FIRST Robotics Blog
Day 50: More Pre-Comp Preparations
Driver Practice
Today, students continued to practice driving the robot on the field. Obstacles were set up on the field earlier in the day to test the new drivers’ capabilities.Later, students practiced driving with other students in the human player boundaries feeding the robot balls.
Demo Gearbox
Students finished assembling the display gearbox.
Chairman’s Award
Students added pictures to the Chairman’s Award PowerPoint. Finding the right pictures is a big process in creating the presentation.
Technical Binder
Students worked on updating the technical binder for the Chairman’s award. This binder contains all of the specifications for the robot.
Team Flyer
Students continued to work on drafting the Team Flyer. The flyer is an easy way toinform other teams and passersby during tournaments about the robot and theteam. This is a simplified version of the technical binder. However, after some further discussions we decided to try remaking the flyer with a shot of the robot with the intakes opened. That photo is being photo shopped now and will be used soon.
Programming
Programmers continued to work on the pit display. Currently, they are working on fixing the team page.
Field Optimization
Students started to improve the field by configuring the scoring lights. These lights indicate whether the robots are in autonomous or in tele-op mode. This will help simulate a real game for driver practice.
Assembly
Students began constructing an intake on-top of the Overkill Practice Drive-base made of wood for a drivers to face-off against.
Bill of Materials
Students continued working on the Bill of Materials. Today they finished recording data for the intake, electronics, and are currently working on the hood.
Action Items
- Continue working on the BOM
- Continue driver practice
- Continue improving Chairman’s Script
- Finalize Chairman’s Video storyboard
- Improve Chairman’s PowerPoint
- CNC the new rear VEX bump sensor mount
- Finalize the Team Flyer
- CNC new wheel hubs
Day 49: Chairman’s and Driver Practice
Chairman’s Award
Today students brainstormed and storyboarded the 2014 Chairman’s Award Video. This video is required with all Chairman’s entries and the winning team’s video is shown at the end of each tournament. Also, another group continued work no a Chairman’s Powerpoint template that will be used during the presentation. Finally, the three presenters continued to flush out the script and got to practice 2 times before mentors and get their thoughts on what information should be added.
Driver Practice
Drivers worked on receiving the ball from the human player without utilizing the rear intake. They rigorously practiced pinning the ball to the side wall to force the ball into the intake, in an attempt to lessen ball transfer time.
Field Construction
Students finalized the field construction today by adding the human player boundaries on the side of the field. This boundary tell the human players exactly where they are allowed to stand, which help make driver practice more realistic.
Programming
Programmers were brainstorming ideas for a possible Team 254 mobile app that will feature all the web products 254 has to offer. This includes the hours tracking systems, various resources (handbook, identity standards, tutorials), and the home page with a simple calendar.
Graphic Design
Students continued to program the team’s new pit display. Others were adding sponsors to the 2014 T-shirt. Students were also rendering specific assemblies in of the CAD for use in the Technical Binder. These renders all people to more easily see the functions of each mechanism of the robot and they all work independently and then come together into one finished product.
Assembly
Students began to assemble the 5th, display gearbox. All the parts have been found and the gearbox simply needs to be assembled. In addition to being a useful display piece to explain the 3-CIM shifting gearboxes we are using this year, this will also serve as a spare gearbox we can use or at least scrap for parts if something breaks at competition.
Miscellaneous
Students continued to work on the Bill of Materials (BOM) by using the CAD and Parts Management System to figure out what parts we ordered and what actually made it onto the robot. Currently the drivetrain is finished and electronics and intakes subsystems are in progress.
Work on the release video made significant progress. A first draft was made featuring “Light em Up” with shots of the robot and the double-3-ball-autonomous. This draft can be viewed at this link: //video.team254.com/watch/hhZjlzazqf4JTKXlP62-pq2Q3vi1pTBQ
As this is only a draft and not the final copy, don’t share this yet!
Action Items
- Finish assembly of demo gearbox
- Continue working on the BOM
- Continue driver practice
- Continue improving Chairman’s Script
- Finalize Chairman’s Video storyboard
- Begin work on compiling the technical binder
- Begin work on compiling the Chairman’s binder
- Create Chairman’s PowerPoint
- Decide what spare parts need to be made, including for demo
- CNC the new rear VEX bump sensor mount
- CNC new wheel hubs
Day 48: Organization and Writing
by Matt MacDonald ’17
Assembly
Today, students worked on replumbing the locking pistons on the practice robot to make sure it functions to the best of its ability.
