Bergen Community College Robotics Summer I Internship 2017

Bergen Community College Robotics Summer I Internship 2017

The BCC STEM Robotics team has always done something interesting for the past few years but this time we are going to host a competition in our own college which is extra exciting for us. So, to make it more competitive we have separated our groups into two and name it as a winning group which is leading by Charles and the Assembler which is leading by Juan. Additionally, we are working on a different robot with different models.  It means we are competing against each other which is really enthusiastic for us.

This time VEX have organized a game which has a zone of 12'x12' square field which consists of two alliances – one “red” and one “blue” for each team, competing against each other where the robot competes as a driver- less play for fifteen seconds which is called an autonomous period which is followed by one minute and forty-five seconds as a driver-controlled play. As a preparation for that competition, we are experimenting different ideas and as so far we have accomplished some success in building our Robot and as shown in the picture we have been giving our best to make our robot strong and fast.

                               

                                        The new and the old team member of the Robotics Club

  Other Member who are not in this picture are:

Aoran

Bruce

Paul

Julio Rozas

Doucina

Daniella

Tyler Laursen

Monday (05/22/2017)

On Wednesday, Charles has finished working on the CAM Mechanism for our Robot. The main purpose of this mechanism is to make the cone go in upward and downward direction by oscillating a cone in the y-axis.  

     
                                                              CAM Mechanism

Tuesday(05/23/2017)

On Tuesday, Aoran has finished making  Grabber using a different mechanism. We did not use the first CAM Mechanism because of its weight and it had 4 motors in it. Therefore to make our Grabber lighter we made it with two motors.

The main purpose of this Grabber is to stack a cone and place it to the mobile goal. The black gear on this mechanism helps to grab the cone and move it upward and downwards with the help of the motors. 

                       
                                                                         Grabber 1

Wednesday (05/ 24/ 2017)

On Wednesday, after gathering different ideas for our base Charles, Julio and Deepa(me) came up with an idea of a mechanism for our robot where we were focusing on making our robot more faster and stable. As the base is a more important factor in the robot with regard to the requirement for our robot we made a  base using a Macanum Wheel which allows the robot to move in any direction without consuming more time. Similarly, we have included gear and a high-speed motor to make the wheel go faster.

 The main purpose of this base is to make our robot to move around, carry different parts of the robot and make the robot stable.

                                                                                  Base

Thursday (05/25/2017)

On Thursday, Charles has worked on the arm and Aaron, Julio had worked on another grabber using a different mechanism. We test it to see whether its motor is working or not. As we already have a stacked cylinder, we build an arm which will allow us to grab a cone and place it to the mobile goal using its two arms by extending upwards.  We have used a gear mechanism to make it faster.

The main purpose of this grabber will be to grab a cone and the arm will allow that cone to stick in the goal.


                                                                          Arm

                                                                  Grabber 2

Monday (05/29/2017)

We did not meet on Monday due to the Memorial Day. 

Tuesday (05/30/2017)

On Tuesday, we had tested the parts that we were done with, were experimenting new ideas for the robot and discussed what we are going to do afterward. Furthermore, Bruce made a different Grabber for our robot which is much lighter than we made before.

While we were experimenting with the parts, another group (The assembler) were doing an experiment for their own base. Then, Juan came up with an idea and made a drive train which utilizes a different gear ratio in their base. The smaller gears allow them to have a great amount of speed and no longer pose the problem of potentially getting stuck. Both drive trains were tested using a program this increases the motor output by 10 every 2 seconds. This allowed them to see the full range of the drive trains capabilities.


                                                                        Grabber 3

                                                                        Drive Train

Wednesday(05/31/2017)

As we have made most of the parts for our robot, we invest Wednesday on gathering ideas to join different parts to a base. We have also discussed the ideas to reduce the consumption of the motors in our robot.

Thursday (06/01/2017)

Charles had worked on a calculation for our robot on Thursday.

While he was working on that calculation Paul has made a small car.

Friday (06/02/2017)

On Friday, while testing we found a fault in one of our motor so fixed it by changing a regular motor to the high speed. As we were working on our robot, Daniel and his team were working on his base and experimenting different mechanism for his base which will be different from ours.

