Week of Work

Accomplished:

+ Began building the robot arm

After receiving inspiration from some other robots, we came up with an arm design. As of now we are not yet done with the arm itself, however. We hope to get to that point soon, despite only having another four class days to work on it. There have been a few problems and obstacles during the week, namely the lack of quality materials and in some cases the lack of materials period. Weyoun now proudly wears badges of "ingenuity" like clear tape and plastic wrap. Hey, we've had to make do with what we do have!

A close-up on Weyoun's new, in-progress arm

From my photography you'd think only Sammyr does any work 

Renewed Optimism, as Well as Confusion

Goals:
+ Maintain blog up-to-date
+ Complete the robot arm challenge

The "robot arm challenge" goal is not very specific, so I'll elaborate briefly. We need to create some pyramids out of straws, create an arm for our robot, and have the arm be capable of picking the pyramids up and putting them on a rack. If we succeed in putting 3 pyramids on the topmost rack, then we will receive the best grade possible. It is our hope that we can accomplish this as soon as possible, due to our previous setbacks and not being behind the other teams.

This part of the project has me a bit stumped, honestly, but we can do this! We have to...

The rack with some pyramids hanging off of it

Runnin' Out of Titles!

Accomplishments:

+ Programmed Controller
+ Completed two laps around the chairs

This week was one of those testing weeks. We worked hard on Monday but didn't have school on Tuesday and Wednesday. This Thursday there was only one person from this group in attendance. He put the controller battery to charge and did a little bit of maintenance on the robot. What happens on Friday is still unknown since it has not happened yet. There is sophomore testing on this Friday so He might be alone again.

 I'm not sure we'll have the time to give it an awesome arm so we failed in that section of the robot. But we are sure of this, we'll have a an RC toy car ready by the end of this school year!

Sammyr, working on this very same blog post! Inception!

YAY!

Goal:

+ Program the controller so we can move the robot with it

Things are finally picking up the pace! We completed the two laps around the chairs using autonomous mode! This week we'll be working hard too, and hope that everyone will cheer us on! I'm in high spirits, for once. Optimism really is a renewable resource, huh?

Our cool new expanded work area!

One Lap

Accomplished:
+ One lap around chairs

What our group got done this week is manage to cleanly make our robot complete one full lap. All we need now is for it to do it multiple times and then try and finish up the portable controller programming. We could have done more this week, but with all the important school testing and class relocation we couldn't do much. The controller is our next goal.

The controller, which we will be focusing on next week

Back at It

Goal:

+ Finally finish the laps!


After an entire week in the portables in the back of the school, we've finally come back to working on our  little robot. We took beneficial advice from Mr. Martin regarding the course of Weyoun ( this is how Karen names it). Anyways, he informed us that the robot should move a large distance around the double chairs. This would lower the failure chance of it not working.

The chairs we need to do two laps around can be seen in the distance

Lost Week

Accomplished this week:

+ A bit more of the coding done

This week has been strange. The only day we did anything, really, was Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday were all-testing days, and today and Thursday we were in the portable. So, nothing much got done. Sigh. This... isn't good.

Tools we needed this week and did not have

End of Another Week

Accomplished:

+ Were able to charge enough batteries to keep us working
+ Able to program a bit more

This progress may not seem like much, but to us it is precious. When you've had a quarter (and semester?) as filled with setbacks and bad luck as we have, ANY progress is welcome. There don't seem to be enough programming cables for all of the teams, which leads to a lot of consternation... All we can do is keep on working.

Weyoun, a very relaxed and irritating robot

Well.

Goals this week:

+ Have Weyoun work again

This goal is not very specific, as the steps we'll be taking to complete it are not yet determined. There are a few things in mind, but I'll mention them in the week wrap up post to explain if they worked or not instead of cluttering up this post. I'll be needing the support and efforts of my entire team, so nobody can be absent this week, guys! (Except today, since I can't magically summon Sammyr and Isai to my side, though that would be seriously cool.)

If you are Mr. Martin and are reading this, please have mercy. We have been working hard, yet nothing seems to go right for us. This "F" is weighing very heavily upon my soul. Help. Please.

Weyoun looks so relaxed and carefree. I'd love to kick him right now.