Organization
The team also organized the Box of Pat. Students cleaned out the case and made sure the parts inside the shelves were placed in proper order. The parts were put in different compartments that would allow students to find what they need easily.
Pit Display
The team also improved pit lighting controls. A mentor worked on the Arduino code that can be used to control the lights and students also worked on the website that controls the lights.
Writing
Students also prepared for the Chairman’s award presentation.They also wrote about the team’s outreach events and its basic information to display at tournaments.
Action Items
- Continue driver practice
- Reorganize lab
- Finish the pit display
- Finish Chairman’s presentation
Day 47: Rest!
Everyone took the day off today as a reward for all the hard work we put in over the past 6 weeks to get the robot bagged!
Day 46: Bag and Tag
by Chris Powers ’15
Photo Shoot
Today was bag and tag day, so not much machining or robot work occurred. Most of the team worked on taking multiple shots of the finished competition robot, which was placed in a studio area on one half of the field. The team took photos at multiple angles with different lighting and game objects.
Practice Bot
Other team members worked on improving the practice robot on the other side of the field. A belt broke on the robot, so team members repaired it.
Graphic Design
The graphic design team continued working on the T-shirt designs. A design is not yet finalized.
Bag and Tag
The robot was bagged and tagged at approximately 9:30, concluding six weeks of intense fun and work and ushering in six weeks of regional competition preparation.
Action Items
- Rest day tomorrow- no build.
- Continue working on T-shirt and flier with Kevin.
- Continue working on practice robot.
Day 45: Home Stretch
by Dorian Chan and Abhishek Aditham
Programming
Today the programmers worked on state machines for the shooter on the robot. They have been using state machines for various subsystems on the robot in order to control and interact with them. State machines track what state the robot is in and change the state based on input.
The web guys worked on creating a pit display for competition, where people will be able to view information about the team’s robot.
Parts Organization
Team members worked on sorting miscellaneous parts into blue bins. By organizing misplaced parts, the team will be more efficient at finding parts it needs.
Machining
Some students worked on creating mounts made out of polycarb for the robot’s air tanks using the drillpress and the bandsaw. They later put the tanks onto the robot using the mounts and worked on finishing the pneumatic system.
Electronics and Wiring
A couple of members worked on mounting and wiring the router onto the robot. This router is the primary means of communication between the driver station and the robot. Members working on the sponsor panels took a break cutting out the stickers for the Decepticon insignia.
Construction
The team also worked on finishing the red bumpers for the robot and one of the blue bumpers. A couple other students created labels of the team’s sponsors for the side panels. The team has decided to put sponsor names on the side panels of both robots, and so far the competition panels have been completed.
The team also worked on replacing the shifter plates for the practice robot’s drivebase.
Flier
The graphics design team continued work on developing a flier to showcase the robot.
Action Items
- Finish sponsor panels for practice robot with Jeremy, Mani and Travis
- Prepare for the photo shoot
- Finish both competition and practice robots
- Programming the hot goal sensors with Tom and Brandon
- Work on the flier and T-shirt with Kevin
Day 45: Autonomous Updates
Over the weekend, the software team was hard at work on 3 ball autonomous routines. Here’s some video.
Also, shooting on the move works quite nicely.
Day 44: Scrimmage Wrap-Up
by Vidur Maheshwari ’17 and Joey Rodoni ’16
Scrimmage Complete
Today was the second and final day of the scrimmage. The team had a lot of fun working with and helping other teams. 254 saw some interesting designs and robots over the past weekend.
Hot Goal Sensors
Today students mounted the sensors that will check if a goal is hot during autonomous. Using these sensors the team will be able to score more points in autonomous mode. The sensor will locate the hot goal reflective tape with infrared lights and detectors.
Bumpers
Today the team finished both blue bumpers. The frame for the red bumper has been constructed.
Hot Goals
Today students mounted both hot goal indicators for the blue goal during the scrimmage.
Rear Intake
Finally, today the team finished building the rear intake by mounting the rear intake motor and adding the shield for that motor.
Xzibit Pistons
Today the team installed the catcher pistons on the competition robot and tested them. The pistons will open and close the catching portion of the robot. One piston on each side will move the actual frame and the other smaller piston will lock the piston in place.
Action Items
- check Trello for to-do list
- Finish the robot
- make side panels
- Finish the code
- Finish the robot pamphlet
- Make the technical binder
- Make the red bumper
The day after tomorrow the final stretch of build season begins. The team will have 48 hours to complete the robot before it must be bagged and tagged. This is a key milestone in the season.
