RoboLancers.com

November 2nd, 2012

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 00:39:13 -0400

Today, the Robolancers’ mechanical teams started to combine their subgroups to start planning the nuances of the robot. Previously, Gold and Crimson mechanical had been split into Chassis, Manipulator, and Lifting groups. These subgroups brainstormed, prototyped, and finally chose which mechanisms they thought were the best for each part of the robot. Now, they all used graph paper to sketch out how all of these mechanisms would fit on the robot. This is especially challenging, as both teams decided to build within 17″ by 17″ by 17″ dimensions, losing an inch of width, height, and depth. This made squeezing all three essential systems even harder, with a limited amount of space.

Ciao Robopeople! Yesterday, after weeks of preparations and planning, we finally held our annual FTC...

Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:32:39 -0400

Ciao Robopeople!

Yesterday, after weeks of preparations and planning, we finally held our annual FTC Workshop and Scrimmage. Teams from every corner of the city came to expand their knowledge of robotics. Teams from as far as Lancaster came to assist us in mentoring teams. During the day, the teams learned about Mechanical, Electrical, Programming, and Video Judging pertaining to FTC. Many teams expressed their gratitude, saying how big of a help we were in completing parts of their robot.

Happy Friday! Today, the Robolancers neared completion of their chassis for both of their teams....

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 22:30:10 -0400

Happy Friday!

Today, the Robolancers neared completion of their chassis for both of their teams. They main focus of today was to prep for the annual FTC Workshop and Scrimmage at Central High School. We had all hands on deck, preparing signs, schedules, and rules so that our event would run smoothly. The event is hosting 150 people, so we need to be precise to achieve success. This event is very important to us, because it spreads the ideals of FIRST throughout inner-city Philadelphia, where kids in FIRST programs have very little funding or resources. Our event gives them knowledge and a day for build,as many School District of Philadelphia buildings are closed on the weekends.

Happy Friday! Today, the Robolancers delved farther into prototyping their designs. Using VEX and...

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 22:17:08 -0400

Happy Friday!
Today, the Robolancers delved farther into prototyping their designs. Using VEX and FTC parts, they took their designs from just being on a piece of paper, to being a real thing. The Robolancers are also prepping for their 2nd Annual FTC Workshop and Scrimmage, held at Central High School. The members started to make signs and floor plans so that our visitors can navigate our halls smoothly.

Hello Robopeople! Today we started to prototype our manipulators for FTC. The prototypes were...

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:02:46 -0400

Hello Robopeople!

Today we started to prototype our manipulators for FTC. The prototypes were created using VEX parts, which were very useful for some of the designs our members had pondered over. Some of these systems include a rack and pinion, arms, and lifts. We also held our first ever Flapjack Fundraiser on Saturday; it was a success, pulling in over 100 people to come eat to help the Robolancers. Tommorow, we continue our outreach of the STEM community in Philadelphia, as we are mentoring University City High School in West Philadelphia.

Hey, robopeople! Today the Robolancers delved even deeper into the depths of brainstorming for their...

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 20:31:25 -0400

Hey, robopeople!

Today the Robolancers delved even deeper into the depths of brainstorming for their robots. Both teams broke into subgroups and discussed their ideas for manipulators and lifting mechanisms. Many of our alumni came back today to teach the new students about the fields they had mastered during their time with the Robolancers, such as programming and electrical. The Marketing subgroup started to interview mentors for their FTC video, as they have to turn in a video in lieu of traditional judging, which is unique to Philadelphia FTC.

Hey, robopeople! Earlier today, a small group from Robolancers went to Martin Luther King High...

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 23:10:40 -0400

Hey, robopeople!

Earlier today, a small group from Robolancers went to Martin Luther King High School to mentor their team! They met students who are completely knew to robotics. There, both teams shared ideas, information on various robotic competitions (BEST, FTC, FRC). Robolancers plan to make weekly trips to MLK High School, as students will be staying in contact. Students from Central and MLK had a fun time learning about the different competitions and strategies for it. Can’t wait to visit MLK again, stay tuned!

Hello everybody! Today. our FTC teams discussed the manipulators of their respective robots. In the...

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 21:11:04 -0400

Hello everybody!

Today. our FTC teams discussed the manipulators of their respective robots. In the FTC game this year, teams will have to be able to pick up and hang rings (reminiscent of Logomotion) and to lift up other robots. Gold talked about using a rack and pinion to make an elevator for lifting robots, and also brainstormed about possible manipulator designs. Crimson, because they want to be a robot that is lightweight and can be easily lifted, only explored manipulator designs.

Hello robopeople of the world! Yesterday we had out first mechanical design meeting. Team Gold has...

Sat, 06 Oct 2012 11:00:00 -0400

Hello robopeople of the world!

Yesterday we had out first mechanical design meeting. Team Gold has decided to use a rack and pinion to be able to lift other robots in the endgame, and to design an arm that can reach all of the scoring pegs. Team Crimson has decided to make an arm that can reach the lowest and middle pegs, and not to lift, but to be light enough that if another robot will be able to lift them.

Hello, robopeople of the world! Today we had our first strategy meeting for the Crimson and Gold...

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:37:00 -0400

Hello, robopeople of the world!

Today we had our first strategy meeting for the Crimson and Gold teams. They are both situated at Central High School, and meet in 2 different rooms. Crimson decided on a a number of strategy elements, such as having a light robot that could be lifted easily, and going exclusively for the middle pegs. Gold was the complete opposite, as they have a heavy robot that could lift others in the endgame, and wanted to be able to hang rings from all three levels of poles.

