Project Log for 2020 Build Season - quasics/quasics-frc-sw-2015 GitHub Wiki

Software sub-team task list

7-March-2020 (Day 64)

Programming
- (Gavin) Inverted intake motor #3.
Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Created a list of parts used in the manipulator
  - Installed a hard stop for the floor intake arm
  - Cut out a piece of lexan for the floor of the main intake

6-March-2020 (Day 63)

Programming
- (RJ) Debugged the ControlPanel!

5-March-2020 (Day 62)

Programming
- (Gavin) Tested climber code.
- (Scott) Filled out software Bill of Materials.
Awards
- (Chairman's) Practiced presentation script.
Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Cut down and partially reattached motors for intake
  - Reassembled Base for arm (cut and rivet)
- Climber
  - Changed chain from #35 to #25
  - Drilled new holes for bottom hex shaft
  - Successfully tested climber motion

3-March-2020 (Day 60)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Reattached power cell storage
- Climber
  - Placed motors and climber in bot
  - Added in chain for motors
Programming
- (Gavin) Added Victor 5 for the intake.
Awards
- (Chairman's) Completed draft of presentation script.

29-February-2020 (Day 57)

Programming
- (Scott) Finished basic lighting support.

28-February-2020 (Day 56)

Programming
- (Scott) Started basic lighting support.

27-February-2020 (Day 55)

Programming
- (Kat) Adjusted distance command to also go in reverse
- (Scott) Changed default drivebase settings to brake and tested autonomous.
Mechanical
- Climber
  - Reassembled arm base
  - Changed Hex Shaft
  - Need to drill holes for mounting
  - Evaluated our design - Mix between 2 main types
- Power Cell
  - Assembled shoulders of floor intake
    - Not legal, width-wise
  - Tested the shoulders of the floor intake

22-February-2020 (Day 50)

Programming
- (Kat) Wrote and tested distance command
- (RJ) Finished and Tested the whole suite of things related to the CommandPanel.

21-February-2020 (Day 49)

Part of the team went to the practice field in order to get some additional "stick time", and to test how the upper-stage intake mechanism works (and do some debugging). We subsequently identified some issues that need to be resolved.

Mechanical
- Climber
  - Attached first motor onto setup
  - Change stages in second motor's gearbox
Programming
- Wrote preliminary version of "low scoring" auto mode code, using a timed move (vs. "move for distance").
- Tested at the practice field.
Awards
- Started getting together supplies for Chairman's presentation

20-February-2020 (Day 48)

Programming
- Addressed some of the "to do" comments from Mr. Healy's quick-and-dirty code review.
- Coded the handling of the "Camera Stand" servo (to allow a camera to be swiveled from front-pointing to rearward).
Mechanical
- ??????

18-February-2020 (Day 46)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Installed churros to keep lengths of intake box consistent
  - Added a plywood floor at the bottom (temporary)
  - Tested intake
- Climber
  - Received mounts and trunnions with machined-out holes
  - Finished motor mounting setup and top hex holder
Programming
- Xbox button bindings have been changed to this

15-February-2020 (Day 43)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
- Climber
  - Received motor plate and trunnions
  - Added in holes for mounting motor plates and trunnions
Programing
- (RJ) Debugged Vanna
- (Kat) Re-tested Drive code
Awards
- Chairman's Award
  - Started to brainstorm presentation/ researched a little bit

14-February-2020 (Day 42)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Built the final design
    - Assembled and installed rollers
    - Chained rollers together
    - Mounted motor to run chained rollers
Programming
- (RJ) Debugged Vanna
- (Kat) Re-tested Drive code

13-February-2020 (Day 41)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Built the final design (not done)
    - Mounted bridges and posts on bot
    - Double checked bearing holes
  - Disassembled prototype
Programming
- (Gavin) Current Xbox button mapping plan: Picture
- (Gavin) Encoder commands added for Kat and Scott
- (RJ) Vanna has manual mode!
Outreach
- (Kat) Prepared script for upcoming girl scouts badge workshop

