log 39

Senior year is almost over, and we will soon be moving on to college.  The class has completely finished working on their senior projects, and now all that is left is the paper work.  The students had a choice of doing the traditional final or an alternative final.  I have chosen to do the alternative final which includes publishment, a teaser article, a finished article, and research.  I have research and the teaser article completed.  Publishment will not happen because of previous publishment with which DA was not pleased.

log 38

Today, my mission is to get published.  I will first try national geographic kids.

log 37

Last week was the "fine bombing night" or as others say, senior project night.  This is where the seniors got together to show off their hard work.  We demonstrated the VEX robotics system.  On the first trial, we only missed the ball through the hoop.  We towed the vessel, planted the buoy, and sank the other vessel all with in three minutes and eightteen seconds; however the other group missed every challenge.  I think that it was an overall success.  There were a few juniors there that had a chance to test our VEX kit because that is what they will be doing next year. 
Note to the future: Black is a great display color.

log 36

Last week, we did tests conserning only the foam.  We found that one sheet could hold five pounds, the weight of our entire robot.  We decdide to use four sheets.

log 35

Yesterday, we cut two sheets of the foam so that the metal framework can sit into the foam.  then we cut another, smaller hole int the remaining two sheets so that the propulsion mechanism can fit through ant be submerged underwater.  We then conducted tests.  We observed that the forward port side was sinking, so we then screwed on more sheets foam to that side. this corrected the problem.

log 34

Tuesday, my partner and I were forced to stay after school in order to get our bearings.  Here we re-designed our entire propulsion system.  We made great progress in the construction.  In school, we cut our foam we ordered off-line in to four equal slices.  We then bolted them together.

log 33

On Monday, I contacted the four e-mail addresses at the end of the article.  I received six different responses from different people.  Two merely sent us the link to the VEX robotics website, while the others provided with great information.  One was even great enough to provide the packet given to the participants of the AIM challenge.  This was the most valuable piece of information we have ever received.  We are now on the right track.

log 32

Yesterday, we tried to switch to only the land challenge, but we failed.  We must complete the water challenge.  We tossed around ideas on how to change it, and then DA discovered the Coast Guard AIM challenge article.  We decided to base our robot off of the one on the cover.

log 32

Today, DA is absent from class; therefore we cannot go down to the lab.  Instead, we will work on thinking about what is still left to do.  My partner and I still have three major things to do: propellers, floatation, and water proofing.
For propellers, my partner and I need to make another trip to Hobby Masters.  By now, they should have received the shipment of the larger propellers.  We need to attatch the propellers to the designated drive shafts.
For floataion, we have already aquired very buoyant foam that will be able to easily support our VEX kit.  It has 55pounds of buoyant force, and our entire kit weighs 5 pounds.  The foam needs to be attatched to the kit by VEX screws.  It will extend past the claw on the forward part of the kit and two inches on either side.  This is done in order that the VEX robot may ensure stability.
For waterproofing, we need to do some tests, and we have two different ideas.  For the PIC microcontroller, we can wrap it in shrink plastic wrap and use a hair drier to shrink the plastic and create a water proof seal.  We can test this by wrapping a piece of paper in the plastic wrap and submerging it in water.  If it is dry, it worked.  If it is wet, the it did not work.  For motors, balloons will be put around and super glued together.  This will have the same test as the plastic shrink wrap.

log 31

Today, I worked on my press release document.  This was written as a newspaper article would have been written.  it describres what we have done over the past year.

log 30

Today, my partner and I worked on a new solution to throw the ball.  We came up with a catapult.  We will use two structure pieces with mesh netting to hold the ball.  A motor with a high gear ratio will be used to move the structure.  There is a blocker that will stop the arm's motion and the ball will accelerate foward.

log 29

"People make systems work; Systems don't make people work" - Mr. Grabler

bona pas quo- "the good shepard"

log 28

Today was the start of a four day week and the end of a four day weekend.  My partner was absent; therefore I had to work alone. I finished both of the mechanisms for the propellers, and changed around some of the motor ports.  I attempted to throw a ping pong ball with the claw, but in the end, it failed.  We now need to find a new mechanism to launch the ball.  Maybe spring loaded launcher? Rubber band? I must discuss this with my partner...

log 27

DA has purchased new safety glasses which he keeps in the CAD land. We dawn the glasses before we enter the Systems Lab. This week, we have been working on our propellers. At the start of the week, we searched on the internet for different types of propellers and their corresponding prices.  These websites included amazon, ebay, and various RC websites.  Tuesday, we set up a place for the propellers on the aft end of the VEX robot.  We had to move an existing plate foreward in order to create a place for the battery pack which be attatched via zip tie.  Wednesday, we set up the chain and sproket kit that will spin the propellers.  The smaller gear will be attatched to the propeller and the larger gear attatched to the drive shaft connected to the motor.

Log 26

This week, my partner and I did a lot with fine tuning on our VEX robot.  We added stoppers on all side of our gears in order to ensure total stability.  We changed the gear ratios in order that we ensure total control.  We started to discuss how we can set up the propellers and make them spin fast.  We discussed either chain and sprockets or multiple gears.  We also thought about two propellers on each side.

Log 25

Today, DA was absent so we could not go down to the lab.  My partner and I devised a plan to test the ability of the claw to throw a ball.  The original challenge was misconstrued in the way that it was presented to us, therefore we may have to develop another solution in order to complete this challenge.  I believe that one quick mothion of the claw's wrist will throw the ball through the hoop, but my partner thinks otherwise.  I would attempt to throw the ball throw a hoop five times in a row to prove  I have skill and not luck. This will have to wait until Monday.

log 24

Today, my partner and I stabalized each drive shaft moving the claw and its arm.  We had to put stoppers at each of the five gears that rotated the shafts.  This prevented the much wobbling that was occuring during our tests.  This was a difficult process because these pieces were small and the places where they needed to go were cramped.  Neither of our instructors had tweesers so it took a little longer than we wanted.

log 23

Today, we worked a little backwards today. It has been all about the gear ratio since my partner, the structural engineer, discovered the magic of gear ratios.  If a small gear is directly attatched to the shaft and a larger gear is attatched to an apparatus, then the device will move slowly and accurately; vise versa.  Today, the wrist of the claw was remodeled with new knowledge of gear ratios in mind. Tomorrow, we'll do something to something to make that more accurate and stable.

log 22

Today, my partner and I changed the gear ratio on the base of the claw's arm.  We had no control over how fast the arm went because the shaft rotated too quickly.  This lower gear ratio allowed for more control over the intense power of the VEX 269 two wire motor.

log 21

Yesterday, my partner and I re-worked the design for our claw arm.  The arm had too much power behind it to be controlled by the simple remote.  We need more gears to lower the gear ratio.