Later that evening, we had our first parent’s meeting. The parents were informed about the FTC season’s events, the schedule for the year, including FRC, expectations of their children, and things that they could help out with the team. The turnout of the meeting had increased threefold from the previous year, so we expect many parents to be included in our programs this year.

Hello, robopeople of the world! Today, the Robolancers finally split our new members into the...

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:53:30 -0400

Hello, robopeople of the world!

Today, the Robolancers finally split our new members into the team’s subgroups: Mechanical, Electrical, Programming, and Marketing. Surprising to many, the Marketing subgroup had substantially more members than last year, equaling the Electrical group. Just as they settled into their new roles, our coach unveiled a new plot twist:There was going to be not only one FTC team, but two! The member’s subgroups were split even more, into the two teams of Crimson and Gold(Central High School’s colors). The new members start working in their new roles this Wednesday, with our first FTC meet only 6 weeks away.

Hello, robopeople of the world! The Robolancers attended the FTC(First Tech Challenge) kick off in...

Sat, 29 Sep 2012 17:28:06 -0400

Hello, robopeople of the world!

The Robolancers attended the FTC(First Tech Challenge) kick off in Philadelphia today. Hosted at West Philadelphia HS, team members saw live demos of the field in action, the kickoff videos, and were given information on FTC as a whole. For this year, the Robolancers are splitting up into two separate teams for FTC, to accommodate for the team being over 300% larger than the previous year.

Hello, robopeople of the world! The Robolancers continued their tool training sessions today. Every...

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 20:55:00 -0400

Hello, robopeople of the world!

The Robolancers continued their tool training sessions today. Every member has to complete tool training, even if they’re on a non-robot role on the team. Again, our returning members taught classes on the various tools and resources we use in robotics, from explaining the use of PVC, to live demonstrations of power tools, such as the miter saw and rotary tool. We are also attending the Philadelphia FTC kickoff tomorrow at West Philadelphia High School, at 48th and Chestnut, so swing on by to see our minds at work.

Greetings everybody! Yesterday we kicked off our first new-members meeting with a Tool Training...

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 22:37:10 -0400

Greetings everybody! Yesterday we kicked off our first new-members meeting with a Tool Training session! The new members were split up into fourteen small groups led by returning members so that individuals could familiarize themselves with proper use of equipment and safety procedures.

Hello everyone! It’s been a while since our last update, and we apologize for that! The school...

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 22:19:00 -0400

Hello everyone! It’s been a while since our last update, and we apologize for that! The school year is just getting started.

The Robolancers had their first new-member meeting last Friday, September 21st. To our delight, over 150 enthusiastic students attended the meeting. The team is starting off strong, and we’re looking forward to a great year with everyone!

Stay tuned for more updates!

Hey everyone, Head Programmer Eric here. As requested by rookiefirsts, I will be sharing some of my...

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 16:33:00 -0400

Hey everyone, Head Programmer Eric here. As requested by rookiefirsts, I will be sharing some of my own advice which I have learned over time about implementing and using sensors.

1. Design and planning

Make sure you’re absolutely involved in the design process so that your team knows where you put your sensors at so they can build around it and know how to incorporate it. You also want to make sure that the placement of your sensors are good. A place easy to reach, protected by possible field projectiles and from your own robot’s subsystems.

2. Testing hardware alone

After you’ve planned everything out and have gotten your hardware together, make sure you actually test it. This is a large portion of my time while the mechanical team is busy building the actual robot. With the limited time we’re given, we have to make sure that as soon as the robot is available, everything is okay and ready to go to get testing and practice underway. Try to simulate the environment that the sensor will be placed under. For example, testing an ultrasonic rangefinder at expected distances or swinging a gyro around at the rate your robot may turn at. This way, you’ll lower the amount of debugging you’ll have to do when your hardware actually gets on the robot.

3. Testing hardware in its mechanical environment

Whenever you’re able to, mount your sensors/electronics onto your mechanical subsystems and test them out. Check if the feedback is as expected or if it is behaving properly. Hopefully, everything is okay at this point but there are times when your sensors/electronics simply don’t agree with you such as producing too much noise (unwanted readings) in its mechanical environment or not being precise enough for the job. The earlier steps are there to reduce this occurrence, but when this happens, you have to think about other solutions for the job. Remember that there can be more than one way to do the same objective.

Now that’s the general outline I follow throughout the season. However, when you’re working with the actual hardware, there are many guidelines I follow to reduce the frustration while actually getting everything to work.

A. Know your hardware

Know what it does and in what form does it give it to you. Is it analog or digital? How will it interface with the microcontroller/brain of the robot? Know where you bought it from or where it came from so you can check out what the manufacturers have to say about it, such as its pinout (how to wire it), limitations and/or proper usage. You may have to do some research to find this all out. Be aware that FIRST supplies quite a bit of information about this, especially information about devices given in the Kit of Parts.

B. Obtaining Data from your Sensors

Is this device supported in your programming language? If not, can you create a way to interpret the raw data is gives? For example, there is no clear potentiometer class in the WPILib. However I know that the potentiometers my team has are analog devices, so I can read the voltage it is giving in the AnalogChannel class and based off of that, know how many rotations the potentiometer has turned.

C. Debugging

I. Make sure everything is turned on, plugged in and your robot is enabled. This may sound silly but personally, I’ve been subject to this symptom quite a number of times. I’m staring intently at the Dashboard/Driver Station tapping buttons on the controller and nothing is responding. