Anderson is the name

The robot would occasionally be unresponsive and we had a feeling it might be the connections, so we switch to Anderson connectors (which appears to have solved the problem).

Regeneration

To prepare for states this weekend, we are going over sonic from top to bottom to make sure everything is in working order and replacing anything that may be worn out or likely to break

IR repositioning

The IR sensor position was great, but at the last round of competition it almost prevented us from competing as it almost didn't fit within the 18x18x18 box.  We therefore moved the IR sensor a little further in so we won't have the same problem again.

Three's Company

In order to increase the power of our drivetrain, and decrease the number of burnt motors, Casey added a third motor to either side of the drivetrain. In order to stay under the limit of 8 motors, we had to remove the second motor from the linear slide to use it for the drivetrain, leaving the slide with only one motor. This decreased speed, but the slide could still rise and fall, and now the single motor can not produce enough torque to break the string, making it more reliable. With the third motor, the stress placed on each motor has been reduced considerable and torque has been slightly increased, making Sonic stronger and tougher.

Protect the tower!

We added reinforcement to the tower in order to increase it's stability and reduce the strain on our manual arm stop.  It'll be easier to score now since the tower will have less wobble to it.  The extra support also should help with autonomous and keep the autonomous ring stable and aligned.

Sometimes less is more

We used to have a beam running across right above where our brain is. However, we realized that it was causing the tower to twist and ended up being counterproductive, so we removed it.  Since it's removal the tower is aligned and it is now easier to score with our arm.

The Mighty Axle ...

 

... Is not so mighty.  The axle we used for the arm got twisted ... again.  Therefore, we replace the axle (yet again). 

For wheeling

Nik is building a new drive train for Sonic which will give us better control and will help prevent the motors from burning out

Two is better than one

The gears were having problems meshing properly with each other (they weren't fully aligned and would occasionally slide past each other).  We therefore added (and painstakingly aligned) two (2) more gears to the problem area to solve this.

Covering All Our Bases

Since the encoders starting behaving again, it looks like we'll be spending the next few days trying to expand our autonomous code. More specifically, we're trying to get code ready for both starting posistion and all IR locations. From what I understand, Casey is using a program chooser and the IR sensor to run different codes, or something. It's not my cup of tea; I'm just the one who gets to reset the robot after every run.

Fixing Autonomous

Despite Sonic's great performance at Western, the qualifier showed us just how broken our Autonomous mode really was. Out of all our matches, we only scored autonomous rings a few times, and, even though we were the only autonomous score the judges had seen all season, I know we can do better. I'm going to have to work with the encoders to try and get Sonic to score more consistently.

Above the Rules

Well we're back from winter break, and for most of the class robot season is over; not for us though. So while everyone else disassembles and organizes and sorts, it's business as usual for Sonic Team! Casey and Pierce are practicing with the robot, Travis is building things, I'm writing this post, and none of us are doing inventory. It's great to be king!

Coming Soon To a Theater Near You

Thanks to the industriousness of Nik, we finished our mid-season video for out robot. While we could describe it here, we think the video should speak for itself...

Shoot to Thrill

Now that our first match is over and gone, we're shifting our focus away from our robot and onto our Mid-season video, a three minute video that documents our achievements with our robot as well as the unity and charity of our team. We have many areas to cover - Design, Strategy, Fundraising, etc. - which must now be focused and condensed. Our plan for the video is for each part to be a channel on a television, though the hard part is to film.

How The Western Was Won

To put it mildly,

Last Saturday was our first official First competition at Western High School, and as you can see, it was a great day for our team and our robot. We competed in 6 matches throughout the day and came out on top in all of them, to no lack of challenge from the opposing alliances. One matches opponent would be the next matches partner, so in the end we made many new friends and shared many ideas about strengths, weaknesses, and ways to improve. The competition also put Sonic into the firing line for the first time, and while he accomplished his goal, we discovered many flaws in the heat of battle that we can now improve before our next match, such as dropping rings and missing autonomous scores. By earning first place, we hope this match will be the trend for the remaining season, not only in our teams performance but in our enjoyment of the event and the friends we made there. 

It's the Final Countdown!

Sonic is nearing completion, just in time for the start of round one this Saturday.  There are only a few things more left to do; practice, double-check structural integrity, debug autonomous code, and include sponsors.  For the most part though every thing is complete, so without further ado, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, Sonic.

Reaching out

Today, we were visited by FAU and helped them with their robot. Casey helped them out with their programming and ensured the robot was running properly, while the rest of us shared knowledge and helped to improve each others designs. At the end of the day we even had a mock tournament with Sonic vs. their robot

Brains ... and a battery mount

We've constructed a nice, cozy container to contain our brain and battery, allowing for easy access while protecting them at the same time.

It's always the small ones ...

The lift system was very effective, but we noticed that we would have a problem with the arm jerking when we tried to extend it from neutral position.  Upon closer inspection of the arm we found this:

This small piece of plastic, not even an inch in length or half an inch in width, was the root of all evil ... at least for our arm anyways.  A simple removal of this piece has resulted in optimal performance of the arm and less strain on our lift system.

Shields Up!

In light of our recent acquisition of sponsors – as well as the need to display our team number – we plan to construct a frame for our robot, where we'll mount two big sheets of plexiglass. 

This serves two ever-useful functions: first, it gives us a place to put our sponsor(s) logo(s); second, it gives us a shield to prevent other robots from damaging our robot's insides; third, now we can put Sonic on Sonic. 

As a side effect, we also now have a place to put the brain and battery where there easily accessible; I took the liberty of drawing that up in SolidWorks too.