engineering notebook 22

FTC Team: #7750Mechanical Maniacs’

Engineering notebook:

0 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

Table of Contents

Summary4

Team……………………………………………..……………………..…5

Team Biographies…….……………………………6

Robot 15

Bill of Materials……………………………………..16

Design……………………….…………………………….17

Outreach…………………………………………………….24

Team events………………….…………………………..25Kick-off………………………………………………………………….25

Benson bot…………………………………………..……………….26

Bend HS Tournament…………………………..………………….27

Outreach at the Elementary school…..…………………..30

Fundraiser.…………………………………………………………….31

Journal of Meetings………………………………..321st Meeting ……………………………………………………………………32

2nd Meeting……………………………………………………………………33

3rd Meeting……………………………………………………………………34

4th Meeting……………………………………………………………………35

5th Meeting……………………………………………………………………37


6th Meeting……………………………………………………………………38

7th Meeting……………………………………………………………………42

8th Meeting……………………………………………………………………43

9th Meeting……………………………………………………………………45

10th Meeting…………………………………………………………………46

11th Meeting…………………………………………………………………47

12th Meeting…………………………………………………………………48

13th Meeting…………………………………………………………………49

14th Meeting…………………………………………………………………50

15th Meeting…………………………………………………………………51

16th Meeting…………………………………………………………………53

17th Meeting…………………………………………………………………62

18th Meeting…………………………………………………………………65

19th Meeting…………………………………………………………………74

Bonus meetings……………………………………………… 52 1st bonus meeting …………………………………………………… 52

2nd bonus meeting ………………………………………………………… 54

3rd bonus meeting …………………………………………………………. 56

4th bonus meeting ………………………………………………………… 57

5th bonus meeting…………………………………………………………..58

6th bonus meeting…………………………………………………………..60

7th bonus meeting…………………………………………………………..63

8th bonus meeting…………………………………………………………..64

9th bonus meeting…………………………………………………………..66


10th bonus meeting…………………………………………………………..66

11th bonus meeting…………………………………………………………..68

12th bonus meeting…………………………………………………………..70

13th bonus meeting…………………………………………………………..71

14th bonus meeting…………………………………………………………..72

Business…………………...……………………………75

Acknowledgments…………………………………76

Team Number 7750


Summary:Intro:

Hello! We are Mechanical Maniacs or M&Ms for short. This is our rookie year in FTC, but we have done two years of FLL as a team, not to mention the years of experience that some members had before joining. Our team consists of seven members: Gracie, Aidan, Grant, Isaac, Josiah, Warren, and Randy. We have our own Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/MechanicalManiacsFTC) and website (www.MechanicalManiacs.weebly.com). There you can see our history and find out more about us! Though we are a rookie team, we are aspiring towards the Inspire Award! GO TEAM GO!

Planning:

Before the season started we had plans for what the robot should look like and how it should work. We noticed that an arm seemed very useful and that not many teams use an arm, thus we built a robot with an arm that could be modified for virtually any mission! At the kickoff we learned the challenge and decided to go with the scoop design for our arm.

A new member!

A couple of our most important meetings were our 8th meeting; 11-1-13 when a prospective member, Jack, visited. Then on 12-13-13 which was our 12th meeting another prospective member, Isaac, joined!

A move:

At our 15th meeting on 1-10-14 we moved from Mrs. Van Hattem’s house to the GYM at Faith Baptist Church so that we would have room to set up the field. Though we have moved back and forth depending what we needed to do the meeting.


http://www.MechanicalManiacsFTC.weebly.com/

http://www.Facebook.com/MechanicalManiacsFTC

Team:Lead Notebook Designer and Social Media producer: Randy

Secondary notebook designers: Gracie, Aidan, Grant, Josiah, Warren, and Isaac.

Team organizer and Social out reach Producer:

Gracie

Main robot designer: Josiah

Robot engineers: Grant, Randy, Warren, Aidan, Gracie, Josiah, and Isaac.

Main programmers: Aiden, Grant, and Josiah.

Tools manager: Warren!

Rules Meister: Isaac!


Team Biographies:



My name is Colette Van Hattem & I am the “coach” for Mechanical Maniacs.

But I have a confession to make I am NOT a technical minded person AT ALL. I have homeschooled my 5 children & have lead Dog 4H (well actually my daughter did, but I am not big on details) & Robotics 4H (Actually I get A LOT of help from my very good friend Linda Koontz & my son is a Jr. leader that actually can help the other kids with their questions). The bulk of what I do is direct/remind the kids what they need to do & what the parameters are. As well as give a place to make it happen. That is why I am thankful for FIRST & ORTOP, which encourages parents & adults to be involved even if they do not know anything about technology. If I had to be a technical person I would miss out on seeing the kids learning & having fun with hands on Science. Robotics has stretched me in ways I would never have known for which I am thankful. Left to my own I would rather be quilting, scrapbooking, reading, or taking pictures.

Colette“Every solution has a problem.”

The FTC coach’s manual

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6 Mechanical Maniacs FTC#7750


GrantAge 15

Hobbies: Robotics, Airsoft, Guitar, Photography, Lacrosse

Favorite food: Pizza, Burgers, BBQ, Apple pie, Coffee

I joined Robotics because I was interested in furthering my knowledge of building and programming robots. I was given an NXT kit as a gift and was interested in building and programming with it, but I did not have enough knowledge to do much, other than what LEGO gives instructions for. Thanks to FIRST I have learned how to program with Robot-C and I now know how to build better robots both with LEGO and Tetrix. I have really enjoyed getting to know my teammates and

Working with them.

The Road goes ever on and on Down from the door where it began. Know far ahead it as gone, And I must follow if I can, pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say. ~Bilbo Baggins

J.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring.

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GracieHi! my name is Gracie and I am a sophomore at Elkton High School. I am 15 and I enjoy softball, music, math, and engineering. I am an independent research student in our science department. I’m advanced in computer technology and programming, and I love learning everything about music. I’ve been in robotics since I was 10 and enjoyed making robots and learning how to build radios with my grandfather. I watched NASA half of my life and enjoyed going to space camp and being head commander of both missions we were trained on in Alabama. I love public speaking and business work including talking to business managers and being President of the Elkton Future Business Leaders of America. I also enjoy art including painting, sketching, and sculpting. And that is all about me!

“Lack of courage to live and to cope with difficulties does not change the outcome of the journey or the reward at the end.” ~Thich Quang Duc

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AidanHi I am 12 and I love robots and have always been interested in computers. I like video games and I think it would be fun to make one (I’m still learning how!) and then publish it. I like sports such as basketball, baseball, ice hockey, and bowling. I joined robotics because I think they [robots] are very cool and can do an unlimited amount of things if I use my imagination!

”There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.” ~Aristotle

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IsaacMy name is Isaac and I am 13. I am homeschooled and in eighth grade. I like robotics because my father is an engineer and I like playing with robots. I also like playing sports and building stuff. My favorite hobbies are fishing and hiking.


