roborogue #1

progress

as of right now, we have a drivebase. it doesn't move yet, but it looks the way it is supposed to. it has motors, wheels, everything. it looks great. but the only issue...

it doesn't flaloppining move!!!

i mean, i guess i'm happy that we did actually accomplish something. we have the basic parts done. if we were thrown into the comp now, we'd at least have something to show for these three weeks that we've already spent on this robot. can you believe build season is almost halfway over? it's insane how quickly time passes. in just a few weeks, we need to build a super awesome robot that will easily take over the world.

working with tools and metal is amazing. i can't describe how exciting it is to pick up a drill and punch holes through aluminum. it's kind of like painting, in a way. or maybe even writing a novel. you use tools, whether it be pen, pencil, paper, paint, an easel, anything, to create something small. all these small things add up to make something much larger. in painting, you make marks on a paper that add up to a whole image, beautiful or savage, small or large. in writing a novel, you use tiny pieces, characters or letters to form words that tell a story.

it's beautiful, even tear inducing.

*wipes away a tear*

but all that emotional stuff aside, our drivebase consists of what you'd expect. for all you non-techy people, here's what that is. we've got a metal frame with pre-drilled holes for various mounts and standoffs. it's a square, or at least, it should be. 28 inches by 28 inches of beautifully smooth aluminum. between two sides are the motors attached to their gearboxes. i had the task of putting together one of them and then attaching them to the plates.

between the motors' plates and the sides of the robot are the wheels with their belts and pulleys. we haven't attached the electronics board yet, which may be the cause of its lack of motion. in any case, we have to prototype our mechanism for lifting up the power cubes. honestly, we should have started this process way earlier in build season. but i guess it's the nature of most teams to procrastinate. after all, we are a bunch of high schoolers working on something.

and if you know anything about high schoolers, we loveeeeeee procrastinating. only the best of us don't procrastinate ever on anything. those are the super nerds. the rest of us are only regular nerds.

anyway, i am getting off topic. the power cube isn't really a cube. it's a milk crate covered in bright neon yellow fabric. also, it is 11 inches by 13 inches by 13 inches. so the shape isn't even a cube. it may be one of the most triggering things i have ever had to deal with.

so when designing a mechanism for this cube, we need to keep in mind that it needs to be able to grab the cube from either side. this means that we cannot use arms that are fixed at 13 inches apart. if we were to do that, then we would not be able to pick up cubes turned onto their side. in a game with huge 120 pound robots ramming into one another and field elements, a lot of cubes are going to end up on their sides.

if you are following along with the train of thought, then you should have come to the conclusion that we need adaptable arms. this means that we need to use some sort of mechanism to move the arms wider and to close them again. additionally, we need to lift the cubes to a certain height and then to deposit them onto the switches and scales. the switches have fences around them, so we have to lift the cube a minimum of 19 inches before we can clear the fence and drop the cube onto the switch.

this means (because we are only focusing on working with the switch and not the scale) that we need to have a mechanism that is at least 26 inches tall. we also need some way to lift up the arms while they are gripping the cube. now this is what prototyping is all about. we come up with ideas and draw them out before transferring them into a cardboard copy. to this effect, we are having a prototyping meeting at my house this saturday.

hopefully, we'll have few enough people to get things done. with siobhan being so opinionated, and the rest of the team, though clueless, is the same way, it makes it awfully difficult to get things done. they are gaining experience, but there is one boy in particular who loves getting on everyone's nerves. ah who am i kidding. he gets on my nerves. probably only mine.

that son of a gun is named abdul. he is a rookie, new to the whole game of robotics. yet he learns quickly and is now starting to think that he can just make decisions without any sort of consensus. but in him, i find an unlikely ally.

we are both fed up with how slowly this team is moving and how little we can accomplish without siobhan's say so. therefore, we have orchestrated this meeting in order to kickstart things a little. i don't know if he will end up overshadowing me or not, but desperate times call for desperate measures. enemies can unite against a common enemy. it's possible sometimes.

he may end up stabbing me in the back. but we'll see. i've had my fair share of backstabbing, so i may flatter myself a little in thinking that i will be ready for it, if it ever comes. who knows, i may even be able to organize a quick reversal.

but, i digress. abdul and his older brother, ethan, are taking me shopping at various craft shops for tools that we'll need on saturday. we'll see how our prototyping session goes.