11-February-2020 (Day 39)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Built the final design (not done)
    - Assembled corner posts
    - Finished drilling bearing holes
  - Began creating the bridges for mounting the intake on the bot
Programming
- (Gavin) Encoder position values (Formula for encoder ticks to inches: (encoder output in ticks)/(42 ticks)/(10.71 revolutions)*(6Pi inches forward))
- (Kat) Started the DriveADistance Command for Auto
- (Raja) Tested the CommandPanel SubSystem! (did not work as intended).
Awards
- Chairman's Award
  - Started to build handout/ start script for presentation portion of the Chairman's award
- EI Award
  - No further progress

08-February-2020 (Day 36)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Continued final design (actually finalized)
    - Tested chaining rollers together
    - Drilled bearing holes
  - Discussed how to mount the intake on the robot
Programming
- (Kat) Finished Turbo Mode and SwitchFace :)
- (Gavin) Implemented climber subsystem and commands (still needs button binding), started encoder stuff
Awards
- Chairman's Award
  - Essays Done
  - No further progress on presentation preparation
- Woodie Flowers Award
  - Done
- EI Award
  - No further progress

07-February-2020 (Day 35)

CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER

06-February-2020 (Day 34)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Remade prototype to clean up the chaos
  - Moved the back of storage wall
  - Came up with a new idea for storage with a cheap cardboard prototype (I think)
  - Drilled holes in the 2x1
Programming
- (RJ) Started adding controls
Awards
- Chairman's Award
  - Essays Done
  - No further progress on presentation preparation
- Woodie Flowers Award
  - Done
- EI Award
  - No further progress

04-February-2020 (Day 32)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Cut things to begin building the final manipulator
  - Argued about the drill bits
- Climber
  - Made gearboxes for motors at base of elevator(20:1)
  - Cut 80-20 for both stages of elevator
  - Prepared CIMs to be used at base of elevator
Programming
- Added/configured 4 Victor SPX controllers on the spare drive base (CAN IDs 1-4), so that they can be used to simulate subsystems on the competition bot (for testing).
  - Configuration required using the Phoenix Tuner app, running on one of the laptops, and plugged into the Rio via USB. (Docs)
- (Nurfadil) Created the commands for the Intake and Exhaust subsystems.
- (RJ) Finished initial code for the Control Panel Subsystem & two commands with it.
  - The commands still need to be wired up to allow the operator to trigger them. (And the code needs to be tested.)
Awards
- Chairman's Award
  - SUBMITTED!!!
- Woodie Flowers Award
  - SUBMITTED!!!
- EI Award
  - No further progress

1-February-2020 (Day 29)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Prototyping
  - More parts ordered
- Climber
  - Finished bottom hex shaft design in CAD
  - Decided on belt length and sprockets for chain to connect motors to elevator
Programming
- Gavin downloaded the libraries for Victor SPXs with CAN, the write-up for downloading the libraries is now a part of the wiki page for setting up the 2020 tools
- RJ set up a control panel subsystem
Awards
- Chairman's Award
  - Other than some small edits, WE ARE ALL PREPARED TO TURN IN!!!
- Woodie Flowers Award
  - No further progress
- EI Award
  - No further progress

31-Jan-2020 (Day 28)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Developed CAD
  - Continued making progress on the prototype, making it more adjustable
  - Doing stuff alone is hard
- Climber
  - Changed elevator back to original design and made tighter to fit hex brackets on outside
  - Finished bracket design to hold hex shaft at top of the elevator
  - Decided on design to hold hex brackets at bottom of elevator(need to CAD)
Programming
- (Nurfadil) Coded the Intake Subsystem along with some of the Extake.
- (RJ) Started looking into color sensing.
Awards
- Chairman's Award
  - Worked on large essay.
- Woodie Flowers Award
  - Began edits and rewrites.
- EI Award
  - No further progress

30-Jan-2020 (Day 27)