JosiahTo tell you about how I learned and started FTC or robotics I have to go back to when I was young, around 6 or 8. Ever since I can remember I built and played with Legos. I learned how to make parts move and constructed many things. I also liked making things able to move like they should, instead of looking right all the time. One day I was at fair and I saw a robotics team with RCX kits letting people build with them, trying to get people excited about robotics. We stopped by and I looked and handled the parts. I imagined what I could build with gears, motors and the parts that were there. That year I joined the team, but it was too late for me to do FLL that season, however, I did build a robot that I called “The singing, dancing, robot.” That year I saved up for an NXT of my own and the year after I joined FLL. Next year I built a “Singing, dancing, waving” robot, for fair, that knew three dances and would do them for certain colors. I worked on it for 2 years and this year I had a 4wheel drive, independent suspension, 4wheel steering, realistic monster truck which I called IRMT that I entered into fair. I did FLL for 3 years and now I am doing FTC. I joined Robotics because I always loved building and programming robots. I will never stop building robots of some sort. I plan on doing full time car mechanics when I grow up for a while. Then I will become an inventor

“It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man”.

~ Benjamin Franklin

“Impossible means no one ever put enough effort to make it possible.” ~Unknown

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RandyI am 16 years old. I have done FLL for 6 years. This year the team is moving into FTC for me, because I am too old for FLL. I love the challenge FIRST provides! I am doing FTC as part of my dream to pursue technology in creative new ways. I have been homeschooled my entire life, and currently I am training to fix computers. Someday I want to work for NASA, or a private space company like Space X!

“A true sign of intelligence is not Knowledge, but imagination”.

~Albert Einstein13

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Warren Hello my name is Warren. I am 14 and I love working with animals. I have two dogs and lots of goats and sheep. I like robotics because it is giving me a basic understanding of engineering. I like being in a team and working towards a goal with friends.

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. ~Robert Louis Stevenson

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Robot:


FTC robot Bill of Materials:

FTC Robot Bill of Material

Team Number: 7750Part Description Game Rule / Forum Reference

QTY 1 Plywood Game Manual Pt 1: <R04.b>QTY _ ¼ “ Bolts, nuts Game Manual Pt 1: <R05.k>QTY 5/16-18 x 1in hex bolts & nuts Game Manual Pt 1: <R05.k>QTY _ 1/15 in Insulated copper wire Game Manual Pt 1: <R08.r.i>QTY _ #8 x 1/2” lath screws Game Manual Pt 1: <R05.k>QTY 1 1in x 1/16in x 36in angle aluminum Game Manual Pt 1: <R04.d>QTY 1 sheet Plexiglas Game Manual Pt 1: <R04.b>QTY 1 3/4in x 1/16in x 36in angle aluminum Game Manual Pt 1: <R04.d>QTY thread lock Game Manual Pt 1: <R06.g>

QTY1 silicone caulk Game Manual Pt 1: <R06.g> QTY Electrical Tape Game Manual Pt 1: <R06.f>

QTY 11 Pop Rivets Game Manual Pt 1: <R05.k>

QTY 1 Rubber Band Game Manual Pt 1: <R06.c>

QTY Velcro Game Manual Pt 1: <R05.k> QTY 2 rolls Red and Black Duct Tape Game Manual Pt 1: <R06.f> QTY 1 roll Scotch tape Game Manual Pt 1: <R06.f>


Robot design and build:The chassis:

As Main designer, Randy asked me to tell the life story of our robot. When we had just started meeting, before the FTC year began, I had a plan on how the robot would work and how it would look. I didn’t sketch it out until we started meeting and talking about it. Before the build year began we already had a plan for our robot! It was going to have a chassis in the center of the robot that would have the powered drive wheels. The robot body would be supported by four floating Omni-wheels. The chassis in the middle would be able to turn separate from the robot allowing it to move in any direction. Here is a drawing by me and one by Randy.

These move the robot forward.

And there is a motor on top that rotates this.

We discarded this idea because if the need arose we would not be able to turn the body of the robot, and there were some other design flaws, for example, this design would have been difficult to build. We thought we would have had to have a lot


of 3D printed parts so that the shoulder of our arm could stand the stress of pulling up. This is because the shoulder was the only thing holding the arm to the frame. It would have been difficult to use, we thought. We tried a design I came up with when Randy wanted a unique chassis that would give an edge on the competition.

We thought that wood would be easier to use then the aluminum parts, but we found out that it was heavier. I put holes in the wood to make it lighter, I asked my dad and put them in places that would not weaken the strength in the places that we needed it. When Grant and I started to build the frame of the chassis we found that it cracked when we screwed into it. To say the least we decided to use aluminum for the frame and put wood on the top because we needed a thin, long, wide sheet for it. We later found out that it would not go up the ramp. So we chucked that one and Grant said “Why don’t we go with my simple design?” And I said, “What design?” He said, “The one on PTC Creo.” I said, “I never got my PTC Creo up to see it,” (it was on Facebook.) He said, “Well, it is a simple 6 wheel drive chassis with a chain.” I thought about it and liked it, but then I saw a problem. If we drove to the middle of the ramp it would tip back and forward because of the wheels in the middle. So I said, “That is a good idea but there is one problem,” and I say that a lot, because it is easier to see a problem with some one else’s idea. We found out that it was a great idea if we just made it 4 wheel drive. So that was our chassis design, simple but effective.


That was our chassis for our First Tournament (for the most part). When we got there we found out that they sprayed anti static spray on everything which also increases traction. Our robot could not turn because of that!!! Thus we changed our chassis design right there and then. We took it apart and put motors on all wheels and reprogrammed it. The more power caused it to slip more but it wasn’t turning very well. At our first match we programmed it different, then we wired it (we were still wiring when we got to the “On deck table”). We began to tear up the mat and we put down the controls and did nothing. This was because our motors were fighting each other. Thus after reprogramming, we changed from 18th to 10th place in 2 matches. Then, after the tournament, Isaac and Warren took it apart because we wanted to be ready if they spray on that stuff for this Tournament. We had two different ideas, one I came up and one Grant came up with.

Grant’s: Josiah’s:

Grant and I built our ideas and then the other team members got to see them move. After that they judged them and decided. They voted on mine because they liked the idea of being able to

go side to side. But Grant’s was a good idea too. This is how mine works.


Forward: Side to side: Spinning:

The scoop:

We built this scoop after the Kick-off using sheet metal.This we attached to our arm. Later we found out that It could pick up blocks, but it threw them out whenwe raised the elbow. Thus we built one with a top. After our First Tournament we found that it wouldbe better to have a clear scoop, allowing us to see theblocks. We came up with a mechanism that helpsus pick up blocks faster. You might ask “why does itlook like swiss cheese?” We needed to lighten thebucket so the Servos would not have to work so hard, thus we drilled holes in the scoop.

The Skeleton of the arm:Designing the Skeleton of the arm was simple………. Wrong! I thought it was going to be simple. At the very beginning we built the Skeleton for the arm. The skeleton was not the kind I have seen in most FTC robots. It was much longer, wider, thicker and more complex then most. It has a shoulder, elbow, and wrist. It weighed around 7 pounds. If our arm gets hit with another arm ours is not going to break. There is a problem with our skeleton part of the arm; it is huge. That is what we had at our First Tournament. After the Tournament we changed the Skeleton completely. We took it apart and made a smaller and lighter Skeleton. It weighs around 6 pounds now, and does not flex as much in the bicep or shoulder mount area. But it still has three pivot points.


The wrist;The wrist is actually really simple. It has two servos connecting to the bucket like this.

The elbow;We put the motor on the elbow and geared it 120 to 16 but then changed it so it would not stick out so far without gearing it any different, by putting two size 82 teeth together like this which Isaac and Adian did. It is a standard pivot where one gear moves the other gear which is attached to the moving part (which in this joint is theforearm).

