday, December 17

Today I planned to further code the autonomous; however, I ran into many issues with the servo and the values I was using weren't working to open and close the grabber. With this, I decided to completely restart and scrap any previous code involved with the grabber. Instead, I stayed after school and thoroughly went through the basics of using the servo programmer with a different servo. Following this, I did a factory reset on our specimen servo and reset the limits to 0 and 1, making it easier to code without having to use trial and error for every value.

Issues:

• since our claw doesn't open very far, I wasn't able to set the right limit to where it would be sitting open, this means that the value of the servo motor to open the claw will have to be determined through trial and error in comparison to the closed claw value

[kailyn-s]

Wednesday, December 18

Today I began working on auto with the new changes to the grabber. Since our new intake was added onto the design today, I found that the additional weight part caused a change in the outcome of my autonomous program. The arm wasn't able to raise as high as it should, and the drive train didn't travel the same distance with the current values. This led to me having to spend the class refining the values to adapt to the changes in weight; however, this was informational as we learned we had to account for the changes in weight throughout the coding process. A few of us discussed the effectivity of my current approach to the auto program where the specimen is raised above the higher rung and then slammed down to clip it on. We considered the idea to slam the specimen against the rung at a certain angle and height where, following this, the robot could simply drive forward to clip the specimen.

Issues:

• having the specimen be raised above the rung and then slammed down allows for too many variables, significantly lowering the accuracy of the program

[kailyn-s]

Thursday, December 20

Absent

[kailyn-s]

Friday, December 21

Absent

[kailyn-s]

Monday, January 6

Today we were able to make major progress as we received our order of green rubber wheels, as well as a new expansion hub. With the new wheels, I decided to finish our final design with the specimen grabber, implementing four green wheels used as a gripping mechanism. This took a lot of trial and error as we hadn't fully planned out the design, and had to experiment with different pieces and lengths. I finished most of the design, only a few screws need to be tightened or replaced.

Issues:

• some screws are sticking out, hitting other pieces which obstructs the path the grabber can open

[kailyn-s]

Tuesday, January 7

With a new expansion hub, we were given many more opportunities to code different possibilities; however, we couldn't begin coding until we had fully rewired the motors to the expansion hub. We began rewiring the entire robot and replacing the spark minis that we had used for the shoulder and elbow motor. Although this was a tedious process, we were able to go through and rename many of the motors so we had an organized system able to identify each motor accurately. Following this, I went through our Teleop code and changed all the blocks to read the new motor and servo names. While testing Teleop, the drive train moved fine; however, the Player 2 controller (arm control) had a few buttons messed up, especially with the intake set to inaccurate values.

Issues:

• the intake isn't able to close with the current set values
• the entire arm drops quickly when the break is not held

[kailyn-s]

Wednesday, January 8

With the help of George, I was able to add a permanent break for the arm, meaning it wouldn't drop when it was adjusted to a certain height with the controller. While testing the Telelop mode, we discovered the adapter for the servo wasn't turning the grabber. As a result, we learned that the adapter had been shaved down due to the friction of the movement, therefore, we took apart the grabber and changed the adapter to a metal piece.

Issues:

• driving is difficult to strafe when robot centric