Drivebase
- Terminalled/terminated Neo's (motors)
- Put Neo's and gearboxes on test drivebase
Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - TODO: Add status from 30Jan2020
- Climber
  - Changed elevator design to fit within itself
  - Began working on design to hold hex shaft at the top of elevator
  - Need to readjust motor plate to fit secondary pulley/sprocket
Programming
- (Scott) Coding tasks were assigned
- (Gavin) ML option research continues:
  - Created an S3 bucket and set up a notebook
  - Machine learning progress stopped upon getting an error documented on Chief Delphi, which is also documented in the WPILib tutorial on ML.
    - In short, "Wpi, First, and Amazon are changing the way our accounts are set up. Until then, we cannot run our notebooks."
    - No ETA is yet known for a fix; there was a seminar in NH on 24Jan, and they were apparently hopeful it would be addressed "soon".
- (RJ) Started work on the CommandPanel (beginning to frame subsystem)
- (Kat) Finished coding a V1 implementation of tank drive support, but it has not yet been tested; Sean has promised to have Nike in shape to allow testing by late in Friday's meeting.
  - Subsystem is in place, using a hardcoded rate limiter of 45%
  - Tank drive is set as the default command for the robot, reading from joystick and with a dead band between -0.01 and +0.01.
  - Some cleanup work is needed (literals --> name constants, etc.).
  - Future features: "turbo" mode, "switch face" support, autonomous support
- (Nurfadil) Started work on Intake/Exhaust subsystems
  - Requirements for exhaust are still somewhat in flux, but it's like to have 3 modes of operation
    - It sounds like during floor pick-up both Exhaust and Intake will need to run (with Exhaust running only lower motor, forward)
    - During elevated pickup, upper motor will run backward, lower motor forward)
    - During delivery, lower and upper motors will both run forward

28-Jan-2020 (Day 25)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Continued CAD
  - Determined some new materials
  - Prototype model 3
  - Built a more stable and accurate prototype of the intake
- Climber
  - Adjusted CAD for elevator to fit within height limit
  - Finished bracket for hex shaft
  - Finalized hook and sent out to be cut
Programming
- Kat added the drive base subsystem and a tank drive command
- Gavin signed up for an AWS account
- Nurfadil updated tools on the driver's laptop

25-Jan-2020 (Day 22)

Mechanical
- Power cell
  - Built a more accurate and stable intake
  - Added more PVC pipes for storage and another powered roller
  - Wanted to change the outer intake roller position further back to make the robot legal
- Climber
  - Finished CAD for full elevator
  - Began CAD for hex shaft brackets
Programming
- Downloaded Rev Robotics sample code for encoders, found that it was written for an older version of the tools, so that may be why it failed to deploy
- Read motor position and velocity using the Spark Max Client Software (we're assuming this data came from the encoders)
- RJ began training on serial monitor work with Arduino.
3-D Modeling/ CAD
- No status reported
Awards
- Chairman's Award
  - Started discussing the Essay. Decided on the format and started brainstorming.
- Woodie Flowers Award
  - Began and made substantial headway on the Woodie Flowers Essay rough draft.
- EI Award
  - No further progress

24-Jan-2020 (Day 21)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Continued creating CAD model
  - Discussed prototype model 2 (more accurate)
  - For Tomorrow ...
    - Determine measurements for intake width
      - MUST CONSIDER
        
        Motors
        
        Edge of bot
        
        Room for components
        
        Don’t be unwise
- Climber
  - Began CAD for full elevator(stages)
  - Finished clamping system for belt
Programming
- Finished updating Radios
- continued framing robot design
- Finished designing game plan for autonomous.
3-D Modeling/ CAD
- No status reported
Awards
- Chairman's Award
  - No further progress
- Woodie Flowers Award
  - No further progress
- EI Award
  - No further progress

23-Jan-2020 (Day 20)

TODO: Log status here.

