Team 1640 2009 Summer Program

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In order that we continue to develop knowledge and skills, Team 1640 is again engaging in a Summer program in 2009. We will meet Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Downingtown Educational Center starting 23-June through 18-August. We will be meeting in the shop area.

The FRC team will be working on our summer projects to develop new knowledge through prototyping and testing.

23 June Meeting - Goal Setting

The team's missions for this summer were agreed upon:

  1. Prototype and test a 4-Wheel Pivot Drive chassis.
    1. Prototype should allow multi-mode drive:
      1. Tank - Tank wheels on each side are parallel
      2. Crab - Crab wheels pairs (front and rear) turn the same direction
      3. Snake - Snake wheel pairs (front and rear) turn in opposite directions
    2. Target a ½-scale prototype using Vex parts and follow-through with a hypothetical Autodesk Inventor chassis design in FRC-scale. (12*18" actual size)
  2. Engage in a literature and paper study of arm, gripper and lift systems

In addition:

  • Paul K has a Vision control mission.
  • Alex H has agreed to learn Inventor.

7 July Meeting

Pivot Prototype - Basic Chassis (so far)

We started building our prototype (for real) at this meeting.

Here are the drawings for fabrication & assembly (pdf format):

Prototype Full Assembly dwgs
Detail of Pivot Wheel Unit assembly
Reverse assembly dwgs for Pivot Wheel Unit

At this meeting we:

  • Collected the parts we will need
  • Identified parts (just a few) which need to be ordered
  • Cut all of the metal parts which need cutting
  • Started assembling the Pivot Wheel Units

14 & 15 July Meetings

Kenneth joined the team! Welcome.

By popular demand, we are meeting Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

At these meetings we:

  • Built all of the Pivot Wheels Units
  • Built the basic frame
  • attached the first Pivot Wheel Unit
  • Performed some gearbox repair on DEWBOT V
  • Replaced missing pneumatic parts from DEWBOT III

21 & 22 July Meetings

Progress:

  • Installed all Pivot Wheel Units
  • Installed all Pivot Wheel Steering Gears & Drives
  • Installed cRIO and Digital Sidecar
  • The Prototype is Mechanically Complete

28 & 29 July Meetings

We're (mostly) wired. We made something move (with a motor)!

Mathematical Analysis of the Pivot-Wheel System.

4 & 5 August Meetings

It's programming time. 'Nuf said.

Posted 9-Aug as a programming tool for Pivot-Wheel:

Programming a Pivot Drive Robot.
Pivot Worksheet - based on 0-5vdc Potentiometer Output.
Pivot Worksheet - based on 0-1024 Potentiometer Output.

11 & 12 August Meetings

Prototype drives in Automobile & Snake Modes.

Carly officially approves of Snake.

We still have some work to do to get this working correctly. Plus there's the whole issue of drive orientation.

Great progress on a technically challenging project, but work to do yet.

18 & 19 August Meetings

Paul (on vacation) & Kenneth have been working hard together on the code.

Crab Mode works. A few small quirks, but basically solid.

Kenneth updated the Automobile & Snake setpoints logic so that the pivot angles are correct (with the inside-of-turn wheels pivoting more than the outside-of turn).

Wonderful progress on a challenging project. The prototype drives beautifully.

Summer Program Gallery



Catch up on other team information at FRC Team 1640