Setbacks
Honestly, not too many. Because of our team's modular design we were able to tackle each issue as it appeared; because of our SolidWorks model we were able to anticipate any problems prior to construction, which meant that very few problems ended up stumping us.
Setback #1, February 28th: Bearings Not Fitting
After designing most of the SolidWorks model to work with the supplied small bearings and shafts, our team was shocked to discover that the shafts did not fit the bearings and that to force them together ended up destroying the latter. Several solutions to this problem were looked at, including:
Fix, March 3rd: Different Shaft Used
Setback #2, March 2nd: Dunk Too Short
The rods for the dunk mechanism were designed to be exactly 6" long, combining with a (previously thought) height of 12" to reach the basket height of 18". However, the real world is not quite so precise. In reality the base of the dunk was only about 11.25" tall and the hopper height taller than that, which meant the hopper was too short to reach the basket.
The fix was a simple one, but during the redesign an idea was thought to add a dogleg to one of the taller rods. In this way a mechanical advantage could be given to the dunk mechanism, and thus kill two birds with one stone.
Fix, March 4th: Taller Rods Used
Setback #3, March 3rd: Hopper Falling Far
(resolved with a single piece of string attached to the rear of the hopper)
Fix, March 3rd: Controlling Thread
Setback #4, March 5th: Line-Following Algorithm Disfunctional
At the 11th hour, our group realized that the code mapping our robot to the black line in the arena's center was faulty. All available group members met in a conference room to discuss the problem, and several algorithms were bounced around. These included:
Setback #5, March 6th: Robot Stuck On Walls
At the 11 1/2 hour our group was again stymied by the path our new code implemented. Though our robot behaved admirably in the open arena, against the walls the imperfectly rounded corners caused great frictions that the motors were unable to overcome. Against the wall it was powerless to turn away if the angle reached was too steep.
A two-part solution was embraced to solve this problem.
Fix, March 8th: Additional Case Structure
Setback #1, February 28th: Bearings Not Fitting
After designing most of the SolidWorks model to work with the supplied small bearings and shafts, our team was shocked to discover that the shafts did not fit the bearings and that to force them together ended up destroying the latter. Several solutions to this problem were looked at, including:
- Filing down the end of the shaft in question
- Using a smaller shaft in conjunction with Duron spokes to align the two together
- Using hot glue to attach the two
Fix, March 3rd: Different Shaft Used
Setback #2, March 2nd: Dunk Too Short
The rods for the dunk mechanism were designed to be exactly 6" long, combining with a (previously thought) height of 12" to reach the basket height of 18". However, the real world is not quite so precise. In reality the base of the dunk was only about 11.25" tall and the hopper height taller than that, which meant the hopper was too short to reach the basket.
The fix was a simple one, but during the redesign an idea was thought to add a dogleg to one of the taller rods. In this way a mechanical advantage could be given to the dunk mechanism, and thus kill two birds with one stone.
Fix, March 4th: Taller Rods Used
Setback #3, March 3rd: Hopper Falling Far
(resolved with a single piece of string attached to the rear of the hopper)
Fix, March 3rd: Controlling Thread
Setback #4, March 5th: Line-Following Algorithm Disfunctional
At the 11th hour, our group realized that the code mapping our robot to the black line in the arena's center was faulty. All available group members met in a conference room to discuss the problem, and several algorithms were bounced around. These included:
- Tracking the line with a case structure
- Modulating the motor speeds depending on whether or not the value read was increasing or decreasing
Setback #5, March 6th: Robot Stuck On Walls
At the 11 1/2 hour our group was again stymied by the path our new code implemented. Though our robot behaved admirably in the open arena, against the walls the imperfectly rounded corners caused great frictions that the motors were unable to overcome. Against the wall it was powerless to turn away if the angle reached was too steep.
A two-part solution was embraced to solve this problem.
- A third wheel was drilled into the wheel base of the robot, oriented to the horizontal. This wheel maintained the robot a certain distance from the wall and prevented the corners from catching if the two met.
- A case was added into the code that triggered if nothing occurred for more than 30 seconds, at which point the robot was assumed to be stuck. When this case was triggered, the robot simply backed up a distance x and then turned in place a small angle of approximately 15 degrees, then continued at the point it had left off.
Fix, March 8th: Additional Case Structure
Create a free website
Start your own free website
A surprisingly easy drag & drop site creator. Learn more.