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Further testing of prototype
    - widened
    - wheel size (4 and 2 inches)
    - measurements written down
  - Beginning a NEW CAD model (in GRABCAD)
- Climber
  - Readjusted mounting plate for motor to better fit belt and gearbox, also changed ratio.
  - Decided on how belt will mount with the clamping plate.
Programming
- Began working through the machine learning tutorial
- Began updating radios
- Framed the structure of the robot in greater detail

21-Jan-2020 (Day 18)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Changed the intake wheel to 4 inches
  - Built a wooden prototype for the intake
- Climber
  - Worked on CAD to mount belt + clamping plate
  - Began to redesign mounting plate to add in gearbox
3-D Modeling/ CAD
- No status reported
Programming
- Updated coders' tools on their individual machines
- Began updating the drivers' stations (2 of 4 images have been updated; backup partition on new machine and the Classmate both remain to be done)
- Initial design work for 2020 software (identifying core subsystems and probable commands to be written)
  - TODO: Add link to this information
- Had a chalk talk about the 2020 libraries
- Framed the structure of the robot
Awards
- Chairman's Award
  - Started discussing the Essay. Decided on the format and started brainstorming.
- Woodie Flowers Award
  - No further progress
- EI Award
  - No further progress

18-Jan-2020 (Day 15)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Made sure entire sub-team was up to date
  - Adjusted design for improvement
  - Did some general prototype testing
  - Determine dimensions (20" X 7.5" X 23") (~8" from ground)
- Climber
  - Started to prototype the climber.
  - Machining a mounting plate.
  - Drilled hole in belt--- FAILURE
- Drive Base
  - Drive base size was decided. (32" X 28")
3-D Modeling/ CAD
- Power Cell
  - Slightly adjusted CAD model
- Climber
  - CAD was finished for the mounting plate.
  - Clamping block for belt finished.
- Drive Base
  - Drive base CAD was started and finished.- Put on GrabCAD
  - Drive assembly finished.- Put on GrabCAD
Programming
- Vision
  - Worked with Reflective tape vision tracking. Isolating the reflective tape using the GRIP software is done; however, the program is having trouble actually identifying it. Currently confused and unsure why it is not being identified. Looked on Chief Delphi and GitHub, but nothing helpful was found.
Awards
- Chairman's Award
  - No further progress
- Woodie Flowers Award
  - No further progress
- EI Award
  - No further progress

17-Jan-2020 (Day 14)

Mechanical
- Power Cell
  - Must determine materials required
  - Hope to start physical prototyping tomorrow
  - Make adjustments to sizing (leave room for rollers)
  - Aim to become more EFFICIENT in planning
- Climbing
  - Decided on a hook design to grab onto bar.
3-D Modeling/ CAD
- Power Cell
  - More detailed CAD assembly
- Climber
  - Started and finished CAD for the hook.
  - Started to CAD melting plate for motors/gears.
Programming
- Vision
  - Identification of the 4 panel color blobs was done more consistently.
    - Red, Green, Blue, Yellow
    - Yellow is the least inconsistent but all are fairly consistent.
  - Started to work with reflective tape again. Used actual ring light (hooked up to Nike) instead of phone flashlight we were originally using to first test. The reflective tape was isolated better; however, GRIP seemed unable to actually identify it.
Awards
- Chairman's Award
  - Wrote 1 of the last 2 executive summaries. Discussed how to approach the last unwritten 1.
- Woodie Flowers Award
  - No further progress
- EI Award
  - No further progress

16-Jan-2020 (Day 13)

TODO: Add meeting notes

Mechanical
- Climber
  - Researched more CAD designs
  - Decided to attempt using belts instead of chain for lift (somewhat)
  - Started prototype
  - Talked about placement of motors (Neo)
- Power Cell
  - trapezoidal containment/intake/outtake
  - We want angled intake/outtake in the containment
  - Rollers - free spinning
  - Lexane
  - Belts?
  - 23 x (15 and 17) x 7.5 Inches
3-D Modeling/ CAD *Power Cell * Attempts at CAD model of possible prototype
- Climber
  - No CAD made
Programming
- Vision
  - Downloaded GRIP and set up a pipeline for tracking yellow e-tape and one for reflective tape.
- The skeleton of the robot was looked at/ started getting an idea about how to compose it.
Awards
- Chairman's Award
  - No further progress
- Woodie Flowers Award
  - No further progress
- EI Award
  - No further progress

14-Jan-2020 (Day 11)

