Date: Wednesday, November 27th, 2019
Reflection: With 2 teammates out sick and snow falling to the valley floor, the coaches decided to cancel the meeting. Unfortunately, Sean didn't get the notification, so he proceeded to the Robotics room for the meeting and worked on some programming until he got picked up.
Saturday, November 30, 2019
Saturday 11/30/19 Thankful for Mentors and Coaches helping us get back on track!
Date: Saturday, November 30th, 2019
Agenda: Engineering Schedule/ Priority List
In Attendance: Coach Chad, Coach Cynde, Mentor Chris, Mentor Aidan, Connie, Sean, Hayden, Liam, Tristan and Kairon
Note Taker: Connie
Tasks: Priority List and Engineering Schedule, Review of robot issues and Meet strategy
Reflection: We started the meeting by creating a list of priorities and creating an Engineering Schedule for the next 2 weeks leading up to Meet #2 & #3. Chris helped us create a timeline and make the Engineering Schedule on the whiteboard.
Aidan arrived and we took the robot to the mats to show him the issues we were having like straffing.
We found out that we had 2 of our mecanum wheels on backwards. This was our first fix. Once the wheel placement was corrected, the straffing worked! Thank you Aidan!
Aidan worked with Sean and Kairon on programming limits and corrections for the motors. Liam and Tristan worked on how to correct the arm motors so that the stop points worked better and decided to switch out the core hex motor that controls the grabber with one of the new REV Ultraplanetary Gearbox HD Hex motors. Liam, Tristan and Connie worked to change out the grabber motor Sean worked on setting the new limits for the motor. When we tried to run the motor, it didn't work. We checked connections, programming, and tried the alternate HD Hex motor, then another motor. The regular motor worked properly, which meant the HD Hex motor encoders were failing to work. Sean scanned the internet and Reddit and found other teams with the same problem. He found a YouTube post by FIRST Global Team UK titled "How to fix the encoders on REV HD 20:1 motors 2019". The team stated that they had contacted REV and received the fix from them. We watched the video and decided to try it. It worked! The encoders now function properly with our controller! Just in time to end the meeting! We will add an additional meeting Tuesday after school for testing and adjustments, but at least we know it works. Changing to this motor will give us more power to stop the arm in the positions we need it to stop to grab and move the stones! Thank you Aidan and Chris for helping us troubleshoot and find the answers we needed!
Agenda: Engineering Schedule/ Priority List
In Attendance: Coach Chad, Coach Cynde, Mentor Chris, Mentor Aidan, Connie, Sean, Hayden, Liam, Tristan and Kairon
Note Taker: Connie
Tasks: Priority List and Engineering Schedule, Review of robot issues and Meet strategy
Reflection: We started the meeting by creating a list of priorities and creating an Engineering Schedule for the next 2 weeks leading up to Meet #2 & #3. Chris helped us create a timeline and make the Engineering Schedule on the whiteboard.
Aidan arrived and we took the robot to the mats to show him the issues we were having like straffing.
We found out that we had 2 of our mecanum wheels on backwards. This was our first fix. Once the wheel placement was corrected, the straffing worked! Thank you Aidan!
Aidan worked with Sean and Kairon on programming limits and corrections for the motors. Liam and Tristan worked on how to correct the arm motors so that the stop points worked better and decided to switch out the core hex motor that controls the grabber with one of the new REV Ultraplanetary Gearbox HD Hex motors. Liam, Tristan and Connie worked to change out the grabber motor Sean worked on setting the new limits for the motor. When we tried to run the motor, it didn't work. We checked connections, programming, and tried the alternate HD Hex motor, then another motor. The regular motor worked properly, which meant the HD Hex motor encoders were failing to work. Sean scanned the internet and Reddit and found other teams with the same problem. He found a YouTube post by FIRST Global Team UK titled "How to fix the encoders on REV HD 20:1 motors 2019". The team stated that they had contacted REV and received the fix from them. We watched the video and decided to try it. It worked! The encoders now function properly with our controller! Just in time to end the meeting! We will add an additional meeting Tuesday after school for testing and adjustments, but at least we know it works. Changing to this motor will give us more power to stop the arm in the positions we need it to stop to grab and move the stones! Thank you Aidan and Chris for helping us troubleshoot and find the answers we needed!