Day 43: Scrimmage Part 1
The Scrimmage
By Ryan Johnson, Louis Lin, and Alex Cherry
Team 604 (Quixilver), Team 192 (Gunn Robotics), Team 4765 (PWR up), Team 581 (Blazing Bulldogs), Team 1351 (TKO), Team 3501 (Firebird Robotics), Team 4990 (Gryphons), and Team 2813 (Gear Heads) all shared our lab today to practice on our almost full size field. Since most of the teams don’t have access to a field often (if at all), it allowed them to tune their robots so that they score, pass, catch, and move better.
Wiring and Assembly
While the other teams were testing their robots, we were finishing the wiring on our practice and competition robots. Specifically, we were working on wiring bump sensors and Intakes. We also worked on finishing the hood. Aside from a couple of parts and wires, the robot is mostly built.
Manufacturing
A Couple of our team members worked on manufacturing piston parts, and a couple of members worked on assembling the bumpers. The pistons that they are working on create a unique linkage between two pistons where one piston “locks” the other piston in place so that the rear intake can be locked up when shooting.
The bumper team started making two blue bumpers. Students affixed pool noodles along each side of the wood bumper frame with gaffers tape. Then, they stretched a full loop of cordura fabric around each bumper and stapled it down along the inside. Students took extra care to eliminate as many wrinkles as possible on the bumper fabric.
Shot Testing
As students tested the robot shooter, they noticed that the ball was being impeded by something before it touched the shooter flywheel. Using a slow\-motion camera, they were able to observe the process of the clappers pushing the ball up the shooter. Programmers adjusted the timing of the clappers to push the ball up vertically. Then, they adjusted the power of the clapper pistons to optimize each shot.
Action Items
\- Finish Assembling Bumpers
– Finish Assembling the robot
– Make Robot Flyers
– Make the Robot Binder
– Program the robot
Day 42: Scrimmage Preparation
by Vidur Maheshwari ’17 and Eric Wang ’17
Cleaning Routine
Since the scrimmage will occur on Day 43 and 44, today’s work was primarily cleanup. Most teams in the area will attend; therefore, today’s main goal was to make the lab as presentable as possible. The team finished assembling the whole field to be operated on tomorrow. 254 is very excited and looks forward to tomorrow’s scrimmage! Here is a list of the cleaning procedures today:
Parts Inside Shed
Students started organizing pieces of wood and scrap outside. This was for the scrimmage teams so that they could find parts easily and better make use of our facilities.
Barrage
The current 2014 robots, Barrage and practice Barrage \(P\-Barrage? Parrage?\), were carefully and safely brought to tables on the upper floor of the lab.
Battery battery
Also, because there will be many teams on day 43 and 44, the team organized the battery charging area. During the scrimmage the team will not only be charging other team’s robots, but will give its own batteries to other teams so that they can more efficiently drive and test their robots.
Past Years’ Robots
Students packed the twin Overkills as well as the 2012 robot Skyfire into a mentor’s car to be transported to the VEX lab so that they would not contribute to the chaos in the scrimmage.
Field Setup
As for the field, the visiting teams would need to test their scoring in both goals, so the team added a net to the blue goal. This would keep the balls that are scored from damaging the parts and machines behind the goal and hurting any drivers below.
General Cleanup
The final part was cleaning the shelves and putting away the tools and parts. Organizing and cleaning the shelves will make it easier for the team and others to find parts, but it will also lessen the team’s struggles find parts in the future. For example, the team moved monitors from behind the driver control stations to the area near the drill presses \(the southern walls\). Upon realizing this created a mess as well, the team later moved those monitors outside and dismantled the shelves holding them. In addition, students moved the mess next to the east wall to the upper floor. This mess included the computer monitors plus the lost and found. Also, students vacuumed all floors, including the competition field, of all metallic bits. This was achieved using a combination of manual labor and the Roomba \(Consuela\). Finally , students built a new shelf for driver stations.
Actual Robot Work
Although most of today’s time was spent on cleaning, the team managed to machine some parts as well. Notably, the team got the flywheel powder coated and the bumper to work.
Additions to the Competition Pit
The programming team programmed the collage for the giant display screen in the pit during competitions.
Awards Submissions
The essay team worked on the Woodie Flowers essay today. They revised the latest draft, as the essay will be due on bag and tag day.
