Week #9

For the final week, we worked with the robot's code to fix an issue involving the ultrasound and the flipper. It seems that instead of the touch sensor working the flipper, the ultrasonic triggers it when something is close enough to trigger it. The root of the problem might due to the touch sensor switch being in the ultrasound switch. However, we haven't entirely fixed this issue. In the case we can't fix it before the competition we can use the problem as a defense mechanism for the robot. Another problem is that the robot may be over the limit in terms of length so sacrifices might have to be made to compete.

  

Final Design - Flipper, new trigger for touch sensor and ultrasound on top.

Week #8

Competition code (near completion)

 Our competition code is very much near completion, all that remains is to continue testing and looking for any errors. The code consists of two major portions both in the same loop. The top picture shows our movement code that has two light sensors in the front and back to aid the robot in staying in the boundary and an ultrasound sensor to find the opponent quicker that just wandering around the ring. The second half contains our touch sensor driven-flipper. This flipper contains waits between the lifting and lowering to not confuse the robot.

Week #7

At this time, the arena wasn't set up for the competition like we had hoped. Still, it gave us time to work on the ultrasound. Originally, some thoughts occurred that maybe ultrasound wouldn't be needed due to there being no walls and that the 2 robots will already be facing each other. However, in the last few minutes of class we succeeded in  creating the code for it which will be added to the competition code.

Week #6

This week we find ourselves a bit ahead of schedule. The competition code we were supposed to start is already completed. We spent time going over the code and fixing any errors and we also got in some practice against another group. However, we discovered two things wrong with our robot: it might be too lightweight and there's no way for the robot to find it's opponent. Overall it was one of those "one step forward, two steps back" kind of weeks.

Week #5

Competition Code (draft)

We have gotten a lot done this week. Our code for the robot is completed. It consists of 2 switches operated in a loop. The light switch controls our robot's movement and prevents it from leaving the arena. The touch switch controls the flipper and needed some modifications to work. We needed the other motors to stop and put waits between the lifting and lowering of the flipper to avoid conflicts in the program. Also this week we competed in our first practice match and won. With most of the work done, we hope to continue practicing and perfecting the program.

Week #4

Design #2 - Flipper, touch and light sensor attached to modified tribot.

 The new flipper design was definitely worth the wait. It has a large flipper that will active when the touch sensor is pressed. We managed to attach the light sensor in a way that will enable it to point to the ground without having to alter the flipper much. However, the sensor doesn't point directly down it is currently at an angle which will be a problem when calibrating it. Also we decided that it order to make the flipper more efficient, we will shorten it a little bit so it moves quicker.

Next Week goals - Fix sensor, ponder competition code.