Thursday 11/21/19
Date: Thursday, November 21, 2019
Agenda: Prep for SOAR Meet #1
In Attendance: Coach Cynde, Coach Chad, Tristan, Liam, Sean, Hayden, Connie and Kairon
Note Taker: Hayden
Tasks: Try to get the robot driving
Reflection: The priority for the meeting was for Sean to try to get the robot driving so that we can push blocks. We know the straffing isn't working and we have no autonomous. Our best option is to be able to drive and push. The arm moves so fast and hazardous that we are more likely to cause damage than be able to grab a block. We are laughing at ourselves and ready to make the best of Meet #1! GO ROBOT!
Agenda: Prep for SOAR Meet #1
In Attendance: Coach Cynde, Coach Chad, Tristan, Liam, Sean, Hayden, Connie and Kairon
Note Taker: Hayden
Tasks: Try to get the robot driving
Reflection: The priority for the meeting was for Sean to try to get the robot driving so that we can push blocks. We know the straffing isn't working and we have no autonomous. Our best option is to be able to drive and push. The arm moves so fast and hazardous that we are more likely to cause damage than be able to grab a block. We are laughing at ourselves and ready to make the best of Meet #1! GO ROBOT!
Date: Thursday 11-7-19
Agenda: Build Build Program Test Program some more!
In Attendance: Mentor Chris, Hayden, Sean, Liam, Tristan, Connie and Kairon
Note Taker: Liam
Tasks: Continue building the block arm
Reflection: Connie is going to start filming the team and adding the videos to the blog and Facebook page.
Sean and Kairon have laid out a plan for 4 autonomous programs but need the robot finished so that they can test. They did program and test the Core Hex motor that controls the rotation of the block arm from resting to active and that worked well. Most of the meeting was spent working on the block arm construction.
Agenda: Build Build Program Test Program some more!
In Attendance: Mentor Chris, Hayden, Sean, Liam, Tristan, Connie and Kairon
Note Taker: Liam
Tasks: Continue building the block arm
Reflection: Connie is going to start filming the team and adding the videos to the blog and Facebook page.
Sean and Kairon have laid out a plan for 4 autonomous programs but need the robot finished so that they can test. They did program and test the Core Hex motor that controls the rotation of the block arm from resting to active and that worked well. Most of the meeting was spent working on the block arm construction.
Sunday 11/17/19
Date: Sunday, November 17, 2019 (We didn’t meet Saturday because of Missoula Theatre
Agenda: Plug in everything, Wire management, GET DRIVING!
In Attendance: Coach Cynde, Hayden, Connie, Sean, Liam, Kairon,Tristan
Note Taker: Sean
Tasks: Test the robot ,Driver practice and Autonomous
Tasks: Test the robot ,Driver practice and Autonomous
Reflection: Now we stress! Meet 1 is next weekend and somehow we have not tested Autonomous or had any real driver time. Fingers are crossed that everything functions and our programmers can get everything together today!
We spent too much time on wire management in the morning without testing the motors firtst. When we tried to drive the robot and move the arm after lunch, everything went wrong. Straffing did not work, the arm didn't work at all, and the rest of the afternoon was basically figuring out that motors were plugged in wrong and needed to be rewired by hand tracing the wires to the source. We had no time for driver practice or autonomous and frustration was at max.
With guidance from Mentor Chris, we retraced wires and connections and corrected the mis-wiring. We tested motors and checked the positioning of our tires using our tire diagram. We spent the afternoon correcting issues and had no time for driver practice or for programming autonomous. It was a frustrating day.
We spent too much time on wire management in the morning without testing the motors firtst. When we tried to drive the robot and move the arm after lunch, everything went wrong. Straffing did not work, the arm didn't work at all, and the rest of the afternoon was basically figuring out that motors were plugged in wrong and needed to be rewired by hand tracing the wires to the source. We had no time for driver practice or autonomous and frustration was at max.
