07-09-11 Weekend Update

Just a few more photos from the weekend, the 4-bar is coming along nicely, still trying to figure out a way to integrate extending linear slides to connect to the claw -

And here's the table of concepts and drives so far. Getting to the point of just integrating everything together -

Lots of tweaks and changes still happening though. Most likely these robots will still look different in the coming weeks ahead. Don't expect much of an update this week, the students are helping run a VEX summer camp for incoming freshmen students. This will serve as a fun summer learning experience for the incoming students, and possibly a way to drum up interest for the team once the school year starts.

Videos of Mechanism Prototypes

Below are some videos of prototypes we have been working on over the last week -

So something nice that i saw while watching the first match of the year over again. Team 1727 D used a conveyor cage but to make the objects come out towards the goal they had one hard flap to push the piece through (at least it looked like it). if what i am working on fails that is definatly possible

Modified Claw

Not much of an update, just that the claw concept has been modified and is nearly ready to be tested. Both drive bases are nearly finished as well with mechanism construction taking priority now.

C-Drive Base Drive Test

This video was taken last Saturday. We call it the C-drive base and one of the nice advantages that it has is the ability to pivot around game objects to allow manipulators to grab the game objects from the correct angle or side.

Drives Nearly Finished and Conveyor Mechanism Prototype (with video)

The team has been meeting all this week during the day to help run the Lego camp for younger aged students. During the evenings, we are still working on finishing the two drive systems which are nearly complete. Thanks to Radnor Robotics who let us borrow their game field and border for practice.

Ranier worked on getting his conveyor belt concept up and running. The initial sketch was shown in a previous post. It currently uses a belt on each side to move the game objects up and down.

Below is a video of the first test -

Carpet Day & Lego Camp

The team took some time off from VEX on Saturday to organize the wood shop room. This is done every summer so that students can practice driving the previous year's robot and actually learn how to drive a mecanum drive system.

The rest of the students worked on assembling Lego game field pieces for a summer camp being run by Team 357. Each week students will be able to come to Upper Darby High School and get to build Lego NXT robots under the guidance of our teachers and students.

The claw shown in a previous post has begun to be manufactured and it is looking promising. It can pick up both a barrel and a ball individually and it can also pick both of them up if they are stacked.

Look for more updates this week!