Week 15: Friday (12/9)

We are now done with the robotics so its time for some seriousness. We all began doing our gmetrix depending on what certification you are taking, either solidworks, Autocad, or Inventor. We all began studying and working hard to make sure we all get certified.

Solidworks

Week 15: Monday (12/5)

We were getting ready for the challenge tomorrow by tweaking our robot however we can and taking our free time to practice. We also double checked our code to make sure that our robot will run without problems. We also found a way to push the cube under the wall instead of just the stars. 

Week 14: Friday (12/2)

To finish off the week, we tried a couple of attempts of the challenge. We have a new strategy of trying to push the square down the fence and earn some extra points but we are stuck on how to do this efficiently. We are trying to perfect this as best as possible without having any problems.

Week 14: Monday (11/28)

To start off the week, our arm kept falling because it was too heavy to be controlled by the motors so we added more rubber bands so i can efficiently go up and down without falling. We are about to prepare for the autonomous challenge. We are predicting to get one or two over in this time, but if we run out of time we will decide as group to skip autonomous. and focus on manual. 

Week 13: Friday (11/25)

First off i wanna start by saying happy thanksgiving to everyone and i hope they have a great weekend. We are all on break having a good time and enjoying time with family and eating amazing food. Our only job was too research a little on extra ideas on how to make the robot better and more efficient.

Week 13: Monday (11/21)

To start off the week, we took the prongs off the endefactor. We coded the motor and changed it to a square type of shape. We made it easier to push the stars off and push them under the fence. We found out a secret technique for this challenge that nobody is doing and works amazing this push effector can push up to 6 stars underneath at once!!

Week 12: Friday (11/18)

To finish off the week we changed the endafactor slightly. We began having problems with our robot arm so we added gears and the motors to make it more compact, after we changed it the robot arm began moving up and down smooth and easily without giving us any further problems allowing us to move on to crush this challenge.

Solidworks

Week 12: Monday (11/14)

We further improved the swing arm which made it more compact. We hope to score higher than we did the first time now that our robot is in regulation. We improved the code because our controls on the remote were reversed.

Week 11: Thursday (11/10)

We stumbled upon some design flaws on Wednesday and are doing everything we can do to improve the design of the swing arm. We hope to have the robot ready by Monday which will leave us time to practice on Tuesday.

Week 11: Monday (11/7)

We decided to change the end of our arm by allowing it to swing open making it more compact to meet regulation. We asked other groups to assist in approaching our new design. We have the main design and plan on improving on it on Wednesday.

Week 10: Friday (11/4)

We attempted the challenge and got 14 stars over. Then Mr. Martin noticed something on our robot and our robot ended up being over 18 X 18. Our score was taken away. We then had to come up with a new design for our claw.

Week 10: Monday (10/31)

After starting practice we noticed that the robot was very unbalanced. We tried adding weight to the front by adding metal pieces but that turned out to not be enough weight. We then used spare wheels and anchored them down on the front of the frame. 

Week 9: Friday (10/28)

We improved our design for the main vertical structure by adding a horizontal bar to keep the structure straight. We also improved our game plan by knocking off the stars on the wall first then going for the stars on the ground. For now we are ignoring the cubes because our robot does not have enough support for the weight.

Week 9: Monday (10/24)

To start the week off, we added more claws in order for it to be stronger. This will allow us to not worrying about going into a pile and bend the claws. Also fixed the gears for it to be more steadier.

Week 8: Friday (10/21)

To end off the week we changed the design of our claw in order for it to be lighter and more effective. We also added 2 rubber bands to help our robot with the weight. This was because our robot was having some trouble lifting stars up due to the weight of the arm and not enough power.

SOLIDWORKS

Week 8: Monday (10/17)

To start of the week we finished our code for our arm. We also had some minor setbacks where the arm perfectly went down but was struggling to go all the way up. We are currently finding a solution.

Week 7: Friday (10/14)

To end off the week, we got our robots arm design perfectly. We tested it and it accurately picks up the star every time with easy and perfection. We also put on two motors for the arm so we can code the movements of it, so we can control the arm of the robot from out vex controller. We ended up getting back on track and ending off the week with our robot looking great.

Week 7: Monday (10/10)

To start this week off we decided to change the design of our arm because we learned the original design of our arm will weigh too much for our motors to operate the arm up and down without any problems. So we are set a little back on time due to having to take apart the arm to change the design but we are determined to work quickly and efficiently to get back on track and get it working and have our arm working as smooth as possible.

Week 6: Friday (10/7)

To end the week, we didn't have school Thursday and Friday due to hurricane Matthew. Without being in school our team each did individual research at home to try and figure out more ways to make our robot as efficient as possible and work as best as possible. However we figured a easy and efficient way to gear our robots arm to lift the weight and move it at a fast enough speed. lastly i hope everyone was safe during hurricane Matthew and had no problems.