Day #7: Drive Base and Talon Testing

Prototyping

Intake prototype

Students continued to improve on the Intake prototype. We wanted to have the Intake prototype powered by one CIM motor. We designed a system which utilized timing belts, gears, and an intermediate roller to power both the top and bottom rollers of the Intake. This is currently still a work in progress

Intermediate conveyor prototype

The team continued to refine the conveyer prototype. The team started out by opening up the new polyurathane belts that came today, and proceeded to brainstorm on how they could improve the conveyer. The team decided on three things.

• Improved belts
• A Compression device to hold the frisbees in
• Counter Sunken Screws in said compression device

Improved Belts

The old system continued to have slippage with the timing belts, and thought the new polyurathane belts would solve this issue. The team cut the belts to the correct length, fused them together, and stretched them over the place where the old belts were.

Compression Device

The compression device solved the issue of the frisbee slipping off of the belts. The compression device consists of a piece of polycarb which has been sanded down for reduced friction. The polycarb is drilled down 1.3 inches above where the frisbee sits, holding it to the belts

Counter Sunken Screws

The new compression device posed a new problem, screws sticking out of it, holding the frisbee back from free movement. The team solved this issue by using a technique called countersinking, where a divet is drilled around the area of the screw, allowing it to rest out of harms way. This completely solved the issue of the frisbee getting stuck.

Shooter prototype

• The 1×2 tubing was replaced with 1×1 tubing in order to raise the wheels higher so that they would contact the disc in an upside down orientation.
• The length of the bottom plate was increased to increase consistency when loading the disc
• The left side wall was shortened to try and make the discs go straight instead of off to the right.
• The stand for the shooter was improved such that it sits flat without being held down.

• Shooting upside down was very inaccurate because even with raised wheels, the wheels still push the disc up.  U-channel needs to be added on both sides to keep the disc in line.
• With the shortened left side wall, the discs did not fly straight, they flew to the right.  With U-channel added on both sides, and past the wheels, the discs should fly straight as they exit the shooter.

Programming

Then programmers updated the 8-wheel 2010 drive base to work with Talons. It will be used to mount the prototype intake and shooter. The team also made the robot controllable with the Logitech gamepad. A few members and mentors drove the robot around the field with the new controller. There is no new progress on the constant file reading system nor the autonomous command system.

Tomorrow, the programmers will work on the autonomous command system, the gamepad controls, and constant file reading.

Lab closing time was 12:30 AM