Revision as of 19:15, 9 February 2013

The control system is implemented by the Electrical and Programming teams, who are charged with providing motor controllers, sensors, and programming to enable the robot to meet competition goals.

("The Amazing Machine", The Franklin Institute)

2013 Control System

Modules

In Week 2, we brainstormed the software module breakdown:

• Caterpillar
  • Caterpillar front leg (1)
  • Caterpillar back legs (2)
  • Skid Extender
• Drive
  • pivot drive (4)
  • Ocelot
• UI (User Interface)
• Shooter
• Feeder
• Compressor

I/O

• 2013 Inputs and Outputs (Excel) - includes solenoids, digital in, analog in, spikes, motors

Caterpillar

I/O

• Front Leg
  • LS indicates down
  • Solenoid Claw grab/release
  • Solenoid Foot down/up (dual acting)
• Back Leg (2)
  • LS indicates down
  • Solenoid Claw grab/release
• Skid Extender
  • Solenoid Extend/Retract (dual acting)

Stories

User story: driving up the pole

• When the robot is turned off, the front foot is wherever it was last and all claws are Grab. The skid extender is wherever it was last.
• When you turn on the robot, the front foot should be down. All claws should be released. Skid extender should be retracted.
• Drive up to the pole, using camera to align the pole with the first caterpillar leg.
• Drive up the pole.
• Grab the pole with the front claw
• Press the climb button and hold it.
• As long as the climb button is held, the robot will climb until it reaches the top.
• If the driver lets go of the climb button, the robot will stop.
• If the operator hits an emergency override button the robot will stop.

User story: beginning sequence

• Grab the pole with the front claw (the front foot is already down)
• Start the motor
• after a bit, grab the pole with the second claw
• after a further time, grab the pole with the third claw

User story: ending sequence

• When you detect third horizontal pole, disengage the front leg
• drive for a little bit (until the front hits the top part of the pyramid)
• stop the motor

User story: manual intervention

• Once the robot gets to the top of the pole, the driver will manually control the robot to get to the optimum scoring position.
• If the robot gets unaligned during the ascent, the driver will be able to control the the skid extender, motor, and three legs.
• We may give the foot and leg control to the drivers during the manual intervention. This will depend on the meetings we have with the drive team.

Shooter

User Stories

• The motor can be turned on or off by the user, and the velocity of the motor at its shooting speed is always the same.
  • The motor takes time to reach its correct shooting speed.
  • At the moment, no motor reversal is planned.
• Press the trigger, and it shoots the Frisbee.
• If you keep the trigger pressed, it will push out all of the Frisbees in the magazine as fast as possible (as it takes the motor to speed up again).
• If you don't keep the trigger pressed, but press it again before the motor speeds up to the correct speed, it will not shoot until the motor speeds up.
• If you set the elevation up or down, the shooter platform's elevation changes to each predetermined height.