The shoulder;The shoulder was vary hard to build as stable as we needed it. We geared it the same ratio as the elbow and surprisingly it lifted up but it also would grind some of the teeth on the Gears. I designed the shoulder joint in a way that was different to most joints. The gear at the pivot point was not connected to the bicep, it was connected to the shoulder mount like this. When the motor tries to turn the gear, it lifts the arm instead.


It also has two hooks right near it to hold on to the pull up bar.

Grant said that it was not geared, because it did not turn the gear it rotated around the gear. Thus when we put sprockets instead of the gears we just used 16 to 16 size sprockets. Then, I thought about it and asked my dad about it, and he said any time you gear, it does not matter what kind of joint it is it still gears it. We only had size 16 sprockets so; when we tried to raise our arm it could not do it. We thought we could not raise the flag or pull up, but then Mrs. Koonze’s team, the Absent Minded Geniuses, gave us 2 size 24 sprockets. I geared it and tried again and burned out the shoulder and elbow motors because they did not have enough power. I thought we were doomed, but my dad looked it over and asked, “What’s wrong?” I said, “I just burned out 2 motors.” He said, “What! How could you do that?” I said, “What do you mean? It is not that hard to burn out motors.” He said, “You mean to tell me they don’t have fuses on the motors?” I said, “What? Do you mean you can have fuses in there to protect the motors?” And so, I learned about fuses. We ordered fuse protected motor wires, and some 32 teeth sprockets to gear the shoulder more so it could lift the arm easier, and also 2 motors (which again was not strong enough). That was our First Tournament. Later Isaac and Warren took the arm apart. Then we changed the way we mounted it so it was more stable. And we also changed the gearing to 240 to 16 which made the motor 15 times as strong as it normally would be. See below for pictures.



Gearing:

Main Mount:Main Mount: Side mounts:

Outreach:Social Media:

We have multiple social media outreaches. We have two Facebook pages, one for our friends and family and one for other teams. We also have a website and a Youtube channel. Facebook.com/MechanicalManiacs is about us as a team and is designed to help friends, family, and/or fans to keep up with us. We also have Face-ook.com/FIRSTTechChallengeHelpsandHints, which is a Facebook page with the hope of helping other teams. The idea is that it is of FTC teams, for FTC teams and done by FTC teams. Several other teams have come along side us to help us in this endeavor!

Our team’s page, Facebook.com/MechanicalManiacs was started by me, Randy. I started it in July of 2012. It soon became the biggest page that I had been a part of. In 2013 Gracie and I entered it as a media project into the Douglas County Fair. We currently have 143 “Likes” which is the number of followers we have. Though we only have 143 people who have “Liked” us, I estimate that more then a thousand people have seen at least one post by us! Many of our posts have reached upwards of 200 people who have seen it!

Our website was started by Gracie, but we were unable to publish it. I did not know what was going on with it, so I took over. I made a new website with the same platform (Weebly.com) I made it the exact same, word for word. Then I published it earlier this year. They don’t tell us exactly how many people have visited our page total, but on one day we had 80 people visit! Currently one can view our website at www.MechanicalManiacs.weebly.com We hope to buy our own domain name some-day, but for now we use .weebly.com

After our first tournament we had an idea. We built another Facebook page! This one is for other FTC teams. It is Facebook.com/FirstTechChallengeHelpsand-Hints This page we invited other teams to be administrators for. Right now team Duct Tape from Florida, greased lightning team 3888, Alpha Gear and FTC team 2844. This page has 69 “Likes” It is only a couple weeks old! We would like to invite any other team to help out with it!

We also have a Youtube channel, but it’s not much to talk about: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2VIw9WMMmT-l2TIDqZmAkw In the future, we hope to join other media channels, possibly: twitter, pinterest, and/or flicker.

Team events:24 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2VIw9WMMmT-l2TIDqZmAkw

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2VIw9WMMmT-l2TIDqZmAkw

http://www.MechanicalManiacs.weebly.com/

FTC Kickoff 9-7-13 Saturday 9-2

We learned what this years Challenge would be and we talked to a bunch of teams about FTC and got fired up for this year!

~Randy

Benson Bot Fest 10-12-13 Saturday 9-12


Team reflections:

I learned about how to make the Engineering Notebook and the basics of Programming C.

~Randy

Josiah: We learned a lot and talked about different arm and chassis designs.Grant and Adian went to the beginners and advanced programming classes. Warren and I went to the sensors class and the hardware inspection class.Gracie and Randy went to the Engineering and the outreach classes. Grant, Randy, Warren and I talked all the way home about different designs. Grant came up with a two different ideas about the way to pick up blocks and we later decided to go with simple but effectively scoop design.


1-25-14 Summit HS Bend Tournament:

Team reflections:

Randy: We learned a TON! Our robot did nothing during the first two rounds, thus we were in last place. We figured out the problem (I think the others will write about that extensively, so I won’t go into it) and moved up to 10th out of 18!!! I was inspired to do a TON more out reach! I made a Facebook page with the goal of showing EVERY ROOKIE team what we leaned, and hopefully help other teams keep from burning out motors (by using fuses) and make sure they don’t go home disappointed because there robot didn’t move due to a crimped wire (we know a team who did this, but then we almost made the same mistake, but we called them and they helped us, we want to be that team for others).


Warren: The team minus Gracie went to our first tournament. In the first two rounds the robot did not move at the bucket at all because there was a pinched wire. So we called Mrs. Koonze the couch for "The Absent Minded Geniuses," she helped us trouble shoot. We figured it out and had the robot ready for the next round. In the next round the robot moved, it moved a lot it shot over the ramp and dumped the bloc over the wall of the field. It turned out that the field was sprayed with something to make it so there would not be any static. And also there was a lot more friction. This meant that our robot, which was made to have a lot of friction, drove differently. Grant changed the programming for more power and the robot worked as well as it could at that point. With lots of work we went from last place to 10th out of 18 teams. In the end we got the 2nd place inspire award (the highest award they can give you) and the think award for the lab book! We had lots of fun and learned a lot! Thank all of you for all your support :)

Isaac: Today was a LONG day! We traveled up to Bend, and we were even working on the robot up to half an hour before the tournament. When we got there, we signed in and after all our inspections we finally got to go at lunchtime. Our robot didn’t do anything. It was a big disappointment, but we found out that the anti-static spray caused our robot to have too much traction, and so we worked on it, and finally got it to do an autonomous program, and to pick up a few blocks. We were in last place, and then, with the improvements, were able to bump up from 18th to 10th! That day we learned a lot about our robot and if it hadn’t been for Mrs. Koonz, we may not have got our robot to move! One of our problems turned out that there was a pinched wire, and if we hadn’t known that, the robot wouldn’t have worked. Over all, we did a great job and it was definitely a great success!


Grant: Huge surprise! We were blind sided by a new anti-static spray that the tournaments in Oregon are using to eliminate the build-up of static, which is known to cause the freezing of NXT bricks. We had been using a drive system with two motors running four wheels that were connected by a chain. We found out that with the increased friction from the anti-static spray we needed to change our drive design. This is because the wheels were so far apart that when we tried to turn, our wheels would slide instead of moving fluidly, and the two motors simply did not have enough power to counter act this. We then used four motors, each with one wheel.

This worked much better but we still had problems. Now we have an eight omni-wheel design with two wheels, mounted in parallel, per motor. This is very effective and has given us the power we need. Hopefully we can get to state through our next tournament.

