Week 3: Where's your robot?

[Fixen]

Eh...we didn't start CADing it yet, but our guys are building the KitBot chassis and the gearboxes.

[Cyberguy34000]

For Week 4 I'll enable the you to vote for multiple choices. Any other suggestions for options?

[cnield]

Team 1318 has the KitBot Frame and transmissions assembled. Drivetrain is stalled because of a lack of support pieces/chain tensioners (They have been CADed and reupped, hopefully some progress will occur by our next meeting on Thurs.), We have investigated and scrapped three different arm designs. A gripper design looked most promising, but was eventually found to be impossible with parts provided. The base of the arm has been decided on (I think) but the gripper part/pick up has yet to be decided on. Electronics is DIW until arm specs are complete.

[Jay H 237]

Team 237 has the frame we built assembled with wheels and gearboxes/motors attached and we are working on our arm currently. The frame will still be dismantled a few times as we machine holes and make some modifications to mount the arm and it's hardware.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Jay H 237

The frame will still be dismantled a few times....

Ha! A few times, that's funny.. It will be disassembled and rebuilt about a hundred or so times until about week 5 or 6. Then, the last last time being disassembled it will be just to make it pretty.

[Bcahn836]

Ummm, we have a kit bot that we built last week. The Team and I havn't been in the shop since last week. due to the snow and our school system. Maybe just maybe we can get into the shop sometime this week, i hope.

[Spikey]

We have the base of our frame done, we are awaiting tires in order to built the drive train. We have the arm mechanism CAD'd and some parts of the arm in construction. The programmers are making progress on the camera and the early wiring design is being laid out.

[Fixen]

We were making the gearboxes...did anyone's kit come with the black collar for the chain sprocket? Ours seem to be missing.

[cnield]

Originally Posted by Fixen

We were making the gearboxes...did anyone's kit come with the black collar for the chain sprocket? Ours seem to be missing.

The spacers to which you are referring were not included in the kit. We made do with some left-over metal tube from last year. I checked IFI's site (the provider of the transmissions) and it looks like you will have to hack something together or buy spacers on your own.

[Doug G]

Originally Posted by cnield

The spacers to which you are referring were not included in the kit. We made do with some left-over metal tube from last year. I checked IFI's site (the provider of the transmissions) and it looks like you will have to hack something together or buy spacers on your own.

They released an advanced Bill of Materials before Kickoff that specified a 3/4" PVC pipe nipple - this was meant to be your "spacer" - we used a hose clamp for the time being!

Back to the question at hand - we built the kit bot the first week and played with the hall effect counters, new software and default code, camera. We're right with most people on designing, and fabricating an arm. Sounds like we'll be seeing a lot of similar robots this year!

[NoodleKnight]

We were hoping to have a moving drivebase by this time, but I guess that's just asking too much for our team. After many idea's scrapped, the team has is whiteboard drawings and very few CAD renderings. Oh yeah, we have our kit bot ready to roll, though.

[Rickertsen2]

Practice Bot/Kit Bot
completed early 1st week
Real Chassis
Everything is cadded, the pieces are cut and hopefully will start being welded tomorrow.
Arm
we have a very specific concept and quazi CADs but nothign physical yet.
Drivetrain
Using modified stock drivetrain with different wheels etc. This is held up by lack of chssis.
big scary gripper of doom
being fabricated
Electronics panel
Done
Pneumatics
I will do them tomorrow
Programming
rewrote a much more functional version of camera calibration tool
ARCAMS tool for monitoring robot, designing autonomous programs, and tweaking robot settings.
RC code mostly written.
Field
1 tetra
1 goal
1 autoloader

[Levin571]

we're essentially where we were a week ago (idea is on the board but still ever changing) but at least we got a chassis build. The best way to describe our stage right now of the robot, to quote Douglas Adams, "I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by."

[roboguy #1]

Ha-ha, we got the number one gearbox built ha-ha take that. That is it so eat my scrap metal! Who builds the kit thing-a-ma-jig. I mean seriously an extruded aluminum chassis. Come now the tetras weigh in at about 9lbs. + whatever your robot ways that stuff will fail you at least slow you down.

Power Module is complete ready for installation, just uploaded pic.