A reprieve

Following a frantic two weeks of attempting to get the robot to do what we tell it, design the robot so that it does what we think it will do, and panic about the fact that it is not doing any of these, today I received an email putting our competition date back to January. This means we have two whole months extra to get to grips with this thing.

On balance this is marvellous news, the pressure is off for a month at least and I feel like the team have a chance to shine now rather than just scramble to do their best in limited time and with limited knowledge and experience. The drawback of course is we ill now need to find time to meet over the busy Christmas period.

They are doing fantastically well and even as things stood before our reprieve we are at the stage where we can begin the programming of the tasks in earnest. However the set back of the date allows us to take stock a little, refine the design of the robot and discuss things as a team more thoroughly so everyone feels they have had all the input they need and want.

 Some of the programmers have been hard at work with some of the field tasks and their efforts are on various You tube videos below.

woodworking challenge:  http://youtu.be/eVsRHdXMHa4

Medicine bottle challenge:  http://youtu.be/A2HrDtyfKLA

A design update from the programmers http://youtu.be/hyQOW2SdzSw

medicine bottle part two with the actual field mat rather than a home made version http://youtu.be/XvzW2SGTcw4

the transition table  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuIYJ5yliqU

The designers have also been hard at work trying to solve some of the problems that we have encountered while trying to solve the tasks. The robot is now three wheeled to allow more manoeuvrability and the NXT block is mounted differently so that the sensor ports can be accessed more easily. At the moment the position of the NXT is slightly loose so that the block can be moved to change the weight distribution on the robot. We have found that when the scoop is lifted the weight needs to be further back to counterbalance BUT when the robot has to go up the transition table the robot falls over if the weight is too far back. The robot now looks a little like this.

The project also continues at a pace. The script is mostly written and will be pulled apart and put back together again on Monday while the programmers are off with Jeremy learning all about NXT programming. We are hoping to do a full read through and get a base line time for how long it lasts. However the goal posts have moved here also as we now have ten minutes rather than five. There is still much to do though, as we have very few props as yet and no one knows their lines.

Onwards and upwards!