Josiah: The first thing that happened is I tried to fix the shoulder which we found out need to be geared a whole lot more. Then we passed the inspections tried it out and had a big problem the autonomous would not work and in teli-op it would not turn. We found out that they sprayed on anti static spray which also increased traction. And sense we had tank drive it did not turn. So we put motors on all the wheel giving it more power put it still had problems turning (we still got to 10th place).We learned a lot and got 2 place Inspired award and the Think award. And we are going to do even better at the next tournament!!


School outreach:

Randy: Today we went to the Sutherlin elementary school and showed a class of first graders a few robots. We also asked the principle about doing a Jr. FLL team at the school next year! I am exited!Grant: It was really fun being able to do the outreach today. We got to talk to the class about Jr. FLL and robotics. They seemed really excited and I hope thy will be able to start building their own robots.Josiah: We talked to some first graders to get them exited about Jr.FLL.And some of the team might be coaching them next year not for sure yet but we are hoping!!Isaac: I enjoyed showing the kids our robots. It was great to see that they were as excited as I was about robots. I built that alligator up in the picture, and the kids truly enjoyed all the features and aspects.


Fundraiser/outreach:

Josiah: Today Randy, My mom (even though it was her Birthday) and I went fundraising, and raised 110 dollars. And then we came back to my house and finished putting the stickers on our robot, and worked on the Engineering note book.Randy: Today Josiah and I went to Shop Smart to sell Dominos Pizza cards. We sold cards and raised $110. We had been at -$70, now we want to buy acceleration and tilt sensors, $50 each.31 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

Journal of meetings:M&Ms; 1st meeting date: 9-13-13 Friday 1:00-3:30

Tasks: Reflections:Team reflections: This meeting I did not take any notes. We talked about

rules. We also planned strategy.

Initials: __R.D._ Date: _12-20-13_12-21-13___

This picture was at the kickoff, when we were talking about strategy.


M&Ms; 2nd meeting date: 9-20-13 Friday 1:00-3:30

Tasks: Reflections:Team reflections: We talked straight through this meeting. We talked about the rules of FTC and about being a team, etc. RD

Initials: _R.D._ Date: _12-20-13__12-21-13_

This was at the Benson Bot fest, when we were throwing some ideas around.33 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

M&Ms; 3rd meeting date: 9-27-13 Friday 1-3:30

Tasks ReflectionsWe discussed RolesSelling an RCX Vote to sell RCX unanimousscholarshipsTourney in Feb 8 @ OSUBudget $5,000/$75 Scholarships $500 grant -$275 already used,

$225 left

Staples: Banner already possible

Fundraiser OCT 4th sit-up-Anthon

A RCX kit.

Edited 9-27-13 RLD 11-1-13 RLD


M&Ms; 4thmeeting 10-4-13 Friday 1:00-3:30 PM

Tasks: Reflections:8$ shirts Paid by team?2 rules: Gracious Professionalism:

High quality, well informed work in a manner that leaves everyone feeling valued, knowledge, pride and empathy well balanced

We talked about Alliance selection:

A high ranked team gets to choose who their alliance member will be.

Fundraising Scrimmage Jan 11 RHS or YMCA

Robot fest OCT 12

I started taking notes at every meeting this week

Picture of Randy at the computer (working on the website).

Edited 11-1-13 RLD


Here is what the robot might look like, made in PTC Creo by Grant.

Made around 10-10-13 added on 1-18-14 by Randy


M&Ms; 5th meeting 10-11-13 Friday 1:00-3:30 PM

Tasks: Reflections:Budget:Start Engineering notebook Didn’t happen. RD

Team reflections:

We decided that we are going to have two groups; one group is working on the arm (Grant, Warren, Gracie). The other group will be working on the chassis (Josiah, Randy, and Aidan). Grant and I talked about the hand design, and modified the hand design so we could hold more blocks length ways then width ways, We discussed the rules for the Lab Book and discussed what we needed to do to be eligible for awards on Lap book ~JosiahThis meeting we talked about giving a thank you to our sponsors.We also talked about fundraising: there is going to be am opportunity for our club to be pooper scoopers at a dog show and we will get up to 300$ for it. We are currently planning on going. We had cookies for snack, YAY! Then we talked about the team’s budget: The kit ($665) and resource kit ($96) were paid for by a grant. As well as the signup fee. Estimated costs include $100 for four motors, $60 for field mats, and $40 for blocks, making a total of $200, plus $80 for Programming C, adding up to a new total of $280. We will not worry for now about the $70-300 dollar entrance fee at competition. ~ RandyWe ate cookies and talked about the robot arm, then talked about the lab book. Now we are writing in the lab book.~ WarrenToday we read rules and talked about the robot design. We also discussed about how much money we needed and how much we have. ~ Aidan J.S.I read the rules concerning the engineering notebook. Next Josiah and I revised the Plan for the primary function of the robot. The plan was changed from; the robot “hand” will now be comprised of two parallel conveyor belts, instead of the Prior humanoid theory (a fully functioning hand.) G.B.

Edited 1-18-14 by RDEdited: by J.V.H Date:__1-19-1437 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

M&Ms; 6th meeting 10-18-13 Friday 1-30 PM

Tasks: Reflections:Inventory robot kit & Resource kit:

We completed this task!

Design plans: We voted 4/1 for an arm vs. a ladder liftTeam reflections:

Warren: this meeting was awesome. We had the Tetrix set and today we sorted them out. We had caramel apples for snack. Then afterwards the team went to Grant’s house for Nerf war and a robot movie and dinner Josiah: We finally sorted the Tetrix kit; I have been starring at it the whole week.

Initialed: ____R.D.__ Date: ____10-25-13

Edited: by J.V.H Date: __1-19-1438 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

Sketch by Josiah.39 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

Sketch by Josiah.


I thought why have the motor to spin the flag up mounted on the back wall (that is not going to be there) when we can have it mounted on the arm.We will only be using 5 motors out of 8 motors we could use and we have to by 2 by fours and 1/2 inch plywood. We should be able to build this in 4 weeks or meetings. The walls can be square or like a hanger or what ever but they have to be able to hold the robot up and house the switch and the Samantha module. That is a fact

~Josiah 10-22-13 added by Randy 11-18-13

M&Ms; our 7th meeting; 10-25-13 Friday 1-3:3041 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

Tasks: Reflections: HybridBuild a basic Chassis

Finished after meeting. Planning on using wood 2x2s, but they cracked so we used Tetrix pieces. The plan on groups of builders did not work out. J. V.H.

Make a rough draft of the program

The annoying compiler does not like us! A.J.S.

Make a “Thank you” for ORTOP, Murdock, Rookie, Grant’s grandmother, Montieth, etc.

Will do next week.R.D.

Make a business plan/ budget/ order items for the team.

$575 dollars in team + $225 left in Rookie Grant + $40 from Fundraiser + $500-550 from ORTOP Grant

Team Reflections:Aidan: Today we made a rough teli-op program, me and Grant. We also continued building the hybrid base.Grant: We began the process of building the robot base, as well as starting a rough programming code for teli-op. I’m really tired. I was managing a garage sale this morning, right before our meeting. I need more coffee!!! 8 meetings till our first tourney, WOOHOO!

Edited: by J.V.H Date: __1-19-14 Initialed: _RLD_ Date: 10-25-13 Edited: 11-1-13 RLD


This is a photo of what Grant did when he had hurt himself and was grounded to his bed (he wrote out what he thought the program would be).

