Meals for upcoming meetings

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Hey Everyone,
I think I forgot to tell you to bring your own food for these next four meetings or bring $5 for pizza for both Friday nights and for Saturday lunch. If we end up going late on Sat. night, we may do another pizza run, so you will need another $5. (OR, again, . . . bring your own food.) Also, those of you who still owe me money for pizza:  I really don’t mind loaning it, but I really do need you to pay it back. It’s my gas money to get to the meetings!  So, pay up or you may find the door locked! :) If you are unsure, come see me. Yes, I’ve learned to keep track.

Our schedule for the next 2 weeks is as follows:

  • Friday, March 2nd: after school – 9pm
  • Saturday, March 3rd: 10am-5pm (may go later)
  • Friday, March 9th: after school – 9pm
  • Saturday, March 10th: 10am-5pm (may go later)
We still have quite a bit to do to get ready for competition. That means we still need consistency in attendance to get these projects completed. Those of you who took on a project last Thursday and then didn’t show over the weekend will find that the project has gone to someone else and moved on. This is inefficient and is costing us time. Please try to make it to these last 4 pre-build meetings if you can. If we all stay focused, we’ll get it done. See you there!

GO CIRCUIT BREAKERS!!

Ms. Lindborg

Electronics in Review

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First off: I had a great final build season with you guys! I’m pumped for competition!

Hindsight:

I adopted the “80%” mentality this year. While working with the programmers, it is a build season rite to accuse each other of being wrong until red in the face. The “80%” mentality consists of one primary element, the admission that you might be wrong. After you have checked everything, double checked it, and checked it again you are only 80% sure you have your end correct. It leaves a margin of error for when the programmers are actually correct and everybody leaves the situation with their resolve (mostly) intact. It helped me remain at minimum to moderate stress levels, and as Mr. Donlon expressed, “I’m surprised you haven’t throttled anybody yet.”

Learn how to use your tools! A multimeter can be used in so many ways I cannot list them all. We have a quasi-fancy, compact Fluke multimeter that has all of the essential functions. For you future electricians, the essential settings include AC/DC Voltage and Current, and Resistance. If you can, get one with an audible continuity tester, it beeps when you touch things that are connected electrically.

If you are dealing with Spike relays and they are only firing in one direction, check that your signal cable is plugged in the correct direction. :/

Learning :D :

I learned a ton this year *gasp*, Mr. van Dyk was awesome! I learned how to use an oscilloscope, albeit 40 years old, I learned the benefit of having hook clips on the multimeter probes, and I learned more about the electronics and control systems than ever before. There is so much bouncing around in my head that I can hardly write it down.

More to come soon,

Torgeir Lindborg
Electronics FM
FIRST Team #3189

Sacramento Regional Competition Schedule

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Hi Circuit Breakers:

Here is some preliminary info. on the event schedule to help with your planning. Thursday IS practice rounds rather than seeding matches. Friday is seeding matches and Saturday is Finals. Parents, we would love to have you all three days to fill up our cheering section (bring everyone you know), however we understand that it requires taking time off work to attend. If you have to pick one day and want to be sure you see our team compete, then I suggest Friday.  If you want to see the best of the best, then Saturday is your day. There is a chance we will have a seeding match Saturday morning before the final rounds in the afternoon, but we won’t know if we are on the schedule until we get there Thursday morning.

We will have carpools for those of you who need a ride. As soon as you know whether you are traveling with a parent or need a carpool ride, please let me know so I can make arrangements.

Get the competition schedule here.

More details to come . . .

GO CIRCUIT BREAKERS!!

Ms. Lindborg

Schedule Update (now ’til Competition!)

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Hello Circuit Breakers!!

Here we are . . . 11:15pm. Most of the programming bugs are worked out. Mechanical is making last minute adjustments. Feverishly! The bot will be bagged and tagged at midnight. Hands off until the competition.