Frustrated Beyond Belief

Accomplished this week:

+ In-depth maintenance of Weyoun

That's all. Thanks to a series of bad luck (and this coming from someone who doesn't believe in luck!) and our batteries being stolen from their charging station (unless they got up and walked away), what we have accomplished this week is very little. Even our code has stopped working. I'm not sure what we can do anymore. I have an "F" in this class and it is driving me crazy, but as of now there isn't anything I can do to fix that.

Somehow we've got to pull through. Somehow we can make it.

I hope.

(P.S: Blogger, please stop registering me as Sammyr. I am not a male.)

A close-up of the battery we had to borrow from another team

This is a Title

Goal:

+ Obtain the elusive charged batteries

  This is the final week for trying to finish up both our machine's basic programming and its arm attachment. I (Sammyr) don't know how we'll do it, but I have faith in my group. Today in Monday, our battery needs more juice. So for today, I'm just making the this post.

          We'll hopefully have the machine ready by Friday, that includes its autonomous function and its control via remote.

The problematic batteries in question

No Arm, Just Program

     During this week, we ended up taking up its entirety on programming. Our machine had many problems. The best, or should I say the worst, is that our machine had some internal affairs to deal with.

     During its testing, one of its sides tended to turn more powerfully than the other. We suspected this had to do with how we built it. To any future engineering students, make sure you check every variable as to why things don't go as planned.

     But hopefully, we'll be done with this programming and move on to Arming :D

Currently, this is the code we are operating the robot on.

In related news, the robot has officially been dubbed Weyoun! Yay for Star Trek references!

Programming and Arming

Goal:

+ Finish programming
+ Start arm

This week our group is having to work on both programming our robot to move via our controller and by its own coding.

Our goal is to possibly have programming done by Wednesday and the arm done by Thursday. We'll be crunched for time by I think we can make it. We were bewildered as to how we ended up last and it will not last for long!

The Robot's structure is officially finished for this part of the challenge.

Now We Know, Now We Begin

Mr. Martin extensively guided us on how to begin programming through "ROBOTC". We're stuck with a different brain (microcontroller version 0.5) and needed more aid to work with such an old device. To any future "Principles of Engineering" students, you have to be very patient with using this micro controller.

Our group is in last place but with enough research, hard work, and determination, we'll be able to come back to our original position in this Robot Race.

A closeup of our programming USB.
It's really old technology, so it's rather finicky.

Back from Break

Spring Break proved to be a time of rejuvenation once again. Unfortunately, it ended all too soon and left me no alternative... I had to return to school. Due to a streak of bad luck, we are behind on the robot and it can't even move autonomously.

Our goal this week is to get it running by itself, and also to program it.

We need all the help we can get, but nobody seems available for asking. We'll need to do our best and try not to panic...

The program we'll be (hopefully) using soon

Beginning To An End

This week are minds are set on the hopeful completion of the robot. We should be adding the battery and microcontroller before Friday hopefully finishing on the day of. We've also progressed at a decent pace and are getting much better with our decision making.

The components we've yet to add

Friday!

We've come to the end of another week completing the base portion of the robot. Although it was rather difficult finding the right parts and deciding when and where to use the right tools we did manage. We even taught each other some of the tools names that we didn't know about.

Our robot, hanging out upside down while we tighten up some screws

Robot Work!

Goals:

• Continue working on the robot

If all goes according to plan, then by the end of this week we will have the basic structure done! This is exciting! We work well (if not a bit slowly) as a team. I consider myself lucky to be part of this team.

 Sammyr, happily working

Week Recap: Organization

Accomplished this week:

• Finished our organizing of the nuts and screws
• Began working on the actual robot!

Here is where the real work begins! It'll be a challenge, of that I'm certain. Still, there isn't anything we can't do if we do our best and work hard. But let's see how next week goes...

A peek into our messy toolbox

Organizing?

Goals for this week:

• Do whatever organizational tasks Mr. Martin has for us

That seems to include sorting and putting things together. It might be easy and a bit monotonous. Still, any work is better than no work at all. And do we really want to do hard work? I don't, at least, so these small jobs are looking better and better by the minute. 

A photo of what our work entails