Author: walther.271

Meeting 7

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February 11, 2018
8:00 pm
Bolz Hall Room 314

Meeting Agenda:

  1. Complete building the mock-up.

Meeting Notes: 

Everyone was present. The team met up to glue the pieces together. Upon arrival, they realized that they were missing a few of the major parts of the robot as described in the assignment, such as the motors and the place for the QR code. They added these parts, put the whole thing together, and Tom took it back to his dorm.

Future Actions: 

  1. Create SolidWorks mockup outside of class
  2. Get the website up and running and begin documenting on it
  3. Start drivetrain calculations

Meeting 6

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February 10, 2018
1:30 pm
15th Floor of Lincoln Tower

Meeting Agenda:

  1. Start building the mock-up

Meeting Notes: 

Dean, Meghan, and Shyon were present. Tom stopped by to bring cardboard from the Taylor Tower trashroom, but he could not stay. The team made different parts out of cardboard for the mock-up. Shyon made the skid and the servos. Dean made the Proteus, wheels, and rotating mechanism. Meghan made the forklift and the rack and pinion and cut the pencils. However, the team only had tape and not hot glue, so they decided to meet again to put the pieces of the mock-up together.

Future Actions: 

  1. Finish building the mock-up

Meeting 5

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February 9, 2018
3:00 pm
Hitchcock Hall Room 214

Meeting Agenda:

  1. Complete Exploration 1 while becoming familiar with coding the Proteus, the CdS cell, bump switches, and motors

Meeting Notes:

The whole team was present. This meeting overlapped with Exploration 1, where the team learned how to program some useful things on the Proteus using a basic pre-made robot. Dean and Meghan set up the robot and connected the motor, CdS cell, and servo motor to the respective ports. Tom and Meghan explored the code for using a CdS cell to determine light color. They also wrote the code for controlling a servo motor’s angle based on the CdS cell value. Shyon and Dean then took over and wrote the code for the robot’s navigation based on microswitches. The picture below depicts the path the robot needed to follow based on this code.

During Shyon and Dean’s coding adventure, Tom and Meghan discussed the appendages for the team’s robot. They went into the course room and looked at the wrench, the buttons, and the fuel pump. They officially decided to use a forklift on one side of the robot and a rotating mechanism on the other to accomplish the tasks. Tom took some measurements of the mock robot for future reference and for the team’s mock-up.

Future Actions: 

  1. Meet up to start the cardboard mock-up

Meeting 4

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February 7, 2018
3:00 pm
Hitchcock Hall Room 214

Meeting Agenda:

  1. Determining how to split up the work
  2. Complete the task schedule
  3. Get toolkit and Proteus equipment

Meeting Notes:

The whole team was present at this meeting. The proteus and tool bag were given to them. Dean went through the proteus box and completed the checklist assigned, ensuring everything was in good condition. Shyon and Meghan inventoried the tool bag while Tom started on the team’s task schedule. During this, the team discussed possible ways to break up the work and decided upon this:

Documentation: Everyone documents his/her own parts

Project Management: Meghan & Shyon work together on managing the team

Coding: Tom & Meghan split the work evenly

Testing: Everyone participates in testing the robot for his/her contributions

CAD: Dean & Shyon work on CAD together

Construction: Tom & Dean collaborate for the majority of the work

Future Actions:

  1. Start building the robot
  2. Learn about CdS cells, microswitches, and different motors

Meeting 3

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February 4, 2018
5:00 pm
Hitchcock Hall Room 324

Meeting Agenda:

  1. Complete design matrices
  2. Evaluate best robot idea

Meeting Notes:

Meghan, Dean, and Shyon got together to work on design matrices and compile their ideas into one document. Meghan and Dean created the design matrices. Remotely, Tom came up with some SolidWorks mockups of the best possible design concepts. Shyon later analyzed the team’s work and came up with what should be the best design.

Future Actions:

  1. Compile work from meeting into a document
  2. Discuss best robot design and how to build it
  3. Determine best way to split up future work
  4. Create a task schedule

Meeting 2

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February 2, 2018
3:00 pm
Hitchcock Hall Room 214

Meeting Agenda: 

  1. Discuss ideas individually brainstormed regarding the chassis, drivetrain, and motors

Meeting Notes:

The team brainstormed basic chassis and drivetrain ideas. They visited the course and discussed possible ways to complete the tasks using one appendage. After talking about different styles of arms, forklifts, and claws, the team decided a rotating forklift would work best because it could accomplish all of the tasks, but would be expensive, heavy, and difficult to implement.

The team also discussed possible motors to use and looked at the FEH Motors Graph. They came to the conclusion that the ACRONAME Motor had the best torque-speed curve, but after looking at a sample motor, realized that it would be difficult to use, and that the IGWAN and other motors could be implemented to work.

Future Actions: 

  1. Create design matrices based on different possible robot combinations
  2. Evaluate best robot combinations

Meeting 1

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January 31, 2018
3:00 pm
Hitchcock Hall Room 214

Meeting Agenda: 

  1. Meet each other!

Meeting Notes: 

Meghan, Dean, and Tom exchanged contact information, but Shyon was not present. The team brainstormed some team name ideas and landed on “Save the Crewbot”, then brainstormed for the poster. The team decided to create the poster using PowerPoint because no one had exceptional artistic skills.

Future Actions:

  1.   Brainstorm ideas for the chassis, drivetrain, and motors to discuss at the next meeting.