User:Cmcarreras/ENES-100/project 0

Week0 Preferences
1. Tribot 2. Music 3. Combo lock

Week1 Narrative
0/10/0 ... 1sfoerster (discuss • contribs) 18:42, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Researched various wheel designs and possible applications for Tribot.

Current wheel design for the Tribots is the "Omniwheel." Only other standout contender appears to be the "Mecanum Wheel" The mecanum wheel is very interesting, but seems to be more suited for 4WD. Lateral motion involves spinning two wheels on either side in opposite directions. The rollers are situated at a 45° relative to forward/backward motion. This would possibly inhibit the locomotion of the tribots, besides the current omniwheels allow the tribot to move effectively as is.

Researched possiblity of printing omniwheel utilizing the MakerBot.

Came across some examples of creating omniwheels utilizing 3D printing. This could potentially serve as a proof of concept, but certain concerns come to mind.
 * Size — Examples appear to be relatively small in size. This could be prohibitive in the locomotion of tribots. Because of the encoders, the wheels should be spinning at the same RPM as the current size wheels. This would cause relatively small wheels to spin in place... especially when considering the next concern.
 * Traction — The current rollers, which sit perpendicular to the axis of motion, are covered in foam. This foam gives the wheels traction, especially on the smooth surfaces. 3D Printed rollers would provide drastically reduced traction compared to foam or rubber rollers. Coupling the above concerns with the very plausible lack of traction provided by printed rollers, the likelihood of locomotion being crippled is increased.

10/10/0 ... very good .. there is another cone shaped wheel that is ribbed and can work on snow, water, .. I think is russian in origin ... need to find that one ... can see referenced in some cartoons ... --204.126.132.241 (discuss) 18:00, 20 February 2014 (UTC)

Week2 Narrative
This week I attempted to exhaust all attempts to troubleshoot tribot #4. Troubleshooting began with tracing the route the power goes from the battery pack to the arduino. As noted in the previous documentation, the power routes from the battery pack to the logic board, where it is spliced, and then routed to the arduino. I used a multimeter to determine that the batteries have sufficient charge, and placed them into the battery pack. Once the Tribot is powered on, the Arduino also appears to power on. This means that there is no interruption in power from where the power wire is spliced. I uploaded the "blink" sketch to the arduino and confirmed that it successfully compiled and ran on the arduino off of power from the battery pack. Uploaded the motor test sketch to the arduino. After repeated head presses... nothing happened. I parsed the motor test code and saw that when the arduino recognizes the head button being activated the onboard LED is supposed to turn on, and the motor test is supposed to begin. The LED is not turning on, therefore I deduce that the head button must not be getting recognized by the arduino.

The head button/switch is a white bit of plastic located on the torso that is triggered by pushing down on the head. When it is NOT being activated it rests at a 45°. When the head button/switch IS being activated it stands vertical. See pictures.

I noticed that when pushing the head down w/ a normal amount of pressure does not cause the switch to move into the vertical position. I tried moving the switch with my finger and voilà! The motor test started running and the arduino LED was lit. Everything is functioning as is supposed to except for one thing. The omniwheel by the power button is not spinning clockwise, but will spin counter-clockwise. That one nuance is the only issue keeping this tribot from being fully functional.

10/10/20 .. very good! ... wow! keep it up --1sfoerster (discuss • contribs) 14:34, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

Week3 Narrative
Troubleshooting continued into this week as Tribot #4 has one wheel which refuses to spin clockwise. I used a multimeter to troubleshoot connections from the arduino to the motor control board. I detached the torso and flipped it around 180° as it was backwards compared to the other tribots. This facilitated the troubleshooting of the connections as it placed the arduino and the motor control board on the same side of the robot. I tested the continuity of all the connections from the arduino to the motor controller to make sure there were no breaks in the circuit. I also tested to confirm that there were no unwanted/accidental connections made during the soldering of the wires. Everything from the arduino to the motor controller appears to be in order, so I'm not sure why one wheel refuses to spin clockwise, but will spin clockwise.

Possible next step would undoubtedly be to disassemble the base of the tribot and test for any faulty connections from the motor controller to the malfunctioning wheel. Screws sit pretty deep into the base, deeper than my multitool is able to reach so a standard phillips head screwdriver will be required.


 * pictures don't add anything ... results of your testing above are not clear ... details on how you tested would be useful to other people ... don't see any live testing such as this voltage appears on this wire when going forward, and on this wire when going in reverse ... don't see any test points being developed ... this would have pushed the project forward .. otherwise this is a report to me ... no clear method of identifying the wheels developed ... so impossible to point to a wheel and say this is the bad one without running the demo software ... 10/10/5 --1sfoerster (discuss • contribs) 14:47, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

Week4 Narrative
I began working with GIMP in order to create a systems level diagram of the Tribot. However, I accomplished absolutely nothing. Seems to be of great use to a photographer or a graphic designer, but any immediate use of it for my purposes seems to evade me. Asked a graphic design student for some software appropriate for creating something as simple as a flow chart. Inkscape was the next candidate, and I immediately saw some promise in it. However, this software also seems to be geared toward the graphic designer also. I searched for some tutorials demonstrating an example of utilizing inkscape for creating a flow chart. This provided some tips, that helped make an aesthetically pleasing diagram. Not very specific on HOW to accomplish it though, but provided me with knowledge of inkscape's jargon/vocabulary. However, I needed something much more basic. Such as how to draw a straight line. After a couple hours worth of bumbling through the software, I managed to successfully create a basic system's level diagram.
 * Great!! 10/10/20 ... need to capture the inkscape information in a tutorial. Build it off your personal page, link to it from your team page. --1sfoerster (discuss • contribs) 14:52, 11 March 2014 (UTC)