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Blog Entries | Status Reports | Thoughts
| Blog | Status Reports | Thoughts |
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Lessons Learned - 3/31/05 - Top
| Another Day... till that Day |
It'll be said again, lazyness is our enemy. We also learned that next time we have a project, we shouldn't include the different class weeks together as one group. For one its very unorganized, secondly there is rarely any comminucation or cooperation.
We also learned that doing this project was like working on a real project in a job. You can't just sit around and wait to recieve orders if you want thsi project to be a success. We've been taught very well on how to work on Steps A > Steps B > Steps C > Steps D, but we haven't been really trained for going from Steps A to Steps D. In between was were out teachers came in. This project had taught us a lot.
The ironic part is that this issue of not being able to efficiently work towards the final step was implied on the very first entry in this blog.
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3/29/05 - Top
| Another Day... till that Day |
Today there was a falculty death, unfortunately, as a result there would be no school today.
Having only a few days left and virtually no fully, or partially even, working robot, some students have volunteered(6 students) to take everything to Project Manager Dave Couture's house to work on the robot.
At the beginning of the Day We Had:
A blind, sensless robot, with a broken arm that can barely move.
During they Day:
The Mechanical team is working on finishing up the claw for Sunny. When building the claw they found out that the claw was too big and the sensors on the robot aimed too high. The claw didnt work because when it closed on a small object, the claw hit the ground and closed on it self. The team remodified the claw using touch switchs insted of push buttons. They got the camera and the claw connected to sunny. They are also connecting the base of the claw to a servo to make it go up and down.
The Coding team is working on getting the robot to react when the touch switches are triggered. When the switch is triggered, the claw is droped then raised up with the object in hand. They are programing the sonar so we can find if there are diffrent objects and where they are. They are also working on finding out what side they are on, either the black pole or the white pole.
The Documentation team is working hard on getting the website up, They are also working on getting the supplementery up with the pictures and videos of us in shop. We finaly got some permission slips to get the pictures on the website. We are working on getting all the new blog on the site and the pictures on.
At the End of the Day:
A robot that can move, sense if its touch something, able to grab an object, and release the object.
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3/22/05 - Top
| Half Day |
The Coding Team members are working on programming the vision test on the HB robot. They are working on being able to distingush the different colors like Orange Green and Red. Other members are loading the testing procedures onto the handyboard.
The Mechanical Team is working on upgrating the claw. We are working on making the claw more compact and stronger then it is now. The mechanial team is also working on getting the upgraded claw onto Sunny.
The Documentation Team is working on the site. We are also working on taking more pictures and updating the new blog. We are looking through all the pictures that we took to find the best ones.
Information Technology The IT team is updating photos onto the black computer.
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Schedule - 3/18/05 - Top
| As Time Goes By |
The team have plenty of pictures and videos of us working, but its was mandatory for permission slips to be passed out on the specific uses of the pictures before posting up online.
Coding Team:
As of the moment, we are testing the sonar on hte HB and XBC camera. The programmer currently testing on the HB, Sek, has a motor and a sonar hooked up onto it. The goal is to use the sonar to detect how far it is from an object and at a certain distance turn on the motor.
Mechanical Team:
The mechanical team is still constructing on the second robot. The XBC robot is testing out the parts that was build by the mechanical team so see if the parts work correctly with the servo. So far the members are figuring out a way to solve the claw problem and the lifter. The Claw seems to be working with the servo. The members is still figuring out a way to make the lifter work correctly. A suggestion was being made that they are thinking of using a switch to sense what the claw is holding. The team has created the experimental design to make the claw lift up. They are building a smaller version of the lifter that could grab going up and down and going over the plate to reach the Bot Buddy.
Documentation:
Pictures are being taken, note sare being written, and documentators are documenting.
Information Technology:
The IT team are making a testing procedure which will be giving out the the team members.
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Schedule - 3/17/05 - Top
| Schedule for Next Week |
Monday 21/ Tuesday 22:
- One programmer is working on infared, when it see's black it either turns around or reverses.
- Documentation team is working on the web site.
