1189 - Human-Bot Arm Control

[vhcook]

This is really cool.

What do you do with it during autonomous mode (since you are supposed to be "hands off")?

[vivek16]

Originally Posted by vhcook

This is really cool.

What do you do with it during autonomous mode (since you are supposed to be "hands off")?

umm.... what? they just program like they normally would with a joystick drive...

edit: oh sorry misread your post. yeah what do you do?

[sanddrag]

What happens if you like, sneeze or something? Does the robot go crazy?

[Arefin Bari]

I just checked the team list for championship and I so wish I saw you guys on that list. This is one innovative controller I have seen through the whole time I have been involved with FIRST. Congratulations, and I hope to see you at some offseason events.

[jmcr8on]

I will give a couple of answers:

Autonomous: The vest/arm hang on the OI board. At the end of autonomous the operator walks up, puts the vest over hear head (and safety glasses) and slides her arm in to the supports...the velcros the straps. In the meantime the driver starts to move the bot.

Sneezing or something: A concern we had was getting distracted and turning to talk to someone, etc. Just like driving a car, and sneezing, care must be taken. The arm disable button could be pressed on the onset of the sneeze...if the operator had their wits about them. If not...then the robot arm would move the same way the human arm did durign the sneeze....and then would move to the position the human arm was in 'after' the sneeze.

In our pit area and the practice area we set up orange cones around our work cell/area and warned people to not enter the area. We also called 'clear' when the arm was enabled...and completely cleared the area when the turret was to be used.

[LightWaves1636]

Originally Posted by jmcr8on

I will give a couple of answers:

Autonomous: The vest/arm hang on the OI board. At the end of autonomous the operator walks up, puts the vest over hear head (and safety glasses) and slides her arm in to the supports...the velcros the straps. In the meantime the driver starts to move the bot.

Sneezing or something: A concern we had was getting distracted and turning to talk to someone, etc. Just like driving a car, and sneezing, care must be taken. The arm disable button could be pressed on the onset of the sneeze...if the operator had their wits about them. If not...then the robot arm would move the same way the human arm did durign the sneeze....and then would move to the position the human arm was in 'after' the sneeze.

In our pit area and the practice area we set up orange cones around our work cell/area and warned people to not enter the area. We also called 'clear' when the arm was enabled...and completely cleared the area when the turret was to be used.

That is really cool. Way to go on safety as well.

[Qbranch]

What did you mount the arm to? Football shoulderpads or something? Cut in half? Or did you guys lay your own fiberglass?

-q

[kramarczyk]

Originally Posted by Qbranch

What did you mount the arm to? Football shoulderpads or something? Cut in half? Or did you guys lay your own fiberglass?

-q

They are a set of lacrosse pads that are basically unmodified.

[vivek16]

where did you guys get your potentiometers?
ive been looking and i cant seem to find any that specify that the input from them is through pwm cables

[jmcr8on]

Originally Posted by vivek16

where did you guys get your potentiometers?
ive been looking and i cant seem to find any that specify that the input from them is through pwm cables

Yeah....well...I am not sure that any company would really want to embrace PWMs as a connection standard....

That being said we clipped PWMs and soldered the female ends to the pots.


***Ugly #1*** We use cable bundles to get from the RC up the mast/arm with a DB15 disconnect between chassis and mast. PWM cables are soldered to the DB15 on the chassis. PWM cables are soldered into the cable bundle to connect to the PWM cables soldered to the pots and other sensors.

*** Ugly #2 *** For this human-arm application we used DB15 (game port) to Cat5 cables to modular connectors...to Cat5 cables to the vest....then to modular connectors...back to Cat5 cables..then soldered on PWM cables...to the pots. We wanted the ability to disconect the vest assembly in multiple places therefore the use of Cat5 modular connectors.

and...we are always looking for a better way to manage connections across the bot and also the OI. Suggestions?

We used the pots referenced in this white paper: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1743

We bought the pots from Allied Electronics (www.alliedelec.com)....the account exec was VERY helpful and even assisted in getting pots from another supplier when he was short of stock.

[vivek16]

yeah after a bit more research pwms are not used primarily on pots...

thank you, this is going to make a great after season project

we might have time trials to see what we can get accomplished in six weeks.

[jmcr8on]

We have a 'white paper', to use the term loosely, though..it is actually yellow due to the team colors, that includes:
- Arm features
- code snippets for arm control, PID, etc.

And we could add in the OI wiring that was done.

Available for the asking....

[vivek16]

could i have this white paper?

i am trying to do an easier way to wire the pots to the OI and your designs would be very helpful.

thanks

[WahooWa]

That is really cool. Great job guys. We were going with something like that, but decided to switch to a minature model of the arm instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mF8CKpf-80

Part of that is how far we got on the similar design.

Cool Controls 1189.

[jmcr8on]

Originally Posted by vivek16

could i have this white paper?

i am trying to do an easier way to wire the pots to the OI and your designs would be very helpful.

thanks

Yep...will drop it to your email in your profile. Give me a couple of days if you don't mind....catching up on the other non-FIRST part of life....