Mechanical
- Climber
  - Deon joined the Climbing Sub-team.
  - Continued research and seemingly came to the same conclusions.
  - Came to conclusion of building a linear climber.
  - Need to determine measurements next meeting
- Power Cell
  - Vertical intake/outtake (Taking up less than one-half of robot chassis)
  - Timing belt(s)
  - Top roller/wheels inside
  - Arm reach/resistance from bumper intake
  - Materials?
    - Avoid STICKY
    - Free-rollers vs. moving parts (effective??)
    - Containment/ramps within (balls can’t escape unless we want them to)
Programming
- Had remaining members of the software team install 2020 tools.
Awards
- Chairman's Award
  - Discussed executive essay questions/ edited executive essays already written. Also started discussion concerning the large essay and how we want to start creating it.
- Woodie Flowers Award
  - Our team voted to decide who we wanted to nominate for the award. A nominee was decided and will be announced at a later date.
- EI Award
  - Discussed that we need to work on it.

11-Jan-2020 (Day 8)

Team decided what sub-teams we need (non-driving) and who belongs to which sub-team.
- Climbing
  - Bilal, Emmett, Gavin, Kat
- Power Cell
  - Alice, McKenzie, R.J., Ruth
Sub-teams broke into groups to start researching and prototyping.
- Climbing
  - Lifts (Continuous Forward/Inward)
  - Pneumatic Air cylinders (RULED OUT due to high weight and length of cylinders)
  - Tape measure (Ex. 1986's Stronghold robot (RULED OUT due to extra points of failure)
  - Winch (RULED OUT because it will need another mechanism with it which would basically cause the winch to seem unnecessary in the sense of not needing 2 parts when you can make something more simplistic with only 1)
- Power Cell
  - Dump 3 balls at a time
  - Dump 2 balls at a time
Note: The balls stick to anything and everything, including themselves.

10-Jan-2020 (Day 7)

Team went through an exercise to assign weights to the options that we felt were important on the 'bot.
- Each person ranked the options from 1-10, with 10 being the highest.
- Based on the compiled results, and follow-up discussions about comparative risks, KISS Theory, low-fidelity/"cardboard" prototyping, etc., we wound up deciding that we want to be able to:
  1. climb
  2. manipulate the wheel
  3. deliver (not shoot) to the low goal
  4. scoring balls during autonomous mode also being a [very] high want.
- The last 20-30 minutes were spent in small groups (2-3 people each), brainstorming on approaches for ball delivery and climbing, including reviewing prior art from other teams on previous games.

09-Jan-2020 (Day 6)

Today we had a poll to see who wanted a climber and got a stunning 100%. Then we made a pros and cons of making a shooter. Discussed various points for, and against it and we haven't really decided yet.

One key takeaway: one of the software team members pointed out that there's a lot of specialization in that team, which limits what tasks they can easily cover. (The point was also made that we wound up investing a lot of time over the summer on stuff that didn't help to fill in these gaps, or to increase learning in new directions like vision: this is something that Mr. Healy will work on fixing in the future.)

07-Jan-2020 (Day 4)

General

Agenda Started design cost benefit analysis for design options in Infinite Recharge. Link here.

05-Jan-2020 (Day 2)

Cross-team game eval and brainstorming with 4150 (Frobotics) and 8133 (JayBots).

04-Jan-2020 (Kickoff brainstorming - Day 1)

See notes in Google Doc.

02-Jan-2020 (last meeting before Kickoff)

General

Review of plans for kickoff (attendance, location, timing, etc.) and post-kickoff planning
Review of plans for Sunday cross-team brainstorming (including requirement to wear uniforms)

Sub-team reports

Software sub-team

Cleaned up CAN code to allow control of all motors
Cleaned up Tank Drive Code to allow for, well, tank drive
Added a dead band to up minimum input for drive base control
Cleanup of Ada's code (WIP)

Electrical

Made a male to male connection between the Spark on Port 6 to the PWM

CAD sub-team

Trained on developing assembly files in Inventor
Worked on creating standard part file library for the upcoming season