Action Items
- Check Trello for To-Do List
- Finish both robots
- Finish code for both the robot and the pit display screen
- Make the Flyer for both the robot and the team (Kevin, Godwin, and Jeremy)
- Make Technical Binder (Mani and Abhi)
- Help Mani and Jeremy finalize Woodie Flowers
Day 41: Scrimmage Prep
Field Construction
Work began on assembling the field today. We first opened up all of the shipping pallets containing the field elements and laid them out on the field. The assembling crew started with the low goal. They assembled the two blue low goals and then moved onto the blue high goal. They assembled the goal including the overhang to protect the drive station. They then attached the poles on the truss that represent the limits of the field above the truss. The field team also assembled one of the podiums for the ball to rest on behind the driver station. A few people attached another stabilizing to the base of the polycarb at the end of the truss.
Wiring
The wiring team, lead by EJ and Mani, wired the banebot motors that drive the intakes as well as the encoders attached to them. They also wired the VEX button sensors that keep the ball stationary in the intakes. For driving and testing purposes, they wired a single pneumatic tank to the comp robot.
Bumpers and Driving
The bumpers were successful attached to the practice robot to allow the robot to be driven around and tested.
Coding
The programmers fixed and calibrated the encoders on the drive base
CAD
Travis made some minor changes to the bumpers in the CAD
Manufacturing
Parts for the intake encoder mountings and the hot goal sensor mountings were manufactured today. The wooden sides for the bumpers were also manufactured.
Action Items:
- Finish constructing field
- Finish building robot
- Talk to Tom or Jared about programming
Day 40: Intake and Truss
by Matt MacDonald ’17
Today, our team worked to address some problems in our intake and truss. We also worked on programming an important system in our robot.
Intake
Our team worked to install and improve our intake system. First, our team changed out the bent arms in our robot and installed some gearboxes and motors. Next, we drilled grommet holes and finished up some wiring. Lastly, we used pneumatic wiring to further improve our intake system.
Some students created intake holders very important to the success of the robot.
Truss Improvements
In order to make the truss more stable and reliable students made a bar that would ensure that it would work correctly.
Programming
The robot needed a system that would allow it to quickly ready its ball to pass or shoot for a goal. The team programmed the robot so it could quickly move through several pre\-made states and shoot at a goal.
Action Items
- Assemble robot with Mani and Abhi
- Programming with Kevin and Brandon
- Finish bumpers
- Finish truss stabilizer
- Continue control testing
Day 39: Finish Assembly
by Quentin Delephine ’17
Assembly
Today the team spent a lot of time assembling both the practice and competition robots.
Students added rubber bumpers to the superstructure using rivets. This prevents the front intake from hitting the superstructure and damaging it.
Wiring and Pneumatics
Students helped finish plumbing the pinniped on the competition robot and Practice robot. The two sides of the pinniped can be fired independently. Students also plumbed the cylinders on the gearbox for the competition robot.
Truss
Students assembled the truss, and mounted it on the field.
Testing
The drive base and the pinniped were tested. They worked well and the drivers were able to score in the low goal.
Action Items
- Finish attaching rollers (and motors) to both robots
- Add bumpers to both robots
- Improve Truss mounts and bases
- Complete Plumbing and Wiring
Day 38 – Rest Day
Today was a rest day at the lab. Here’s some slow motion videos from the past few days of testing at the lab. One week to go…
Day 37: Construction and Testing
by Abhishek Aditham ‘15
Bumpers
Today, students continued construction of the bumpers. On the pieces of cut Cordura they marked 4 inch by 12 inch boxes onto which 254’s team number will later be embroidered.
Machining
Some students machined two pieces of tubing that will be used to hold up the shooting arm on the robot. These will temporarily be used for testing purposes until pistons will replace them.
Robot Construction & Testing
Some students and a mentor worked on the competition robot by attaching and organizing pneumatic tubing on its drive base. Later on, the mentors and a group of students began testing the robot’s shooter and were able to score into the high goal.
Award Submissions
Today a group of students continued writing and editing 254’s submission for the Chairman’s Award. A few other students created a to do list stating what would need to be done to complete the Media and Technology Innovation Award.
Action Items
- Assemble robot with Mani and Abhi
- Programming with Kevin and Brandon
- Check trello
Day 36: Practice Robot and Release Video
By Luke Gardner
Machining
Students machined wood for the bumper and the pool noodles arrived. Parts for the control board were machined for later construction.
Robot Construction
Work on the practice robot continued including more wiring and work on the gearboxes. The pneumatics for the pinniped were built and attached to the robot. The gearbox for the intake was attached. Work on the bumpers began late in the night.
Programming
Our programmers worked on a team hours app, and others also researched and brainstormed the LEDs for the pit in Waterloo.
