Meeting 10
DATE : 11/7/2021
Agenda: Program and Driver practice
Attendees: Coach Cynde, Sean Pakros, Jessica Hawkinson, Zeke Humber and Nate Humber
Objective: Sean will work on programming to make sure claw and carousel wheel are functioning well.
Zeke will practice driving, and Jessica and Cynde will prepare for meet.
Notes: Programming went well and so did Zeke’s driving. We decided to add one more meeting for driver practice on the 12th and pack that day for the meet.
Meeting 9
DATE : 11/6/2021
Agenda: Preparing for League Meet 1
Attendees: Coach Cynde, Sean Pakros, Jessica Hawkinson, Zeke Humber and Nate Humber
Objective: Finish the Claw, Attach Carousel Wheel, Prepare for Competition
Notes: We attached the claw and tested it again and again to make sure we could grab blocks easily. We also attached the carousel wheel by changing it to a bevel gear inside the back wall and raising the wheel to match the carousel.
We also attached the second wall and added team numbers to prepare for the meet.We went over the robot inspection sheet and field inspection sheet to prepare and talked about tournament protocol to prepare.
Meeting 8
DATE : 10/31/21
Agenda: Happy Halloween Carnival!!
Attendees: Coach Cynde, Coach Grace, Sean Pakros, Jessica Hawkinson, Zeke Humber and Nate Humber
Objective: Community Outreach and Volunteerism by running booths at the Elkton
Charter School Halloween Carnival.
Notes: In the past, we have attended the Halloween Carnival and demonstrated our robot or run our own booth as a fundraiser. This year, The committee was short handed on help so we decided to volunteer and help raise money for the school music program. We ran 2 booths and had fun with all the kids that came. As a surprise and out of gratitude, the sponsoring organization EEAR, donated the money we made that day to our team! Thank You for supporting Elkton Robotics!!
Meeting 7
DATE : 10/30/21
Agenda: Build! Thank You Mrs Billings!
Attendees: Coach Cynde, Sean Pakros, Jessica Hawkinson, Nate Humber and Mentor Dan Killeby
Objectives: Work on arm function, build our claw build our corner carousel and decide where to place the carousel wheel
Notes:
We are signing a card and sending a big thanks to Mrs Billings! She donated her Makerbot and supplies to our team!! She stated that it was not as reliable as she wanted and that she has purchased other machines for her classroom. Now we can print items in our own workroom for our robot! Thank You so much Mrs Billings!!
Today, Sean and Skyler 3D printed a circular piece to match the fit of a locking hub and then 3D printed the claw hands!
We were having trouble with the tension on our arm and contacted Mentor Dan Killeby to see if he could look over our build and advise us. He worked with Jessica and showed us how our tension was just slightly loose and the difference it made to tighten it as well as why it worked that way. We also noticed that the slide was pulling to one side. Dan had Sean get the calipers and measure both ends of the last rail. One end was 3mm wider that the other and that was keeping the rail from extending properly and causing the pull. We found a replacement piece in out sets that was the proper width on both ends and replaced the other. We tested the arm and it ran very smoothly!
Nate worked on strategy notes for the team. He has a strong background in strategic thinking and has been considering how to score for gameplay and discussing with the group. He will write up a strategy section for our notebook. Nate and the team decided that it is more advantageous to collect blocks rather than balls, especially for the freight hub so that you are more likely to gather weighted blocks and tip the hub in your direction.
We created a casing for the claw and began to test the prototype by hand to determine how we want to servo to attach and what spacing the claw will need to open enough. The design seems to grab both blocks and balls but will need some silicon like we discussed earlier to hold the items. We will need some shorter hex rails to keep our claw small and manageable.
We examined the carousel and decided that instead of trying to attach the motored wheel Jessica had designed, we could worm gear that design to incorporate the carousel wheel on the back wall of the robot more easily. We also decided that we would add a second wheel to make sure and target the carousel turntable.