M&Ms; our 8th meeting; 11-1-13 Friday 1-3:30

Favorite quote: “I know my cousin too!”

Tasks: Reflections:

Work on robot Check! Design is finished, now building

Make thank you cards Mrs. Van Hattem will work on it

Plan scrimmage Did not work out.

Team reflections:

Aidan: Today we fixed the wheel for the base since it wasn’t tightened enough. We read the rules and discussed design of the robotic arm. We also talked about where to put some of the electronic parts.

Grant: Hello judges! If you’re reading this, we have most likely made it to this competition. We have talked further about the, now completed, shovel arm, after running into “Fantomm.dll” errors in teli-op. The base assembly is now also completed; unfortunately it is unstable at the corners. Making the robot “aesthetically pleasing” has been a small challenge; however our current plan is to paint the robot black… oh yeah!

Warren: There is going to be a FTC competition in Roseburg. We have most the robot done. There is a new person interested in joining our team his name is Jack. We had programming problems but Josiah fixed it.

Josiah: We had problems with the programming, and we found a small side affect from our new chassis design it is unstable on the corners.

Edited by RLD on 11-1-13

Edited: by J.V.H Date:__1-19-14_


Picture added 11-18-13 by R.D


M&Ms; 9th meeting 11-8-13 Friday 1:00-3:30 PM

Tasks: Reflections:4H paper work Finished.Work on wiring Did not finish it.Get Samantha working (She’s really annoying)Eat cookies and have fun! Thank you Grant for the cookies ~warrenWork on programming ~Grant

Team reflections:

We finished our paper work, did some programming and ate Grants awesome pizza cookies! ~Aidan

To test the structural integrity of the robot arm and frame, to look into ways of programming teli-op, to eat cookies, to vote on how the teli-op should be programmed as to the most natural button commands. ~Josiah

We talked about the wall on the chassis and we talked about if we wanted 4 more tires. Nothing is for sure. ~warren

I cannot believe it took an entire team of engineers to figure out how to break up a pan of frozen, soda cracker Roca! And on that note...well...I think that's all I have to say.~Grant5

Initials: RD Dates: 11-8-13 and 11-16-13


M&Ms; 10th meeting 11-15-13 Friday 1:00-3:30

Tasks: Reflections:Complete teli-op! Fully done, without testing!

We found a problem with the chassis

With our original chassis the floating Omni wheel hits the ramp.

Team reflections: Sadly two of our members could not make it today. ~Randy

Josiah: This was my second prototype chassis which worked for everything, except going up the ramp and that is not going to happen. Grant came up with a great design.

Initials: _RD_ Date: _11-15-13___

Edited: by J.V.H Date:__1-19-14


M&Ms; 11th meeting date 11-22-13 Friday 1:00-3:30 or 2:30-4:30 for members in MT!

Tasks: Reflections:Rebuild robot: chassis arm, reposition shovel

The bucket is complete! (angle change)

Tournament Glide (Feb ?) and Bend (Jan 25)Planning: TOP PRIORITY: Build robot, finish programming!

Secondary priorities: work on engineering notebook

Team reflections:

I joined in through phone call and worked on the notebook R.D.

Josiah: Grant figured out how to put are phones on speaker. We had a fun time wish randy could have been here in person.

Initials: _R.D.__ Date: _11-22-13 __


M&Ms; 12th meeting date 12-13-12* Friday 1:00-3:30

Tasks: Reflections:Paint the field’s Black and white parts Some got done!Wire the robot Next meetingDownload and Run our teli-op Waiting for wiring

Team reflections:

Randy: our last meeting was canceled because no member (besides Josiah) could make it due to snow.

We are now covered in paint speckles… in other news the robot is now mostly reassembled. Almost there! ~Grant

Everyone’s got paint on our hands (after painting half of the field). Put sprockets on the robot. So today we go home with paint spots, remembering what we did that day. Isaac

We painted half of the field in black and we are now covered in paint. We also attached the sprockets to the robot wheels. ~Aidan

We had a guest over who might be joining the team so we were showing him around. After robotics we are going’ to grants house for dinner and a movie! ~Warren

Josiah: We did not get as much as I hoped we would but we still got something’s done. I can’t wait ‘till we get our robot working in teli-op mode.

Initials: _R.D.___ Date: _12-13-12____


M&Ms; 13thmeeting date:12-20-13Friday 1:00-3:30

Tasks: Reflections:Wire the Robot Done! (mostly)Attach the drive chain We need to wait because the chain links need to

be separated!Get the flag spinner running (Make it move!)

We got it wired up, but we need to change the programming, because we had to change the wiring a bit.

Team reflections:

Josiah: We got a lot done but we still have to put on the chain. And fix the shoulder joint. We need to wire everything up still and that needs to be done so as possible.

Initials: _R.D.__ Date: _12-20-13___


M&Ms; 14th meeting date 1-3-14 Friday 1:00-3:30

Tasks: Reflections:Wire the robot HardWork on the notebook We want everyone to enter team reflections

Try to program autonomous Design the walls.

Josiah: It was one of those times where you thought you knew what you were doing but you don’t, I was trying to put the wires together with electrical tape. Before the meeting was done I decided to get help from my dad, and solder the wires to gather and then he said we should put trench tube on it so it would be like one wire.

Initials: __R.D_ Date: _1-3-14 _

Edited: by J.V.H Date: __1-19-14


M&Ms; 15th meeting date 1-10-14 Friday 1:00-3:30

Tasks: Reflections:Set up the field, part of moving to the church’s gym Easy set upIron our programming and technical issues One motor turned

out to be defective

Team reflections: “Super stoked that the robot actually moved! Thank you Rand for the root-beer floats! We got a ton done this meeting and got to get familiar with the teli-op controls. Can’t wait for next meeting! ~Grant5~”

“Grant and I changed the shoulder gears to sprockets and I am putting on the chain between this meeting and next. I found out that you need a 2 GB flash drive for flashing the Samantha and that is the only problem.” ~Josiah

Goals for next meeting: Put on the chain, buy and build the walls, make and put on the walls a flag holder, drill holes and make the NXT wires and all the other wires look clean and all tied up, make the one gear protector, And if possible paint it, And get the 2gb flash drive and set up the Wi-Fi. ~Josiah

Initials: _R.D.__ Date: __1-10-14 __


1st Bonus meeting! Date: 1-16-14 Thursday 1:00-3:30

Tasks: Reflections:Build walls Finish up notebook In progress

Team reflections:

Surprise! We had an extra meeting today and got a lot of stuff done. We have done a few revisions for the engineering notebook and it’s looking really cool! I’m super exited that our 1st tournament is only one week away! Praying that we can get it all done in time. ~ G.B.

This surprise meeting was very productive! Josiah put the walls on the robot and I got a lot done on this Engineering Notebook! ~Randy

We had an extra meeting! Grant and Josiah put the walls on the robot. The walls are made of Plexiglas and are going to be painted black with red letters. Randy and I went through the notebook and fixed a ton can’t wait for the first competition IN ONE WEEK AAAAAAH. ~Warren

Josiah: got a lot done. Grant was going to go somewhere on Saturday if he could miss a meeting and he did not want to miss one so he asked if we could have an extra meeting to day and Randy, Warren, Grant came over and we got the walls built most of the ways.

