February 16, 2018
3:00 pm
Hitchcock Hall Room 214
Meeting Agenda:
- Complete Exploration 2 while learning about shaft encoding and line following
- Pick up ordered parts
Meeting Notes:
Everyone was present. This meeting occurred during Exploration 2, where the team became familiar with the line following kit and shaft encoding using the Crayola bot. After setting up the robot and wiring the line following kit an motors to the proper ports, the group got readings for each of the optosensors for when it was on a line or the background of two different courses. After getting these readings, Dean started coding for the shaft encoding part of the exploration while Tom and Meghan started coding for the line following part of the exploration. Using the shaft encoding program template, Dean collected data on how many ticks on each motor were counted when the motors were programmed to move forwards for 6 inches. Based on the results, he realized that at higher motor powers, the motors would go past 6 inches and that the right motor would move 11% more than the left motor for the same power. After collecting the data and making the robot turn 90°, he tried to perform the required task of making the robot drive 14 inches, turn left 90°, drive 10 inches, turn right 90°, then drive 4 inches. During his first attempt, the robot did not drive the full 14 inches but did everything else perfectly, so he corrected the number of ticks and the robot succeeded during its second attempt.
For the line following part of the exploration, Tom and Meghan wrote a program that attempted to follow a straight and curved line using a line following kit. At first it was unsuccessful as it did not follow the line. However, after the group changed the ranges for the digital input from the line following kit, the Crayola bot successfully traveled on a straight line. Next, for the curved line the group again changed the values of the ranges of the input, but the group was unsuccessful in following the curved line. At this point, class was over, and the group decided to work on following the curved line in the following week.
Dean picked up the parts from the store that the team had previously ordered and put them in a clear container that Meghan brought to store the robot parts. The team had planned on meeting after this but realized that there is no open lab on Friday.
Future Actions:
- Start building robot
- Order parts needed
- Set up Github