- One programmer works on fine tuning the camera
Wensday 23/ Thursday 24:
- Now working on bot two
- Someone will check the web site every day to make sure were caught up with current events
- Someone is working on sonar it will stop when it sees black and does another task after it stops not yet known
- One programmer work on getting the bot to move to the gate without moving any of the games objects out of the way
- Another programmer will work on the bot with the camera to find one item and deposit it to the appropreate place
Friday 25:
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Lesson Learned - 3/17/05 - Top
| Lessons Learned |
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Laziness is our true enemy. After the first 2 weeks we thought we had it all good, BUT WE DIDN'T. What we got done this time round should have been done a week ago. The pace that we are working at now would've gotten us 2 weeks ahead if we had started at this pace 5 school days ago.
Do Not Settle for what you got.
IF you think you got it perfected, think again.
Can't stop, won't stop, dont' stop. Work Work Work.
Everyone's Attention Span is too low, heh
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3/17/05 - Top
| Web Designs |
During the first two weeks, there has been two different styles of websites for the Documentation site. The current layout used now was the first one up, but it soon, the directories was taken over by another web designer. As time went on, no one really bothered or paid much attention to the Documentation sites. It wasn't until the second week, were everyone started rushing and finally put in mind the real value of the Documentation site.
Why is this finally documented? Well 20 minutes before deadline, the web designer of this current layout have neglected the rule that only 6 pages of the site will be scored. Since the other documentation site was more complete and follow the rules, it was decided that that site would be used. So there was no chance to get it on record, and soon after, this incident was buried deep below the surface.
The main problem with the original layout was that it exceded the 6 pages requirement. THe only thing that helped it hold its value was its contents. I had a lot more information and documentation at the time. Just for point's sake, the other site just copied the information off this layout and put it on the other layout.
After, no one really minded the site. For a week and a half that site was "ok" and "good enough". Then it was decided that the other site, the first original one, was to be the site for this turn in scoring. Out of the whole week, its designer gets the duty and only 2 days to complete it.... grrrrr.....
Some Team members are getting bored.... unfortunately
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| Status Report |
- (Sadly Still)pending - Assemble and Finalize Alpha.
- (Sadly Still)pending - Design/Program/Test the sofware Alpha will be using.
- (Sadly Still)pending - Alpha Testing and Trouble Shooting
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- (Sadly Still)pending - Design/Assemble Beta.
- (Sadly Still)pending - Design/Program/Test the sofware Beta will be using.
- (Sadly Still)pending - Beta Testing and Trouble Shooting
DOCUMENTATION SITE
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3/15/05 - Top
| Finally, Sight |
The mechanical team worked on upgrading Sunny and Professor Destruction. A small group of the mechanical team members are still trying to find a good way to use the servos to lift up the ramp. They found out that it inferred camera, so it is used better when the ramp is lower. This enables the camera to see smaler and larger objects. The robot camera is able to follow the color red and orange.
The code team got the visual working correctly on the XBC robot. They are trying to get the robot to follow/find objects and then push/pull them around. While some people are looking to do that, there are some people that are trying to work on the HandyBoard. They were able to get the robot to find and follow the colors: red and orange. They are going to program the red and orange as the same color because they are going to the same place. Now they are working on being able to track Green colored objects.
The documentation team has been updating the site with new BLOG everyday. The BLOGERS are recording what each team does every day to keep records to show what we do every day. We are still taking pictures to show what we are doing on a daily bases. The pictures that we are taking are being recorded on CD's for those just incase moments.
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3/14/05 - Top
| Picking it up |
Today, the mechanical team is trying to figure out how to lift a part of the robot using on of the servos. We hope to at least finish the first robot. Some of the other members of the mechanical team were working on trying to improve the arm. They have made the arm more compact so we don’t exceed the height limitation. Our main strategy is to haev one robot to gather the items and hte other robot to sort the gathered itmes into the proper areas. We are also attempting to reduce the size of Omega.