Initials: _R.D_ Date:1-16-14 Edited by J.V.H Date:1-19-14


M&Ms; 16th meeting date1-17-14 Friday 1:00-3:30

Tasks: Reflections:Finish walls

Get Notebook ready to printMake rough draft for autonomous

Team reflections:

Today we attached the walls of Plexiglas to the robot and we finished our rough draft of the autonomous mode. Aidan We finished our autonomous program for our robot, and the notebook is nearly done! Josiah finished the walls, so were almost ready for action this coming tournament. ~IsaacToday we finished putting the walls on. We are considering painting it black with red letters or just leaving it se threw. Randy is almost done with the engineering notebook and tomorrow we will print it. Today the flash drive came which we needed for the Samantha. Only 8 days left! ~WarrenThis evening we finally got the Samantha module to work! Our rough draft of the autonomous code was also sketched out today. We are now 8 days from our Bend tournament and are pushing to get things done. Soon we will be having driving competitions to decide on who will be the main driver at tournament. Go team go!!!! ~G.B.Josiah: We had 2 programs, one for hooking up through USB drive to the NXT and one to hook up through Wi-Fi Samantha module with using field control system the one to hook up through the USB drive was updated and the Samantha module one was not updated so we had to update it . ~JosiahGoals for next meeting: make autonomous mode work, finish wiring.

Initials: _R.D__ Date: _1-17-14___53 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

2nd Bonus meeting date 1-18-14 Saturday 1:00-3:30

Tasks: Reflections:Getting the robot to pick up blocks and put them in the pendulum Not burn out any motorsChange the bucket

Get Samantha at the Church workingGet the Lab book ready to print All we need is a few pictures of

Programming C code and than printTeam reflections:

One motor started smoking after adding to much stress while trying to lift the arm, fortunately it didn’t burn out the motor. ~ Randy

Today we changed the bucket from the open faced one to a closed one. Then we went to the church and we had a problem with the Samantha but we called Mrs. Koonze and it turned out that the battery was out of charge. We had a guest today Phinehas came and watched. At one point the motor started to smoke but I am pretty sure its fine.1 week until competition ~warren


Isaac: Today we had an extra meeting, so that was really sweet. We switched the bucket out for one that could hold the blocks so that they don’t fling out everywhere on the robot. At one point the motor started smoking, but it should be fine. Phinehas came and watched, and he got to drive the robot. We hope that the sprocket that we are going to put in will enable the shoulder to lift up, and then it can raise the flag and dump bricks easier. The Samantha wasn’t working right, but we think we solved the problem. Can’t wait for the competition next week!Josiah: So I made a new scoop today, because the old scoop would fling the blocks into the robot. So we changed to a scoop with a cover on it. We were trying to get the Samantha module to connect to the WIFI at the place we are using to set up our field; but the Battery was low so it did not connect.

Initials: _R.D__ Date: __1-18-14 __55 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

3rd Bonus meeting date 1-18-14 Saturday 1:00-3:30

Tasks: Reflections:Eat snack!Duct tape to bot Gracie and Warren did a great job!

Add fusesPrint the Lab book and stickers for robot

Mostly done! And soon it will be finished, but I want to finish this entry before I finish printing

Team reflections:

Randy: This meeting we finished the Engineering Notebook and printed it!!! YAY!!!!!!!Warren: we decided to not paint the walls today but instead put black and red duck tape on it. We also printed and I put them in page protectors for the Engineering Notebook.Isaac: Randy printed the engineering notebook, and Warren and I were working on filing the notebook into a notebook. The walls also now have duct tape, and it’s awesome! Should be able to run the robot soon… Josiah: So during Sunday I worked on the robot and I got it geared up on the shoulder and burned out 2 motors because the arm was too heavy. When I was trying to test the arm and see if it could do the pull up or raise the flag. Because I did not know much about our motors and fuses guess what I learned Sunday. You guessed it I learn that they do not give you fuse protected wires in the kit though they have them for $10 or so, motors cost $20 or so. So we bought fuse protected wires and put homemade fuses in so while we use it we won’t lose $20 or so. We also put duct tape on the walls and put them in. Grant: Today we were able to complete a touch up on the appearances of our walls. We also realigned the drive chain. A bit of a disappointment happened today because we found out that the Tetrix kit does not include wires with fuses; even though they are available for an extra fee. Oh well…Initials: _R.D.__ Date: _1-18-14 __


4th Bonus meeting date 1-22-14 Wednesday 1:00-3:30

Tasks: Reflections:Reprint Notebook Mostly done!Edit autonomous Might have to put it off until tomorrow

After putting silicon on the walls we are bolting them onPut in two 32 teeth sprockets

Team reflections:

Randy: We just received our rush order of two motors, 6 fuse protected wires, and two 36 teeth sprockets! I reprinted the Notebook today

Isaac: Today we put in the 32 teeth sprockets. The robot is completely put together, except for a chain and a few minor things. Hope to get to the church today and try the anonymous program today.

Josiah: We got are parts today, we did not know if they would come. Found out I need to put an idler for the chain. The antinomies did not work might know why. This is scary we are not prepared.

Grant: As I mentioned in my reflection column a few meetings ago; we burnt out two of our motor’s electronic components because the wires we were using did not have fuses. Thankfully we were able to take the good electronics from two other motors which had defective gear-boxes and pair those with the “bad electronic, good gear” motors, leaving us with two good motors rather than four bad ones… if that makes sense.

Initials: _R.D.__ Date: _1-18-14 __


5th Bonus meeting date 1-23-14 Thursday 1:00-3:30

Tasks: Reflections:Finish sticker for robot Done!perfect autonomous Done!

Practice driving Wish we had more.Get arm moving/pull-up Can’t happen.

Team reflections:

Josiah: we had a meeting, which Randy, Isaac, Grant and I came too. It started at 1:00 and at around 5:00 Randy went home with the autonomous not working. Grant, Isaac and I worked on then we called Mrs. Koonze and we could not find out the problem. Then I looked at the Motors and Sensor set up and it was a little different. We changed that and it started to move and from there we got things working. Oh and it did not end at 5:00 it ended at 9:00 at lest for Grant, Isaac and I. The shoulder would not lift up don’t know why I have it geared as much as I can gear it.

Isaac: Today we finished the autonomous program, it works great! We tried raising the shoulder, but it would not work. We hope to do well in the tournament!

Grant: The longest day of programming ever! We met at 12:45 and didn’t finish until 8:30 that night. Yes, we are maniacs.

Because now we can run autonomous very consistently, really excited! Tournament in two days!!! GO Team GO!!!!!

Randy: We are getting exited for Tournament!!!! Last meeting, CRAZY! This meeting we finished putting the warning stickers on the robot and we put our


team Logo on the back of the Robot! Yay! Grant and Josiah got the autonomous working to, AWESOME!!!!

Burned out fuses from last meeting:

We saved 140 dollars today!



Tasks: Reflections:Build and test two different chassis designsTest and rebuild the arm

Team reflections:

Isaac: Today we did, well, everything. We completely took apart the robot. The robot is hopefully going to be able to drive sideways, forward, back, diagonally, in any direction according to Josiah’s plan. Grant and I build a 6 wheeled chassis, so we’re going to try both robots. Both we hopefully work efficently and effectively. We will vote later to see who’s robot we will use.

Warren: Josiah is building a new chassis today and so is Grant, we will vote later on which to use. I worked on the arm and scoop and then made a post on the website. I am happy with everything we did to day GO TEAM GO!

