Machine Control

Well, its finished! Took a while, but it has finally come to a conclusion. The marble sorter was easily one of the more challenging projects we have had inside of this class so far. No, bot because of the creative thinking and problem solving we have to use to choose what to do. It was the limited resources that we had that killed me on this one. Pneumatics was easily the biggest contributing factor to this project, but there was not enough tubing and solenoids for everyone. So some people were able to aquire 1 3solonoids, another 10, and that was about all the solenoids in the class. So without pneumatics, this project got a little harder. Motors don't act as fast as the pistons do, and presented a bit of a challenge. Eventually, I was forced to redesign the entire assembly to support only motors and the one pneumatics piston I could grab. So I worked as hard as I could for the last week, but only successfully completed a marble sorter that can sort metal and wood with only two marbles allowed to load at a time.

Brainstorming
I never was entirely good at this. Brainstorming is one of the aspects of projects that I simply skip. Why? You don't really know how something works until you really try it, and that time you spent working out the little kinks and details could or could not have been for nothing. In a sense, brainstorming feels like a gamble to me. The most I feel that really needs to be thought about is: your materials available, the problem that needs solving, and how much time you have. Often, the time aspect leads me to ditch every bit of brainstorming opportunity and quickly assembling what comes off the top of my head. Unfortunately, this same technique used for essay writing doesn't work the same as it does in building. I would have greatly befitted from some brainstorming, and would have probably been able to create a fully functioning project.
Design Modifications
The final design was eventually changed, not because of programming or time issues, but due to the limited supply of parts. The key to this project was the use of the pneumatics, which allowed for quick release of the marbles and pushed them into bins. Motors could push the marbles into bins, but not act effectively as gates. Unfortunately, the use of pneumatics was limited to a few people due to the amount of pneumatic parts we had. So, instead of having a track system that would stay underneath the pneumatic pistons, I decided to make a wheel like design. A gear would move in a circle and hit limit switches, and depending on the type of glass marble, it would stop when the assigned switch was hit. For example (and in less confusing terms), if the green marble is detected, it would be knocked into the bin and would continue around the circuit until the second switch was hit.

Final Design

Reflection
The group I was in did okay. We probably could have had a bit more cooperation, but that can't be helped right now. Overall, the "final solution" didn't work out as expected, and could only successfully sort the wood and metal marbles. The programming for the colored marble sorter didn't really get anywhere past the developmental and test stages, and had to be scraped. So, a couple of things I learned here: brainstorm after you grab all the parts you need, be VERY quick to adapt to the situation, and make heavy use of your partner.

more pictures

Project pictures

ROBO Subprograms counter

We created a sub program that counted to 5. Then we made the main program with the counter so you could see the count but you only see the >5 symbol representing the counter program.

This is beneficail because it is a good way to organize and not have a giant program desplayed the whole time. This is especailly useful for those who are messy programers.

3.1.7

Construct and program a vehicle to be able to move forwards and backwards upon different time intervals.

Team Members: Austin Von Pohle, Austin Copp, Will Burroughs

Austin VP programmed the RoboPro software do the needed specifications of the assignment.

We all worked on construction of the vehicle from brainstorming the design of the vehicle, to implementing this design with the building materials and the wiring of the vehicle.

Will prepared the images for this blog post.

We ended up choosing to wire it parallel as opposed to in series. Since we wired it parallel, both motors see the same voltage, giving them equal strength.



Austin Von Pohle was the MVP his programming and construction skills were very valuable to completing the project.

The main problem was the construction of a vehicle that could go forwards and backwards but also does not go too far over the limit of the distance to be traveled. To complete this task we hardwired stop buttons that when the vehicle was moving back the back switch would be the first thing to hit the limit and therefore click the switch stopping the vehicle from moving in that direction.

Conclusion

1. What was the most difficult part of the problem?

2. List and describe two features that were not part of the design problem that could be added to improve your design.

1.       I think the most difficult part was wiring and programming the vehicle so that it could move easily and not get caught up in the wiring. We used the Bluetooth functions of the computer and Robo TX Controller to connect the programming to the controller wirelessly.

2.       The vehicle could use more energy from more motors or a battery pack; we had a little problem getting the vehicle to get to faster speeds this could be fixed with the addition of more energy sources. Also I think that we could have organized the layout of the vehicle a little better due to the fact that the wires are quite scrambled in various parts of the vehicle doing so would increase its visual appeal and prevent wires from breaking or getting disconnected/lost in the jumble.

>5

3.1.2

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1. How is flowcharting similar to using a map to plan a route for a trip?
A Map is similar to a flow char in that it gives you a guide to follow as directions to a location as a flow chart is a set of directions to complete a task
2. Describe a process that you perform every day. Develop a flowchart that illustrates the process.