Later in the night the programmers worked on the mechanisms within the robot code.
Release Video
Students brainstormed and started writing the script for the release video, as well as collecting pictures and videos to be used.
Miscellaneous
More catchy slogans were thought up to be put on the Canada T\-shirts such as “Get ready to Waterlose” and “We came for the bacon and stayed for the robots.” The outside wood was organized according to size and dimension. The shed is mostly organized now and should not have to be disturbed until packing.
Action Items
- Assemble robot with Mani and Abhi
- Build Bumpers (cut pockets into wood and finish marking up Cordura)
- Programming with Kevin and Brandon
- Check trello
Day 35: Wiring and Writing
by Eliot Smullen ’16
Graphic Design
Several students continued to brainstorm a Waterloo-specific T-shirt. Some of them began considering the issue of whether the back should be left blank if the design on the front were of sufficient size and graphic complexity. The rest brainstormed catchy slogans such as “From C(ali) to shining C(anada).”
Machining
Today’s machining consisted of creating pulleys for both the intake and the shooter. Also, students begun machining parts for the bumper. The team plans to work on flywheel for the shooter.
Robot Construction
Today, students and mentors worked on constructing the intake for the practice robot. The competition bot has its intake installed and its pressure gauge wired. The practice bot will soon follow.
Award Submissions
Today, students worked on our chairman’s submission. However, they still need to edit and add evidence to the essay portion of the submission. In addition, some students began work on the Entrepreneurship Award Submission by matching up sections from the Business Plan written in the first semester with sections and prompts in the Entrepreneurship Award criteria.
Action Items
- Assemble robot with Mani and Abhi
- Wire sensors with Mani and Tom
- Programming with Kevin and Brandon
- Make bumpers
- Check trello
Day 34: Scouting and Superstructures
by Eric Wang ’17
Machining
Today, students manufactured internal shaft\-like connectors for the superstructure. These were designed to give durability to the superstructure when under stress. Also, students machined gussets for the bumper.
Scouting
The scouting team began brainstorming a new method of ranking teams since the traditional method of OPR would not be effective this year. This is still in progress.
Lab Maintenance
The driver station windows were replaced with brand new polycarbonate windows. These were then meticulously cleaned.
Robot Construction
Students and mentors mostly focused on wiring today. The regulator and the router in the drive base frame were wired, along with the wheel encoders. Also, students drilled holes through the superstructure and routed wires and pneumatic tubing for the shooter and other cylinders.
CAD
The CAD team completed part drawings for the robot bumper connectors.
Chairman’s Award Submission
The awards submissions team edited part of the entries that they created previously for the Executive Summary prompts and the major essay \(second draft\). Also, they searched for evidence in previous submissions and changed previous answers to be more direct, so that it would enhance the reading experience for judges.
Programming
The programmers busied themselves fixing bugs and issues in the current iteration of the code. This also involved uploading several versions of the code to the 2013 practice robot.
Action Items
- Work on the scouting system: see Art Kalb for details
- Edit Chairman award submission: see Jeremy Tanlimco for details
- Construct the robot with Abhi and Mani
- Debug code with Brandon
- Check the Trello
Day 33: Finishing up machining and wiring!
CAD and Machining
The CAD is nearly finalized and only minor details were flushed out tonight. The various gearbox plates \(intake, front intake, rear intake, shooter\) were finalized and CNCd. Today we also machined new pieces for the shooter drive shaft. Super structure,and shooter were cleaned with scotch bright. Soon a bunch of parts will sent to be powder\-coated. Once all parts are back from powder\-coating, all we have to do is assemble the robot!
Drive Base Wiring
We finished up wiring the competition bot and are nearly finished wiring the practice bot.
Scouting
Today students and mentors began to discuss methods of scouting the game at regional events, determining objective metrics to compare robots. This will continue over time.
Prototypes
Today all the prototypes for this year’s challenge were disassembled and the parts put back in their containers. We no longer need the prototypes and they were just taking up space. However, they served their purpose.
Miscellaneous
We cleaned out and organized the Mentor and Office Supplies Cabinets to make our mentors happier.
We also now have made 2 of the plates for the cordless drill holder. More plates will be machined when we have time.
The robot cart had some extra rails attached to sides for strength. The entire cart was prepped for power\-coating.
Action Items
Finish machining parts for the shooter and front and back intakes. Send to power\-coating as soon as possible.
Finish wiring practice drive base.
Finish Chairman’s \(see Jeremy\).