Rand: After competition we found out several things that are reflecting in what we are doing. One was with our tank like drive, our robot needs a ton of power to drag the wheels. Thus we are redesigning the drive system. It made sense to build two good ideas and then test and decide. This is what we are doing. Josiah and Grant are building seprat chassis designs and we are going to test them in three areas: Mobility, 10 points for speed and 10 for turning, Control 10 p for ease and 10 for accuracy, and Ramp 10 for if it can get of (with ease) and 10 for no slide after it is stopped. Will show below


Josiah’s Grant’s

Rated 1 to 10

mobility 9 7

stableness 9 9

Spinning 9 8

Going on to the ramp

7 8

Easy to control 8 8


Total 42 40

R.D _1-29-14 _

17th meeting date 1-31-14 Friday 1:00-3:30

Tasks: Reflections:Vote fore your favored chassis 4 to 1 Josiah’s design wins!


Listen to Mr. Smith Done

Team reflections: Warren: Today Mr. Smith came and talked to us about engineering he was vary helpful we learned a lot that took up most of the meting. We are also going to vote on the chassis today Isaac: Aiden’s dad came today to talk to us about a few things that might help us in building our robot. We learned all about leverage and how our robot would be benefited or not. We also tried to drive Josiah’s design, and it seems to drive around quite well. We may go with his, since it is what most people are falling after using for a robot. We are going to vote on a robot to use.Gracie: Today Aiden’s dad Bob had come to the meeting and talked to us about measuring out power on the robot and how engineering works. We learned about up and down forces and how to figure out the math equations. I was able to talk with a business that might work with us on buying our own URL for our website and contributing to us but the details and contract are yet to be fully determined. We voted on a chassis and are working on controlling the robot for the rest of the meeting. Everything is coming along nicely and I think we all have a better idea of what to expect from competition and how to re work the robot through trial and error.Grant: Awesome meeting! We decided on a chassis revision that works really well. It is made with four motors mounted at forty-five degree angles. I was able to re-program the teli-op so that we can try using one controller for the driving, and flag and one controller for the arm.Josiah: we found out that the arm shoulder be able to pull up with ease through the math equations that MR. Smith taught us. We decided on the Omni- wheel chassis design. And I will get the new bucket design made.

R.D _1-29-14 _


Tasks: Reflections:


Build another bucket

Isaac: Today we switched our second bucket out with a THIRD bucket. This new bucket looks great and works just as well. We also hope that we will be able to get our arm working next time, and start using the robot. We’ve come over a few problems, but I think we can easily work them out.

Write a business proposal

Randy: This meeting I made a business proposal to give to potential sponsors in order to tell them about FIRST, FTC, and our team Mechanical Maniacs, also to ask for cash ;) Josiah worked on the arm throughout the meeting.

Josiah~ Got the bucket done for the robot and working on the arm.

R.D _2-2-14 _



Tasks: Reflections:Build a robot to robot for our outreach

Team reflections:

Isaac: Grant and Josiah are building robots for the outreach meet we are going to have, so that we can inspire the kids to learn how to make a robot. Hopefully we can get the arm working, and then try pulling up. If we can’t pull up then that is just too bad.

Randy: Josiah finished the scoop today. (Picture below)

Warren: Today Josiah worked on the arm and I organized the parts into the new toolbox. Randy changed the logo to have are logo on it and Grant built a small robot to use in the demonstration at the Sutherlin elementary school.

Josiah~ got the motor on the bucket to help pull the blocks in. and still working on the Arm.

Bucket:

R.D _2-5-14_

18th meeting date 2-7-14 Friday 1:00-3:3065 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

Tasks: Reflections:troubleshooting mechanical problemsfinish putting the final touches on the profilescomplete wiring up the robotorganize the tools

Team reflections: Isaac: Today I tried troubleshooting some mechanical errors such as the arm would not be able to fit properly in the 18 by 18 by 18 inch box. I moved all the arm down on the robot, but it is difficult and requires a lot of work. Gracie worked on the profiles and I believe that they are finished now. Besides that we ate lemon squares.

Grant: We have now nearly completed wiring up the robot, again. The outreach robot I built is also now fully programmed for teli-op. It should be really fun going to the school to show the kids how robots work, can’t wait! Warren: today has been kind of slow I did not get much done. I organized the tools and ate lemon bars. Randy finished the business proposal. Gracie: Today I finished putting all the final touches on the profiles which are done and updated into the Lab Book! It took a while but I finally have them done and the finished product is great!

Randy: Today I did not get as much done as I would like. We printed the business proposals and sent them to several engineering companies! Gracie added our profiles! Also we had a great snack thanks to Aidan. I spent almost half the meeting searching for another adapter from NXT to RCX in order to get the paddles on the scoop to work.

Josiah: Today we got to move the robot around (I got it wired up this morning). We changed some of the programming to make it less jerky, the elbow mesh was moving and grinding the teeth so I used another support beam (And now it is fixed).R.D _2-7-14 _

9thbonus meeting date 2-8-14 Wednesday 1:00-4:00


Tasks: Reflections:Mount the flag spinner Not yetPractice driving the robot BOOM! It’s awesome to drive!

Team reflections:

Isaac: Today we practiced driving around with the robot and started our fair robot. We should be able to fully drive around and do everything by next week.

Randy: Today I put some finishing touches on the engineering notebook. I cut an NXT wire in half, then spliced in some Ethernet cord in. Now we have a long enough wire to connect the NXT motor to the NXT brick.

Josiah: Today we got the robot working and now we are working on the arm to work more smoothly. We still need to test the arm and then put the walls on and mount the flag spinner and finger out who is driving the chassis and who is driving the arm.

Randy soldered and made a longer NXT wire (which is illegal for tourney):

Goals for next meeting: get ready for outreach at school and lighten up the bucket.

R.D _2-8-14 _

10th bonus meeting date 2-10-14 Monday 1:00-4:30


Tasks: Reflections:We had an awesome meeting! The robot completed a pull-up and gathered blocks with ease! Go Team Go

Team reflections:

Josiah: We found out that the Church’s router does not work with the Samantha Module. But we might have found one that will. The Robot pulled up with ease and picked up the blocks up in a flash.

Isaac: We tested the robot to see if we could get the robot to pull up and it did! It was incredible and we had a great time.

Randy: I made a flyer for the competition. We found out that you can not change an NXT wire, so the one I made is unusable at the competition now we will have to buy an RCX to NXT conversion wire and get length through RCX wires.

R.D _2-2-14 _

11th Bonus meeting date 2-5-14 Wednesday 12:45-5:0068 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

Length of RCX wire.

Unusable for the Tournament wire we made.

Tasks: Reflections:Practice drivingOutreach- get kids interested in Jr. FLL

Team reflections:

Isaac: Today we went to our outreach with the first-graders and they loved our robots! I brought an alligator and it was able to work (the light sensor got messed up, so it couldn’t sense someone putting there hand in their mouth), but at least it got the kids excited. Grant had a telli-op program and it didn’t do anything because we didn’t have the laptop. We also went to Domino’s, and got 140 dollars for free in coupons! That was very encouraging to get those. My dad let us borrow his router, so we can drive the robot anywhere we want without a USB cable! We are going to go to the church and practice driving around and stuff. We accomplished a lot this meeting, but that still doesn’t deny the fact that our tournament is less than two weeks away!

