Adjusted the autonomous code and packed up for competition

What we did today:

Today, Lindsey made more adjustments to the autonomous code so that it worked
with a fully charged battery. She noticed that when the battery isn't fully charged,
the motors turn slower, so the bot moves slower. She also packed everything up
for the competition because spring break is next week, so today is the last day she
has to do anything with the robot.

Next steps...

• Our main next step is going to the SkillsUSA state competition!!

Pictures, code, etc.

Resources for other VEX robots:

Field Specifications

Game manual

Reinforced Robot

What we did today:

Today, Lindsey added some parts to make the arm that controls the flipper more
stable because in the past it was shaky. She also added a place to put the battery
and ziptied more wires down. She tested the autonomous code more to make sure
it still worked and if anything was different.

Next steps...

• Practice flipping caps
• this will maximize our points
• Keep debugging our autonomous code

Pictures, code, etc.

Resources for other VEX robots:

Field Specifications

Game manual

Autonomous with competition switch (drove onto platform autonomously!)

What we did today:

Lindsey worked on autonomous code because she got the competition switch.
She is making the bot turn a flag and drive onto the platform;she learned that
driving onto the platform will give 3 points in the autonomous portion of the competition.
She tested it a lot and made lots of adjustments to get it to turn a flag and actually drive
onto the platform. Charity worked on finishing building the flags so we could practice
driving and seeing if our autonomous code worked.

Next steps...

• Practice driving in the arena with flags and test the autonomous code in the arena with the flags
• Make adjustments to the autonomous code
• Add reinforcements to our arm because it is very shaky

Pictures, code, etc.

This is the code of points for scoring in autonomous and driver controlled period.

This is part of our autonomous code:

Resources for other VEX robots:

Field Specifications

Game manual

Robot moves Autonomously!

What we did today:

We got our robot to move autonomously today. Lindsey worked on code to move the arm up and have the robot move forward to flip one of the flags. We measured how far the bot had to go in order to flip the flag and how long to keep the motors on to get the arm in the right position. We ended up getting all the timing and positions right, the only thing we need to do now is test it.

Next steps...

• To test it, we will build the flag poles and put it in our arena to test exact spacing
• We will also make the arm base more sturdy because it keeps shaking every time it moves
• We will practice flipping coins in a timely matter to maximize points
• We will add the code to the "autonomous template" and test it with the extra attachment

Pictures, code, etc.

This is our autonomous code that is not in the "autonomous code template" yet. We did it in its own file to test it with out getting the extra attachment.

Resources for other VEX robots:

We used this to find how long we needed out robot to be on and how far it needed to go. It gives all field specifications and was very helpful: 

Arena measurements

Finally drove on the platform!!

What we did today:

Lindsey took off the ball shooter to make the weight distribution proportional. This allowed me to practice and drive on the platform.

Next steps...

• We will either make a catapult to shoot the balls or make a ball shooter on the flipping arm
• We will also rewire the whole thing and find a place for the cortex
• We still need to write autonomous code

Resources for other VEX robots:

Here are code templates that include the autonomous one so we can use that in competition.

Code Templates

Moved wheels and tried to get on platform

What we did today:

Lindsey took off all the wheels and moved them lower on the base so the robot is now able to
drive onto the platform. She also attempted to drive onto the platform, but the robot tipped over.

Next steps...

• We need to add weight to the bottom of the robot so it won't tip over
• or we could take off the top of the ball shooter to make it lighter and smaller on top
• We also need to fix the ball shooter and make it a dual fly wheel shooter

Other resources:

Here is a video that we were thinking of basing our shooter off of. It is better than our current design because the ball rolls into the shooter instead of being lifted up to it. We will lift up the ball at first, then it will roll down the ramp to the shooter.

Shooter video

Resources for other VEX robots:

Here are code templates that include the autonomous one so we can use that in competition.

Code Templates

Lots of research

What we did today:

Today, Lindsey researched better ideas for the ball shooter and took off some wheels to move them lower.
This will allow us to drive up on the platform. Charity researched the autonomous code and how to do it.
With that, we will be able to get more points in competition.

Next steps...

• We will redo our base
• we will take off the wheels and move them lower so we can drive onto the platform and get more points
• We will fix our ball shooter
• we will keep the elevator, but it will drop the ball onto a ramp and feed into two wheels to shoot out
• We will write the autonomous code
• we will figure out how to do the controller for the autonomous part and get the autonomous code template

Other resources:

Here is a video that we were thinking of basing our shooter off of. It is better than our current design because the ball rolls into the shooter instead of being lifted up to it. We will lift up the ball at first, then it will roll down the ramp to the shooter.

Shooter video

Resources for other VEX robots:

Here are code templates that include the autonomous one so we can use that in competition.

Code Templates

SkillsUSA Regional competition

Our competition was this past Saturday, and we did fairly well. The highest score we got was 10 points by turning flags and flipping coins. We were not able to get our ball shooter to work, so we couldn't get points for that. We also were not able to drive onto the platform because our base was too big. I wish we would have practiced driving more, but overall, this was a great experience and a really good first competition.

Created Shooter

Today, we made a gear box and attached the wheel for the shooter. We are almost done with it as our competition is on Saturday.

Assignment: Update Your Project Cover Image

Mr.Burnham's Assignment/Request: 
Lindsey, Charity, if you want to update your Freeman Lowell Vex robot cover image, post it here on the blog and I'll update the Robot Club link page.

• Edit the post title to say "Freeman Lowell Project Cover Image"
• Add Image here that is a square, with your cover art and logo inside

Freeman Lowell - Historical 2019-2019 AM Team

Historical Team Members:

2018-2019 - AM Team - Lindsey, Charity, Amy, Benigno

New launch Of New launch of Robot Club Project Pages

Hey SVCTE Mechatronics Robot Club teams, I'm launching a new process to capture your progress documenting your Robot Club projects. The goal is that we have a better and easier method to create a portfolio of engineering work you have done.  TBD, but I'll post a template and Rubric.

I'll also add your team mates as Blog Authors, you will see an invite... click accept.

I'll also post requests for specific data or content... so read the blog posts... it would be a good Idea to sign up for email notifications when a new blog post happens.