The coding team has been working on getting the practice robot to go a certain distance. They are also working on getting the robot to sense if something is around it and if there is move to it (trash/botbuddy/etc.) or move away from it (walls/other robot). We are also working on using the XBC robot and the Gameboy Handy Board. They are now trying to get the visual to work on the small camera. Another thing that they are trying to do is get the XBC Robot to identify each L.E.D color, and having the L.E.D’s light up for each color.
The documentation team has been working hard to get the website in order for the next scoring. Some of the people have been working updating the BLOG so we can let the people scoring know what kind of stuff we are doing and the process that we are taking to finish this project. There also still taking pictures to give a visual to the public of what kinds of things that we are doing. We are copying all the files and example programs to all of the computers.
Everyone is just rushing and trying ot get something done. Just looking at hte rate we are working now, we think back and say to ourselves, "Ugh, we could have this done last week". Laziness is truely our enemy.
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3/11/05 - Top
| Multi-Tasking |
The mechanical team has started to work on the second robot while some of the other people are trying to finish the 1st robot. On the 1st robot we are trying to put the third wheel to make it go one way or the other. One of the problems that the mechanical team is having is when there is too much weight on the back wheel axle, the wheels won’t move. We figured out that if we put a small piece on the axle the wheel would spin. They have decided to have 4 “tank like” wheels on the second robot.
The coding team has been working on how to correctly program the servos to move the robot and the robot extremities. They are working on how to program the robots correctly. They wrote a program and are testing it on our practice robot. They are working on codes to sense where the walls are and where the objects are.
The documentation team is still taking pictures to put on the website and keep records of what we are doing. They are trying to get the video clips that we take in shop and getting them to the correct format so they can be used on our website. We have a person walking around every day making a BLOG list so we can put them on the website.
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3/09/05 - Top
| v |
Today the mechanical team started to work on a long scissor like arm to reach the high objects like the bot buddy and the other 4 bottles. They are also working on a claw for the scissor, an arm to grab all the higher objects and then carry the objects to their correct area. They also found one way that they can connect the game boy to the robot so that one robot can detect what item is witch and where to put it. Also the team is trying to find different ways to control the back wheel (directional wheel) so we can make sharper turns.
The coding team has been working on making a code that will follow a certain object. They put two sensors on the top of the practice robot and are trying to find a code that will work correctly. They programmed it so that it can work on the black surfaces. The also programmed it to avoid near by objects such as walls. The avoidng and following function both put together will ultimately create some sort of error, as the programmers already knew.
The documentation team has been taking pictures every day, and now they are recording the members that are working. Soon they will be able to get the videos and pictures transferred from the digital camera and the video camera onto the computer. Then the pictures are then going to be put onto the website. They are also updating the website as much as they can.
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3/08/05 - Top
| v |
The mechanical team is trying to make a better ramp design to make the ramp more efficient and effective. We are still trying to find out what we can do to make the third wheel on the 1st robot to move correctly. They are also experimenting by building legs for the robot to move around faster. The claw is getting updated to work better and faster. Also they are trying to hook up the servos onto the video board.
The coding team is working on getting the practice-bots to follow an object. They are testing the sensors and the navigation on the practice-bots. Are working on how to correctly connecting the servos to a board for power. They had to recharge the battery on the gameboy, so that ended the work for this day.
The documentation is taking pictures like always to keep the website as updated as we can keep it. We are typing up all the BLOG that we write down for that day to put in the website. We are also updating the website everyday.
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3/02/05 - Top
| Laziness Is Our Enemy |
Over the vacation, barely anyone showed up in school to help advance our team along with our goals. What is being done this week, could have been done last week. Having realized that the website will be scored Friday and that tomorrow there would be a SkillsUSA competition held at our school. Basically today is the whole day the Documentation Team gets to work with the website.
Today we begin the contruction of the first robot, temporarily named Alpha.
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| Status Report |
- pending - Assemble and Finalize Alpha.
- pending - Design/Program/Test the sofware Alpha will be using.
- pending - Alpha Testing and Trouble Shooting
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- pending - Design/Assemble Beta.
- pending - Design/Program/Test the sofware Beta will be using.