Randy: Today we did a lot! We did an outreach at the elementary school! We also got Dominos cards, to sell. YAYA! We got to practice driving the robot a ton! :D We also put the logos of our sponsors on the robot.

Grant: I had an awesome time doing the outreach today! We got to go to the 1st grade class and talk to them about robotics as well as talk to the principal about starting a Jr. FLL team. Also, the robot is working really well. I changed the Int threshold to limit the power of the elbow joint. We had to do this because the elbow was jerking around and nearly broke itself because it was going too fast. Hopefully it will work now.

"We have now decided who our arm driver will be. Because the controls are no longer generic or generalized to everyone's medium. And we found out 69 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

the arm is too dangerous for the robot and peoples safety, for every one to have a try at using it. Now the controls can be customized to match the driver's preferences perfectly.

R.D _2-2-14 _

12th bonus meeting date 2-12-14 Wednesday 1:00-3:30


Tasks: Reflections:Get some practice in. Done!Eat snacks. Done!

Customize controls . Did not get to it.Team reflections:

Randy: Today my brother, Warren is sick again, so he is not here. Also Aidan and Gracie are not here. We found out we have burned out a motor controller, $80 down the drain.

Josiah: We thought we burned out a dc motor controller it was actually the programming. Two hours down the drain switching out controllers. So little things in programming are important! Learning how to program encoders for picking up blocks faster (not ease).

R.D _2-2-14 _

13th bonus meeting date 2-19-14 Wednesday 1:00-3:3071 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

Tasks: Reflections:Practice Did a little bitFinish autonomous Works pretty good

Team reflections:

Isaac: We got the Omni –wheels and attached them to the robot (now we have doubled Omni-wheels-awesome)! We also are going to the church to practice on the robot. The robot is complete and we are only 3 days from our competition!

Grant: Today we touched up the teli-op program. It is now programmed so that when Isaac pushes the joystick forward it is able to ramp up the power. We made it so that once it reaches a certain point it will no longer be able to increase power. We had strawberry Oreos and cheese-sticks for snack.

Josiah: We got the servo extension wires and the flag servo mounts work well. I am going to try to get a new teli-op program that will let us pick up blocks faster.

J.VH. _2-19-14 _

14th bonus meeting date 2-20-14 Thursday 1:00-3:30


Tasks: Reflections:Practice drivingFinish autonomous

Print this lab book!

Team reflections: Randy: Today I am preparing to reprint this engineering notebook. I got to drive the robot some more! YAY! We did a lot of work on the robot, but I will let the others talk about that. :D Tournament is in TWO DAYS, CRAZY! I did want to mention that we are planning on doing several outreaches this year including: The Douglas County Fair, Hosting a Jr. FLL team, and meeting with engineers from Roseburg Forest Products!Isaac: Today we practiced the robot and we pulled up (a bit tricky, but with practice it ought to smooth out). I taped the robot some more, so now it looks quite professional. I enjoyed taping the bottom, but the angles of taping everything are kind of difficult. We’re almost ready for the competition, and we only have TWO DAYS LEFT!!!!!!!!!!!! Grant: Autonomous is completely finished now. That includes mirrored programs for doing just the bridge, or both bridge and blocks. I say “mirrored” to say that we have two programs which are the same in every way, except that the side of the mat on which we start would be opposite. Only two days to the tournament! It will be challenging to make the autonomous work well with the anti static spray because the spray increases friction. This means that our robot will travel farther in less time. Hopefully we can smooth this out without too much difficulty. Josiah also programmed the robot to work with PID controllers. These will allow us to automatically tell the robot to position itself to the right spot with the push of a button.Warren: We tested and worked out the kinks with the robot and I think it is ready for competition. We had to take the field dawn at the end.Josiah: We got a lot done, hoping to let the just practice next meeting. Got the PID or encoder control working so now we can pick up blocks faster! Put thread lock on two bolts that came lose all the time on the shoulder mount. We bolted the frame for the Omni-wheels down, because the screws came out.

R.D. _2-20-14 _

19th meeting date 2-21-14 Friday 1:00-3:3073 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

Tasks: Reflections:Practice driving Very littleFinish autonomous Finished a few meetings back

Print this lab book! Printed lab book

Team reflections:

Isaac: Today we are printing the lab book (these words that I am writing will soon be published)! I practiced a little bit, and the robot should be able to do well at the tournament. We burnt a wire and at one point we actually had a flame coming up from the wire! I’m sure the wire is toast, but we sure got some action there for a moment!

Randy: FIRE!!!!!

Warren: We have been touching up the robot and practicing driving it. The robot cot on fire but nothing was permanently destroyed. I will see you at the competition tomorrow.

Grant: Sparks and flames and burning, oh my! We learned an invaluable lesson today; never place a heated wire next to plastic! We found out that when electrical current runs through the fuses on our wires that it generates heat. The heat output was actually great enough to catch the casing of our PID controller on fire! Oh, wait! Incoming transmission! It was a faulty fuse! The fuses failed to pop and instead burned it-self and other wires. Things are looking up now, good thing too because the tournament is less than 24 hours away!

Josiah: Today we had two fires, because we had faulty fuses that did not break but burned, and because our programming was allowing it to go backwards and forward at the same time on the joysticks. We changed that and it is now working. The PID control system was too much of a bother for 74 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

it to be profitable. Randy, Isaac, Warren and I worked on this (the engineering notebook).

R.D. _2-20-14 _

Business:


Club Expenses: Date Cost Expenses 9-27-13 -$665 Robot kit 9-27-13 -$199 Resource kit 9-27-13 -$99.70 Samantha Module 9-27-13 -$275 Register

Club Income:Date amount Income09-27-13+75 Begin Balance 09-27-13+500 Rookie grant 09-27-13+500 Murdock Grant 10-4-13 +50 Sold robot

Grand Total: $12.43

Fundraising goal: $5,000

Currently: $2,135

Edited: -------------------------------------------- 11-16-13 R.D.

12-13-13 R.D.

12-20-13 R.D.

1-17-14 R.D

Last edited: -------------------------------------- 1-17-14 R.D

Acknowledgments:We definitely need to thank our helpful coach, Mrs. Van Hattem, who

encourages us in every way!76 Mechanical Maniacs FTC #7750

Club Expenses: Date Cost Expenses 9-27-13 -$665 Robot kit 9-27-13 -$199 Resource kit 9-27-13 -$99.70 Samantha Module 9-27-13 -$275 Register

Club Income:Date amount Income09-27-13+75 Begin Balance 09-27-13+500 Rookie grant 09-27-13+500 Murdock Grant 10-4-13 +50 Sold robot

Josiah’s father Mr. Van Hattem who helped us build the field.

Randy’s Grandfather, John Sisson, who is a Small Business Developer. He helped me when I was floundering wondering “what do I put in here for

a ‘Business plan’?”

We most can’t forget “The Absent Minded Geniuses”! They have helped us figure out programming issues, they gave us tips on our Engineering

notebook, they helped us trouble shoot our robot, and encouraged us in

our move from FLL to FTC! Anytime we have an issue it’s always “Call Mrs. Koonze!”

Also Team Duct Tape really encouraged us with our website and Facebook!

Montieth donated $50!

The Sutherlin Dominoes donated pizza cards from which we have raised over $100!!!

We can’t forget to thank FIRST for their generous “Rookie Grant”

And most generous “Murdock” grant.

Ben Serafin Fund Grant

Sylvia Killeby generously Donated $50

Anonymous donated $500!!!


engineering notebook 22

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