Arduino?

[EricH]

We'll start with the easy stuff.

Continuous-rotation servos: Servos are motors that will go to a given position and do their best to stay there. However, some folks make continuous-rotation versions, which look the same but rotate continuously.

Go with a regular triangle; the mechanical work will probably be easier. Also, look in CD-Media for some pictures of kiwi drives.

VEX motors: The VEX website is http://www.vexrobotics.com/; motors are under the "motion" category. Also note the omniwheels and other miscellaneous items...

Edit: Yep, those or their cousins in the same line.

[Kusha]

Originally Posted by EricH

We'll start with the easy stuff.

Continuous-rotation servos: Servos are motors that will go to a given position and do their best to stay there. However, some folks make continuous-rotation versions, which look the same but rotate continuously.

Go with a regular triangle; the mechanical work will probably be easier. Also, look in CD-Media for some pictures of kiwi drives.

VEX motors: The VEX website is http://www.vexrobotics.com/; motors are under the "motion" category. Also note the omniwheels and other miscellaneous items...

Edit: Yep, those or their cousins in the same line.

Ok, thanks for the help how about I update this thread tomorrow once I have some time thinking about the design and to see what you think?

[sanddrag]

It'll never work. I think you should just pack up all the hardware and send it to me for proper disposal. I'll send you a box with a prepaid label to put it in.

All jokes aside, it sounds like a great project. Be sure to post back letting us know how it goes.

[DonRotolo]

If you hit a roadblock - something that stops your progress - I advise taking whatever that subsystem is, and just default to some other solution that you know you can implement but is less than "ideal". Get it working with the lesser solution, and eventually you'll find a way to implement a better solution.

In other words: When you stall, default to "anything that'll work" until later.

Good luck, ask questions when you need to.

[Kusha]

Just thought this deserved a small update:

I went out to home depot and brought some plexi glass and some 3/8 plywood.

I'm going to build a prototype on a piece of plywood and then transfer it onto plexi glass.

Here's the base so far. I just started, and I'm trying to get .step files to import to autocad (For vex motors and such for prototyping purposes.)
(found an add-on that imports .step, but i can't get it to work)
After I can get .step to import I can get a proper prototype, for now this'll have to do.


Any suggestions?


I need suggestions for the motors, I need 3. Right now I'm looking at buying the vex motors mentioned earlier in the thread. I was wondering if anyone else has a better suggestion.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Kusha

Any suggestions?

Download and install Autodesk Inventor. Much easier/better than AutoCAD.

[Kusha]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Download and install Autodesk Inventor. Much easier/better than AutoCAD.

Ok, I'll download the trial and play around with it. I was downloading AutoDesk inventor fusion anyway for converting .step to .dwg

[Molten]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Download and install Autodesk Inventor. Much easier/better than AutoCAD.

It really depends on the application. For some things, AutoCAD is better. It really depends on the situation. That said, Inventor is easier to learn if you are new to drafting.

[Kusha]

Ok, I'm waiting on my mentor to give me the product key for autocad and I will start working on a model. In inventor, since the trial does not give access to it.

Today one of our mentors gave me 6x 12" Cold Cathodes never opened from 2007's game, since we were cleaning out the shop/redoing it.

I was wondering how I can control these with an arduino/ how much this would affect battery life (one thing I haven't even thought about) Lets say I had 4-6x AA batteries powering this robot. Would it even be possible?


Also, what the heck do the little black boxes that the cathodes plug into do? I assume ground and 12v?

I've also got some plywood for testing the prototype on, and some plexi to mount the final product on.

[EricH]

Normally, those cold cathodes were powered in groups of 4 off a single robot battery (or arena power). The black boxes are power and ground, IIRC. If you wanted to power them off an Arduino, you'd probably need to put in an extra power supply just for them--or have the Arduino trip a transistor as a switch.

[Kusha]

Originally Posted by EricH

Normally, those cold cathodes were powered in groups of 4 off a single robot battery (or arena power). The black boxes are power and ground, IIRC. If you wanted to power them off an Arduino, you'd probably need to put in an extra power supply just for them--or have the Arduino trip a transistor as a switch.

So here is the question at hand, should I bother with them? Or is it too much of a hassle

[DonRotolo]

The black boxes take 12 V DC and convert it to whatever the CCFLs use.
To control something that draws 'relatively large' power (more than a few milliamps) a transistor switch is cheap & easy, or use a small relay. IIRC the Arduino can sink or source about 20 mA on a Digital IO pin.

[Kusha]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

The black boxes take 12 V DC and convert it to whatever the CCFLs use.
To control something that draws 'relatively large' power (more than a few milliamps) a transistor switch is cheap & easy, or use a small relay. IIRC the Arduino can sink or source about 20 mA on a Digital IO pin.

The transistor would be the option I would pick. I've worked with transistors in powering a DC motor from a cd drive, so I have some small experience.

So now I know I can handle putting in a cathode.

The question remands what about battery life, would this basically kill off my battery life?

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Kusha

Ok, I'm waiting on my mentor to give me the product key for autocad and I will start working on a model. In inventor, since the trial does not give access to it.

Are you registered on the Autodesk Student Community? I believe you can get 3-year licenses of all their software titles.

[Kusha]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Are you registered on the Autodesk Student Community? I believe you can get 3-year licenses of all their software titles.

I haven't, what are the requirements?