User:MauryMartinez/ENES-100/project 2

Week1 Narrative
My task was to get the third wheel on tribot #4 to spin clockwise by replacing it's motor with one of the two motors I took home with me.

Unplugging Old Motor

I checked all of the ribbon cables that were soldered onto the motor controller to see if any of them were loose. Everything was connected on the right place and not one cable was loose or not soldered.

Next Steps The next step is to check if either one of the ribbon cables are ripped inside of the tribot, also use a multimeter to troubleshoot the connector on the controller board.


 * love it! ... 10/10/30 ... --1sfoerster (discuss • contribs) 14:26, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

Week2 Narrative
I took home Tribot #5. Sharon had previously worked on this tribot however, she wasn't able to make it work. I took her "Next Steps" and worked on it myself.

Checking for Corrosion

Putting the tribot back together was a time consuming and VERY frustrating process. I found myself so frustrated to the point on which I felt like giving up and throwing the tribot against the wall (which I did not do). It took me about 20 mins to get everything to fit back into the right place. Once this was done I pushed the button to test the tribot, I then realize that the tribot functions on it's own, without the need to push it's head. It also does NOT follows the motor test code, it just keeps spinning at any direction, sometimes only using one wheel for a long period of time. One of the cables was not soldered to the controller board, however Sharon did soldered it last weekend, meaning this couldn't have been the problem for the third wheel.

Next Steps The next step is to change the motor of the third wheel to make it work, and try a different Arduino to see if it solves the problem of the tribot working on its own.


 * great! ... 10/10/40 --1sfoerster (discuss • contribs) 22:43, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

Week3 Narrative
My task this week was to troubleshoot Tribots #1, #2 and #5. Each one of them had a different problem.

Troubleshooting Tribot # 1

The third wheel on tribot # 5 did not spin at all. When I worked on it last week, I noticed that the motor with the black and orange cables was the one not working. I unplugged those cables and plugged two motors to replaced (one by one) it and checked if it would work. Not one of motor I tested worked at all. I checked all of the ribbon cables and they where all connected to the controller board, non were loose or unsoldered.

Next Steps The next steps, as with tribot #4 which also have a wheel that is not working, is to check if either one of the ribbon cables are ripped from within the tribot, and use a multimeter to troubleshoot the connector on the controller board.


 * 10/10/40 ... very good --1sfoerster (discuss • contribs) 15:20, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Week4 Narrative
This weekend my task was to work on Tribot #5(again) and try to determine what is making the third wheel not to spin at all and if possible, fix it.

Tribot # 5

I disassembled the tribot in order to be able to get to the controller board and check the ribbon cables completely. It was fairly easy taking the tribot apart. Once I reached the controller board, I was able to take a closer look and see if any cables were loose, however as mentioned on previous documentation, all cables were soldered correctly and not one cable was loose. I then carefully inspected each of the 9 ribbon cables to see if any was ripped or in bad conditions, and once again I found nothing wrong with any cable. Using a multimeter I checked the continuity on each of the cables and the controller board to make sure there was no brakes in the circuit. Everything seem to be working fine with the cables and board, however the wheel still refuse to spin at any direction.

Next Steps I am open to any suggestions, as I have completely ran out of ideas on why the wheel is not spinning at all. It is very frustrating and I can not think of anything else to do next.


 * Stop writing with "I" ... the problem is in the world external to you ... push it out there ... I appreciate you "owning" the problem, but this emotion should not prevent you from juggling, pushing it out side of yourself when talking about it with others ... this gives others the opportunity to "own" it ... Next step is to summarize all the troubleshooting for the team page more points if you had done this (part of RANT) ... right now suggestions can not be made with out this summary .. otherwise I feel like we are repeating ... has power been confirmed? are signals getting to the motors? have the motors been swapped? the goal is to move the problem to another robot, or move good parts and watch the problem stay with the original problem robot ... 10/10/40 --1sfoerster (discuss • contribs) 15:55, 8 April 2014 (UTC)