Meeting 6
DATE : 10/24/21
Agenda: Work on Arm Design and build (Short Meeting Today)
Attendees: Coach Cynde, Sean Pakros, Jessica Hawkinson, Zeke Humber and Nate Humber
Objectives: motorize the GoBilda arm and test
Notes:
We only had a few hours today so we worked on attaching the GoBilda arm to the robot with a worm gear to motorize it’s rotation up and down. We also talked about parts that we need to secure the arm to a D shaft and to secure it to the robot and motors. We made a shopping list that included a shorter shaft to fit within the base perimeter.
Meeting 5
DATE : 10/23/21
Agenda: Arm and Claw Design
Attendees: Coach Cynde, Sean Pakros, Jessica Hawkinson, Zeke Humber and Nate Humber
Objectives: Look at arm parts we have from past robots and decide how we want to construct our arm and discuss claw design
Notes:
Ed Humber offered to let the team use a room at Kellogg Springs Camp so that we can have a full field set up for practice rather than have to take down and reassemble at every meeting. The school has agreed to let us do this and will let Ed meet the team at the bus stop and transport them up to the room. Thank You to Mr Humber for the offer! Mr Humber will also sign on as a Mentor for the team! We will probably move in December once the robot is built and running.
We purchased some GoBilda parts for a better gear set for our claw. We cant easily attach the metal claws we prototyped, so we took those and replicated their shape in cardboard. We rounded the end of the claws so that we could drill holes and connect them easily to locking hubs.
Sean has the most experience in 3D modeling, so he worked with Skyler and showed him how to measure and model in Fusion 360. They developed a model that he can print on the 3D printer in class this week. We are fundraising to get a 3D printer of our own.
We discussed strength and reliability of cascading arm kits that the team has and has used before. We have an x-rail set that does not hold much weight without bending when fully extended. We used this successfully to get the relic over the wall in Relic Recovery, but could see the bend. We would like something more reliable to raise out team freight and cap the hub. We talked about a drawer slide for design and a simple arm that would attach high on the robot at a 45 degree angle to fit in the 18x18” requirement and could swing backward. When Nate saw the GoBilda cascading arm kit, he decided to build it himself to see if it was a good option and Jessica helped him.
Zeke reconstructed the worm gear to be able to rotate whichever arm we choose to use. That way we can collect and lift the freight into the shipping hub.
We caught up Skyler on what he had missed at the last meeting and he helped with the build. Jessica caught up on entering notebook entries into the computer.
Meeting 4
DATE : 10/16/21
Agenda: Drive the base and Prototype an Arm
Attendees: Coach Cynde, Sean Pakros, Jessica Hawkinson, Zeke Humber and Nate Humber
Objectives: Connect the motors to the control hub to test our drive train and prototype an arm
Notes: We discussed the importance of the FTC forum and that team mates need to be checking it weekly to see about rule clarifications.
Sean has a team freight element idea based on the capstone from last year and is working on a prototype in Fusion 360. He will work on the design for team approval.
Zeke shared a video of a servo claw that we could 3D print and use for the robot. This brought up further discussion and debate about what would be more effective a claw or an intake cup. We discussed that the ball and square freight pieces are two different heights and widths so the attachment must be able to handle both. We played with some existing spinner wheels that the team had and a couple new spinners that coach ordered from Andy Mark to see how we could use the intake box. We decided to prototype both to test and determine which would be better since we also want to be able to cap the hub. Nate began prototyping one in cardboard with an overhead spinner. Zeke created one with a larger spinner and attached a motor to test it. The overhead spinner was not efficient at intaking both the block and ball and even had issues with the blocks. We
Zeke showed us a video of a 2 gear claw that we could 3D print. We created one with the smaller metal frames we had and some old Pitsco gears and decided that this is the best way to grab and deliver the freight and our team freight. We wrapped them with silicone from heat trivets for better grip.
Nate spent time testing out the Freight hubs and putting together a strategy plan. We created a video of his strategy plan and posted it to out Facebook page.
We discussed different types of arms and which arms might be best for our robot - jointed, elevator and cascading and placement on the robot to reach our 20 inches to cap the hub. We made some measurements and talked about past arms and strain on the motors from using the wrong worm gears. Sean showed some pictures from past engineering notebooks.
We attached the electronics and tested our new base and realized a couple of the mecanum wheels were reversed, so we corrected them.
Nate studied the freight hub and created a strategy for the best placement of the freight elements into the hub. We then created a short video of his strategy that we loaded to our Facebook page.
