We had a full team meeting tonight and focused on some brainstorming sessions about possible robot designs. The team broke into two groups. The first group (Jordy, Joe, Collin) focused on design concepts for robot mobility and baseball acquisition. The second group (Scott, Sean, Brad and Connor) focused on baseball manipulation / magazine and the design of the shooting mechanism.
Mobility / Baseball Acquisition
We'll use the four wheel drive mechanics from last year's robot but modify the chassis to a "U" Shape. The acquisition of the baseballs might be accomplished through the use of a draw bridge like mechanism that's controlled by a pair of servos. There will also need to be servo controlled push arms to activate the levers that free the baseballs. Total components are 2 electric motors and up to four servos.
Baseball Storage and Shooting
A potentially tricky aspect of the robot is where to store the baseballs once they have been gathered and how to manipulate them into a magazine for firing. We have built a proto-type shooting mechanism using two spinning wheels (just like Hot-Wheels) but need to determine how to ensure a consistent throw distance. The team's current thinking on loading is to use a conveyor belt-like structure to move the balls up and into a magazine that will feed the shooting device. We may need to use a servo to regulate the loading of balls into the shooter. Total components: 1-2 elec motors, 2 Lego motors, ? servos.
Next Steps:
(1) Scott and Matt will determine a build schedule between now and the 12/5 MD championships
(2) Jordy will make sure we understand what parts we can use to build the draw bridge and conveyor belt
(3) Sean will be working with labview to get a basic mobility program working
Next team meeting, Sunday 10/4 from 6-9pm
Our meetings will continue to be on Sunday nights from 6-8. (time may vary depending on availability) We will add another session during the week if it is needed. By the end of October we need a built robot, ready to run. If we do not then we will add another session or two per week until we get it done. That gives us a solid month of testing and programming of the completed design before the 12/5 competition. Please tell us what you think of this schedule. We will leave it up to the team to decide if we need another day during the week to build.
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