- pending - Beta Testing and Trouble Shooting
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2/28/05 - Top
| Strategy Meeting |
There was a gathering of people; There was a discusion; There was a pointless arguement. During the meeting, there was a discussion on what the game strategy should be. First there was talk about what the priority should be, like the sources for points, and how should the rebot be designed around that priority.
Looking back, some of the ideas that surfaced seemed to be perfect because if our team gained possession of BotGuy and Foam Ball, that would put us in the point lead, not matter what. Then we realized how complicated that idea would be, our time was limited in developing AND during the competition.
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2/18/05 - Top
| Work Work Work |
Today the board making team had to take apart the board that they made because they made some wrong measurements so that board wasn’t fitting the correct way. Then after we finished the board with the correct measurements we found out that we had the incorrect size pipe. The pipe that we were using at first was 1 ½ inch PVC, so we have to wait until our teacher goes out and gets the correct size pipe. The teams also put all the lines on the bottom of the board to indicate were the trash and yard is.
The documentation team has been working on sorting the different components that we got in the package. The members are taking the parts and putting them in little bags that are labeled by there use. The documentation team is also taking pictures every day to record the progress that our team is making. After every day, we take all the pictures from that day and burn them on a disk so we can put them on the website. We are also using a video recorder to get on tape what we are doing everyday.
The coding team hasn’t yet begun to code. They are starting to read about how to program in the C language.
Our whole team had a meeting today to decide some of the key things for this project. One of the things that we are looking at is using two robots. One robot to go get every thing and another to sort them out. We are also working on some different strategies for the seeding round and the head-2-head round. We are trying to think what we can do for the 1st 30-35 seconds that there is no crossing the line into the other groups side.
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2/17/05 - Top
| So, Whats What? |
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We planned to have a group discussion today with everyone who was really involved, but it seemed that about half of the team was caught up with shop work and was prohibited from going to the Related Class where the meeting was to be held.
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2/16/05 - Top
| Ugh, Rules |
All the team is thinking of strategies to have so we get the best amount of points in the fastest amount of time. We are also thinking of what we can make the robot look like so that we can think of different programs to make.
The mechanical team is required to build a practice robot that they are told to build. The team is thinking of different things that they can build to help our team. There are a few different things that are being thought of: one is having 2 robots and one with a claw. Another thing that they have to think of is size. The robot cant be to big or two small.
Today the documentation team started on the inventory list to make sure that we have all the parts that we need to do the project. After we sort out all the stuff, we put them in bags so we don’t mix them up and we know where they are when we need to get them. We are taking pictures of everything that we are doing to keep records of our progress of the 7 weeks that we are doing this project.
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| Status Report |
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Every has been appointed/volunteered for a job
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Read Rules/Got Familiar with the concept of BotBall Competition
- pending - Contruct the GameBoard
- pending - Mechanical Team : Inventory
- pending - Coding Team : Get Familiar With C Programming Language
IT Team : Install the Simulator/Rules/etc... on all computers, put them into a NetWork group
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2/15/05 - Top
| BotBall Introduction |
Today, Mr. Hobbs gathers everyone in Electronics Technology. No one knew what to expect, other than the 5 students he has spoke to the previous week. He starts out and explains what BotBall is all about. Its a competition, robotics competition, challenge: Score Points and Win.
Very Simple. A lot of work, but simple.
This was the teams first meeting. Everyone in Electronics Tech. is on the team, it has been fitted into the class's curriculum. As soon as Mr. Hobbs said "No teacher may intervere with the team and help you, you're on your own for now. Alright, get started.", the class just went quiet.
Attending an instructional school that we go to, where to teachers teach, the students memorize, we rarely get the oppotunity to gain/use our competitive skills and communication skills when working in a goup like students/scholars did back in the Renaissance and the time of great thinkers such as Socrates. This migh explain some individuals' silence because they have been so used to following a teacher and set of instructions.
Soon we was able to point out the availible jobs and people had to volunteer for a job. There was absolutely no teacher interference. All of it must be run by us students, we remembered.
It seemed that Mr. Hobbs had already gathered the materials for the contruction of the GameBoard. Since the sophmores have MCAS in their schedule, they are appionted to the gameboard's construction.
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