With guidance from Mentor Chris, we retraced wires and connections and corrected the mis-wiring. We tested motors and checked the positioning of our tires using our tire diagram. We spent the afternoon correcting issues and had no time for driver practice or for programming autonomous. It was a frustrating day.
Saturday 11/23/19 - SOAR League Meet #1 at Fremont Middle School
SOAR FTC League Meet #1 Reflection:
We created an interview sheet for Autonomous to see which teams had an autonomous and how they functioned. Connie, Tristan and Liam conducted the interviews.
We created an interview sheet for Autonomous to see which teams had an autonomous and how they functioned. Connie, Tristan and Liam conducted the interviews.
From scouting, we found that 12 of the SOAR teams had only 12 teams had basic working autonomous programs. No teams had Tensor Flow functioning to recognize the Skystone.
About 2 teams were able to stack blocks. Most teams pushed blocks into the building zone and a few teams had ways of projecting the blocks up onto the foundation.
Team observations - There was a robot with 3d-printed walls and a couple other robots with an x-rail similar to ours. The Roseburg teams Aries and Taurus both had arms that lifted, one with worm gear like the linear actuator kit that we used last year and the other with a rack and pinion system.
Our robot - The first issue was at robot inspection because we had some rough edges on the 3D printed items, and then one of our phones was not updated to the current app. In competition, our straffing was still not functioning and we had multiple issues with the arm that still were not fixed. We were able to grab one block during the 5 rounds. We mostly pushed blocks to try to score, and at one point the robot got stuck on top of the platform. We knew we were not as prepared as we should have been and are committed to creating and sticking to a timeline to be ready for Meet #2 and #3.
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Date: Saturday 11/9/19
Agenda: Fix Programming and Finish Build
In Attendance: Coach Cynde, Coach Chad, Sean, Liam, Hayden, Connie, Tristan, Kairon and Programming Mentor Ben
Note Taker: Connie
Reflection: Because of the program problems we had Thursday and wanting to incorporate Tensor Flow into our autonomous, Ben Lischner stopped by this morning to talk programming with Sean and Kairon. Ben Lishner deciphered how the program Tenserflow functions and explained it to Sean and Kairon, [but they don't know how to proceed.(?)]
Everyone worked on the robot today to problem solve and make sure we were meeting all our goals for inspection and competition. Liam, along with Tristan and Hayden, have been working on tightening the entire robot arm's screws with the Allen wrenches. Liam and Coach Chad spent the morning reinforcing the arm and grabber and adjusting the chain drive. We spent the afternoon troubleshooting programming issues, and making changes to the robot to make it legal able to pass inspection. We found cable extensions to connect our motors to the Rev Hubs.
We decided that the chain drive will not hold the arm in the position we were hoping to pass inspection, and discussed how we can create a way to hold the arm static for inspection and then servo the stopper out of the way.
We have a list of things to test, finish and practice before the meet on November 23rd and are feeling the time crunch!
Agenda: Fix Programming and Finish Build
In Attendance: Coach Cynde, Coach Chad, Sean, Liam, Hayden, Connie, Tristan, Kairon and Programming Mentor Ben
Note Taker: Connie
Reflection: Because of the program problems we had Thursday and wanting to incorporate Tensor Flow into our autonomous, Ben Lischner stopped by this morning to talk programming with Sean and Kairon. Ben Lishner deciphered how the program Tenserflow functions and explained it to Sean and Kairon, [but they don't know how to proceed.(?)]
Everyone worked on the robot today to problem solve and make sure we were meeting all our goals for inspection and competition. Liam, along with Tristan and Hayden, have been working on tightening the entire robot arm's screws with the Allen wrenches. Liam and Coach Chad spent the morning reinforcing the arm and grabber and adjusting the chain drive. We spent the afternoon troubleshooting programming issues, and making changes to the robot to make it legal able to pass inspection. We found cable extensions to connect our motors to the Rev Hubs.
We decided that the chain drive will not hold the arm in the position we were hoping to pass inspection, and discussed how we can create a way to hold the arm static for inspection and then servo the stopper out of the way.
We have a list of things to test, finish and practice before the meet on November 23rd and are feeling the time crunch!