We are allowed to bring 30lbs. of custom parts and upgrades with us to competition, so we will be withholding our “Flinger”, sometimes referred to as “FlapJack”. This is the turret that sits on the top of the bot on a lazy susan and is responsible for aiming the ball. We need to upgrade the motor that runs it and put it back together. We will partially recreate the elevator assembly so we can program and practice with the “Flinger” between now and competition.

Our schedule for the next 3 weeks is as follows:

  • Thursday, Feb 23rd:  after school – 6pm
  • Sunday, Feb. 26th: 12-5pm
  • Friday, March 2nd: after school – 9pm
  • Saturday, March 3rd: 10am -5pm (may go later)
  • Friday, March 9th: after school – 9pm
  • Saturday, March 10th: 10am- 5pm (may go later)
Competition is Thursday, March 15th through Saturday March 17th. Permission slips went home today. Parents and teachers must sign them. Please take care of this and bring them back to me Thursday this week or Friday next week. NO LATER!!

Ambassadors, be sure to get the competition dates into your school calendars and bulletins!!!  Let Magnus or Brian know when you have done so.

Good night! See you Thursday. Going to bag the bot!

GO CIRCUIT BREAKERS!!

Ms. Lindborg

Controls

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You need a dedicated Driver and Gunner for the Robot, the Driver contols the Cultivator System, Funnel System, Balance System  and driving the robot around while the Gunner controls the Turret and Solenoid for firing the ball and also monitors the Dashboard (To be elaborated on in a later post)

This is the post on the Controls of the Robot

The driving Controls consists of 2 Joysticks for the Driver and a Gamepad for the Shooter

One joystick contains 11 buttons (4 Buttons on top, 1 Trigger, 6 on the base), 3 axes (2 for X & Y and one throttle)

Logitech ATK3 Joystick

Logitech ATK3 Joystick Buttons

The Gamepad contains 12 buttons (4 on the top, 4 on the right base, 1 per joystick, 2 in the middle), 6 axes (2 for each X&Y on the thumbsticks and there are two thumbsticks,  and 2 for the D-pad but the D-pad is not a variable control)

Logitech DualAction Buttons

Logitech DualAction Button Locations

For the Gunner the Left Joystick X-axis controls the rotation of the turret, the Right Joystick Y-axis controls the turret Shooter Speed if manual control is enabled.

Left Joystick Controls

Left Joystick Controls

Right Joystick Controls

Right Joystick Controls

For the Driver the Control system is split between two joysticks with the Cultivator Systems and Balance Systems on the Right Joystick, and The Funnel System on the left Joystick. The Drivetrain of the robot is a Tank drive system with each joystick feeding power independently to both sides.

GamePad Controls

GamePad Controls

Here is a full list of the Controls and Important Warnings (at the bottom)

Robot2012 Controls

Joystick 1 = Right Joystick     Joystick 2 = Left Joystick

 

Button Action
Joystick 1   #2 Cultivator System Reverse(Ejects balls from Robot)While Held
Joystick 1   #3 Cultivator System On(Suck in Balls)
Joystick 1   #4 Cultivator System Off(No Power To Elevator)
Joystick 1   #5 Cultivator System Off(No Power To Elevator)
Joystick 1  #11 Balance Calibration Mode(Not For Competition)
Joystick 2   #2 Funnel Down(Lower Funnel) while held
Joystick 2   #3 Funnel Up(Raise The Funnel)while held
Joystick 2   #6 Reset Gyro(Set Current Gyro Angle To 0)
Joystick 2   #7 Activate Balance(Auto Bridge Balance)While Held
GamePad   #1 Stop Turret(Set Turret Speed To 0)
GamePad   #2 Stop All(Stop All Systems)
GamePad   #4 Start Turret(Set Turret Speed To 1)
GamePad   #5 Reset Camera()
GamePad   #7 Send Camera Data()
GamePad   #8 Shoot Ball
GamePad  #9 Start Kinect Drive
GamePad  #10 Activate Tank Drive
GamePad  #12 Activate Manual Turret Control

 