Monday (06/05/2017)

Although we were done with our arms and base, we were having trouble figuring out the stability of our robot. So we decided to fix the problem on Monday. While testing the arms we found out that the arm was shaking while lifting up because of the  

Tuesday (06/06/2017)

We take out the part of the base that we have made for our robot because of the Mecanum wheel. While testing the base we found out that Mecanum wheel had not provided the enough movement ability to the robot so we decided to dismantle it. 

Wednesday (06/07/2017)

On Wednesday, Charles made the base for our robot using regular wheel which allows our robot to move fast and smoothly.

Thursday (06/08/2017)

On Thursday, we tested the base and was planning to build a new arm for the robot. Then we disassemble the arm that we have made before.

Monday(06/12/2017)

Charles made an arm for the robot using a potentiometer. We used potentiometer because it will help us to find the direction and the position of the rotation by using a programming software. Furthermore, we disassemble the grabber to made a new one and Julio and Aoran worked on the new grabber for our robot.

Tuesday(06/13/2017)

Deepa was working on the grabber for the mobile goal using a locking system. This system will help us to fold the arm to the body of the robot and open it up when we have to put a mobile goal in it. It helps us to maintain a length of the robot that is 24x24.

Wednesday(06/14/2017)

We had made an arm and base as different parts so on Wednesday we planned to join those parts into one. Before joining the parts into one we tried to test it again but we found a problem in stability on those parts.So Julio and Aoran screwed it tight and add a metal piece to make it stable and less unsteady.

Thursday(06/15/2017)

As we have planned on Wednesday Julio and Aoran was done with making the parts secure. Then Charles joined the arms and base together. As he was done with the grabber for the cone, he also added the grabber which was made using chain system and potentiometer. So he added grabber to the end of the arm of the robots.

Monday(06/19/2017)

On Monday, we were brainstorming the ideas to make a grabber for the mobile goal because the grabber that we have made before was extending outwards of the robot by making the length of the robot more than 24x24. So we tried to use a sliding mechanism which will also have a folding mechanism and it will slide to grab a mobile goal.

Tuesday(06/20/2017)

After making all the parts for our robot, we attached those parts to our robot. We have attached the arms, grabber and the base of the robot.

Wednesday(06/21/2017)

Our robot was finished and ready after adding all the parts to it but we were not confident in its firmness mainly the arm. As the other team was working on screwing the parts of the robot, Charles decided to arrange the wiring of the robot. On Wednesday, we also have to find out the design and the idea to make a grabber for the mobile base. So, we were busy brainstorming the idea to make a grabber.

Thursday(06/22/2017)

We made another locking mechanism for the grabber on Thursday. The locking mechanism that we made before for the grabber helped us to come up with a new idea for this mechanism. In this procedure, we use gears and the screw and a rubber as a locker for the grabber. The rubber in this process helps to pull up the folded piece to a straight line to grab a mobile goal. Charles modified the arm by reducing one metal piece from it and also take out the grabber that we are planning to grab a cone.

Monday(06/26/2017)

The way of making a robot in which we experiment the mechanism and implement it helps us to generate more ideas. We have experimented with different parts in our robot from the day we started to build our robot. We have been modifying the existing model of the parts to make it more strong, stable and flexible. In the process of doing that Charles made a claw by using a metal piece which helps us to grab a cone more faster than the claw that we have printed before to stack a cone.

Tuesday(06/27/2017)

After the testing of the arm, we found out that the arm was longer which made it difficult to pick up the cone and it was exceeding more than the required length of the robot. So Charles and Deepa removed one metal piece from the arm to make it shorter and have decided to add a stacking cone to the arm. Then Bruce made a stacker and Charles modified it by using a chain mechanism and added to the arm. 

Wednesday(06/28/2017)

On Wednesday, Charles came up with the idea of using a sliding system for the mobile base. So, I made the sliding mechanism to carry a mobile base and attached it to the robot. This sliding system will allow us to lift up a mobile goal where we are going to stick a cone.

Thursday(06/29/2017)

As Thursday was the last day of our summer I internship, we were quite productive. Julio and Charles had worked on the grabber for the mobile base. At the end of the day, Charles completed and tested the mechanism. It was working okay but we wanted it more stable and small. So, we planned to improve the existing mechanism with new ideas. In Summer I we have invested our time in building and experimenting different mechanism for our robot and we have also built most of the parts for our robot.