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Wednesday, October 30th, 2019
Date: Wednesday 10/30/19
Agenda: Build and prep for SOAR League Zero Meet!
In Attendance: Hayden, Sean, Liam, Tristan, Kairon, Connie, Coach Chad
Note Taker: Sean
Reflection: Sean and Kairon discussed Autonomous possibilities and are planning a minimum of 4 paths and more likely 8 path programs.
If you start in the Building Zone, the robot should move the foundation, cross to the Loading Zone through the neutral Skybridge to avoid collisions, scan for a Skystone, pick up the Skystone and deliver it to the foundation in the Building Zone by driving under the alliance Skybridge, and collect an additional Skystone if there is time, and then park over the midline tape.
If you start in the Loading Zone, the robot should scan for the Skystone and pick it up, cross under the alliance Skybridge and deliver it to the foundation, return thru the neutral bridge, collect another stone and deliver it to the foundation. Different paths to avoid collision is very important and so is being able to coordinate with your alliance. We are going to need to scout other team’s autonomous paths so that we can combine them well with ours.
Liam worked more on perfecting the arm attachment with the new parts from ServoCity. We were hoping to have the arm tested and running for Zero Meet, but we ran out of time and with the Halloween carnival tomorrow, we can’t add another meeting this week.
If you start in the Building Zone, the robot should move the foundation, cross to the Loading Zone through the neutral Skybridge to avoid collisions, scan for a Skystone, pick up the Skystone and deliver it to the foundation in the Building Zone by driving under the alliance Skybridge, and collect an additional Skystone if there is time, and then park over the midline tape.
If you start in the Loading Zone, the robot should scan for the Skystone and pick it up, cross under the alliance Skybridge and deliver it to the foundation, return thru the neutral bridge, collect another stone and deliver it to the foundation. Different paths to avoid collision is very important and so is being able to coordinate with your alliance. We are going to need to scout other team’s autonomous paths so that we can combine them well with ours.
Liam worked more on perfecting the arm attachment with the new parts from ServoCity. We were hoping to have the arm tested and running for Zero Meet, but we ran out of time and with the Halloween carnival tomorrow, we can’t add another meeting this week.
Saturday, November 2nd, 2019 - SOAR League Zero Meet at Fremont Middle School
Date: Saturday 11/2/19
Agenda: SOAR League Zero Meet - meet alliance teams, help other teams, keep building to see if we can drive
In Attendance: Hayden, Sean, Liam, Tristan, Connie, Kairon, Coach Chad and Coach Cynde
Note Taker: Tristan
Reflection: We met at the high school at 8am to load the robot and tool boxes and hit the road for Roseburg. Our robot is drivable, but the arm is not running right now, but we can work on it there and see if we can get the arm working. This sounded like a great plan, but when we got there, we realized we had left some of our tools and parts behind. We grabbed for the duct tape and tried to meet inspection. Some of the team mates walked around and met the other teams and looked at their robots. There are many new teams this year with very basic robots so far. We talked to many of them about how our robot is designed and functions. We also advised a few teams and offered our contact information, especially for help with programming. There are many teams still having initial programming setup issues and Sean is willing to share what he can. It was great catching up with some of our old league mates and talking to some of the new ones like the team mates from Pulsar!
We did not know there was going to be scrimmage today for all the teams. In the past the scrimmage was open those who were ready. Instead of staying to observe the scrimmage and just watch, we voted to return back to the robotics room and get back to the build. We are anxious to finish building and start testing!!
We finally changed out the old wires with the new JST PH(MH-FC) to JST XH(MH-FC) so that we don’t have to use the level logic converters and to clean up our wire management a bit. We also attached the servo to the x-rail winch to test it and it isn’t stable enough or as strong as we need to extend the x-rail quickly. Liam worked on converting to the other hex motor for the extension. We are hoping to be able to get running by this Thursday so that we can start testing and practicing.
We only have 3 weeks until Meet #1. Next Saturday, we will set up the field on the cafeteria floor for practice and invite our Mentors to stop by and see what we’ve been working on and see if they can help us get further along.
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