Sunday, March 15, 2009

March 14, 2009

This is Alex. We have been working all week long on perfecting the house and ice core missions. David tried to create an arm and program that can grab the drilling rig. We did not have much success with that. The house has been getting better, then messing up, then getting better again. It's irritating. Right now, we are re-fixing it. We have had a little more luck with the ice core mission. We can consistently gather the items and deliver them to the house. We can almost always open the window, and the ice core is about 50-50. We need David's help to work on the ice core mission, and he's in Dallas for Spring Break. So, we're just working on the house mission.

On the bright side, we have gotten the levees mission working every time, and since the final mission is just point-and-shoot, we don't have to worry about that one. Now, I have to get to work.

About the two frames we made: Nic and Cheyne's does work better, but we have decided against using it to align the robot because, when it turns, the frame catches on the wall and makes it inaccurate. However, we are still using the frame because it makes the robot more secure.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

March Update

This is Alex. We have done many things in the last two meetings. We have done a lot of work on the robot, trying to make it more secure and trying to prevent the wheels from splaying.

We have tried to make new arms for the missions, but we have not tested all of them out yet. David has made an arm to grab the drilling rig, but it is untested partly because we do not have a program for it. I had made an arm for the arrows, so that we could align them every time, but it is too big so I will have to rebuild it. I have been trying to come up with a way to collect the carbon and money balls, but I have not had any luck.

However, during our meeting on March 1st, we built two different frames for BURT. David, Max, and I build one and Nic and Cheyne built the other. Personally (unfortunately), I think that Nic and Cheyne's will work better, because it makes the robot more secure and it can be used to align the robot the same way every time. We have decided to set the robot in the same position at the start of every mission so that we can't argue about it being an aiming or a programming mistake anymore.

Here are Cheyne and Nic with BURT and the new frame they made. The next picture is of the frame my team made.


At the next meeting, we will test the two frames to determine which one is superior. We will also change the programs so that they will work even with the robot starting from a fixed location every time.

On Saturday, the Kwans bought biosolid fertilizer and put it in their garden and around their trees. Nic and I helped distribute the biosolid fertilizer throughout the garden. Here we are working together.