Meeting 3
DATE : 10/9/21
Agenda: Field Set and Robot base
Attendees: Coach Cynde, Sean Pakros, Jessica Hawkinson, Beck Reichmuth and Nate Humber
Objectives: Build our Field pieces, Vote on robot base
Notes: We found out that Liam Wood will not be joining the team this year. There are other interested students that can’t join because it interferes with sports teams. Nate showed the team a video of another GoBilda based robot placing it’s motors vertically to lift the robot body and ale to drive over the rails more easily. The team voted to attempt something similar. We layed out rails rails in the sizes we had thinking we would build a rectangular base that could get around the rails as well as drive over them. We separated our motors into individual rails that would stand them up in the four corners of the robot. We did not have all the sizes we wanted or connecting pieces we needed so we started making a shopping list of the sizes we want for Coach Cynde to order. We need connecting pieces and shorter rails to make the robot more square for better straining and more stable.
Meeting 2
DATE : 10/2/2021
Agenda: Welcome New Members, Review Challenge and plan Strategy
Attendees: Coach Cynde, Sean Pakros, Jessica Hawkinson, Skyler Firestone, Beck Reichmuth, Zeke Humber and Nate Humber
Objectives: Game Strategy, Team Goals, Fundraising
Notes: We welcomed our new teammates, had everyone introduce themselves, and watched the challenge video together.
Sponsorship - we sent out 10 letters requesting sponsorship to local businesses that have sponsored our team in the past. Team members are also taking letters to give to their families and businesses they know.
For fundraising this year, we want to do a t-shirt sale with a simple design that promotes robotics. We’re thinking: Elk Heart Robot. We will talk to Grace about the design and look at shirts. We want Elkton colors.
Game Strategy Discussion:
Shipping Element - We gain bonus points if our shipping element is used for the barcode and it’s easier access to have it placed on the field. It could be similar in shape to the field elements so that it can be lifted in the same manner. It can be reflective to scan the location. We can make it yellow to use a color sensor to read it.
Shipping element needs to be minimum 3x3x4h” to maximum 4x4x8h”.
Autonomous:
Do both pieces score, duck and block? Need to consult rules.
Do we park in the storage unit? Yes - spin the carousel, score freight element and park in storage unit. In opposite side, should you just score as many freight as possible and park? Robot must be able to grab easily and score then.
Driver Control:
Need to score as many elements as possible while balancing Alliance Hub and teetering Shared Shipping Hub in your alliance’s direction.
End Game:
Shared Shipping Hub unbalanced towards your alliance and Alliance Freight Hub balanced and caped with team freight piece
Robot:
Must be able to drive around rails 13” or able to drive over. Height of wheels may need to be changed. Add center wheels?
Arm needs to reach over 20” to cap the hub.
We discussed advantages of cup intake versus claw grabber versus magnetic. Arm needs to be able to collect lift and deposit. We looked at some previous mechanisms from other teams. Nate likes elevator lifts with a brush intake and thinks these can be effective. We debate effectiveness and decide that we will ray to design and mock one up to test effectiveness versus a claw design.
We end the meeting by setting out some mats and letting team members try driving the robot to understand how the mechanum wheels function, why the older members like them, and if they can drive over the rails. The robot drove over the rails pretty well but with some difficulties. Is it too lightweight?
Meeting 1
DATE : 9/25/21
Agenda: 2021/2022 FTC Challenge
Attendees: Coach Cynde, Sean Pakros and Jessica Hawkinson
Objectives: Watch Challenge and discuss goals for the Challenge
Notes: Skyler Firestone was not able to attend but will be joining the team. Liam Wood did not show for the meeting and we learned later that he will not be joining this year.
We watched the challenge video and discussed dismantling last year’s robot but keeping the same base. Jessica grabbed a screwdriver and started taking off the disc shooter. Sean began looking at programming information and is determined to learn Vuforia this year.
We looked at the challenge features and Jessica began building a basic motor in a GoBilda beam that could have a tire attached to spin the carousel. The rest of the meeting was spend creating that and testing it.
The field set is ordered. We need to put up flyers to help recruit new members. Coach Cynde will contact the school to have the flyers put up.