Joysticks Use
Left Joystick (2) Tank Drive Mode: Control Left Track
Right Joystick (1) Tank Drive Mode: Control Right Track
GamePad Right Y Manual Turret Control
GamePad Left X Manual Turret Rotation

Warning: Do NOT set “maxSpeed” variable over 0.____! (this could break our and other teams robots.)
Warning: Do NOT set “lowBalanceAngle” variable under 3! (may cause uncontrollable movement back and forth and make robot fall off bridge breaking the robot.)
Warning: Be sure the Bottom value in the editable values match the top! (if they don’t you could have wrong values and crash robot due to noncalibration.)
Warning: When resetting gyro (Leftstick Button #10) be sure robot is NOT in motion.
Warning: Do NOT Change field of view unless target distance is wrong by more than 5 feet.
Warning: Do not reset Camera unless corrupt camera feed.
Warning: Do Not use Kinect during Teleop .
Warning: Stop All System Should only be used in emergencies.
Warning: Do Not adjust turret speed too quickly.

Electrical Components Being Used

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As we anxiously await a robot that we can start testing with, we at least have the electrical components identified which means we’ve been able to program the control of the components in the robot code.  Working from the bottom up:

  • Drivetrain
    • 2 Jaguars controlling 2 CIM Motors
    • 1 Gyro (for balance)
    • 1 Accelerometer (for balance)
  • Funnel Arm
    • 1 Victor controlling 1 Window Motor
    • 2 Limit switches (to indicate ‘Full Up’ or ‘Full Down’ position)
  • Collector
    • 1 Victor controlling 1 Window Motor
  • Elevator
    • 2 Victors controlling 2 Window Motors
    • 3 IR Sensors (to indicate ball presence)
  • Turret
    • 1 Victor controlling 1 Banebots Motor (for rotation)
    • 1 Jaguar controlling 1 CIM Motor (for shooting)
    • 1 10-turn Potentiometer (for Turret angle)
    • 2 limit switches (for Turret rotation limits)
    • 1 Axis camera (for targeting)

Now all we need is an assembled robot so we can test the code.  We can dooo it!!!

T-Shirts!!

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Circuit Breakers and Fans!

The design is in!

The order form is here:  T-Shirt Order Form 2012!
Student Team Members are required to wear a team shirt at competition!
Deadline for order forms and money is Friday, March 2nd.
If you can’t pay for one, please come talk to me.
Is this poetry?
:)
I NEED TO KNOW HOW YOU PLAN TO TRANSPORT YOUR BODY TO PRACTICE DAY  <HELLO>  CARPOOL SEAT???????

So far, I have 15 available carpool seats. First come, first served!

I do not have Practice Day permission slips from some of you. If you plan to attend, please get those to me Friday. Tomorrow. February 17th.
We will have a decision about Practice Day hours (departure and return or none at all) by Friday late afternoon. You will have to watch your emails closely. Sorry for the indecision, it is the nature of the beast!  Please do not wait for the decision to make tentative body transport plans. The carpool planning takes time. Thanks.  :)
If we go to Practice Day at St. Francis, regardless of hours spent there, we will return to ROP-A and work feverishly until 10pm. Please bring Pizza money for Saturday night. There are quite a few of you who still owe me pizza money. May the Ghost of Pizza Past haunt you until you pay. :)
Sleep tonight, Circuit Breakers, this may be a long week!
GO CIRCUIT BREAKERS!!

Ms. Lindborg

Hey Circuit Breaker Fans!!

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The following Awards submissions have been successfully sent to the land of The Judges:

Woodie Flowers Award, by Michael Curtis
Chairman’s Award, by Josh Hopkins and Sam Sedgewick
Website Award, by Sean Leapley
Dean’s List Nomination, by Charlotte Lindborg

Way to go!!!!!!

Everybody keep reminding Avery to submit for the FIRST Innovators Award!! He has a few weeks still. Any of the rest of you that have inventions at home, this is your chance!! Go to FIRST and search for it. It is an awesome opportunity to see your invention come to fruition.

GO CIRCUIT BREAKERS!!

Ms. Lindborg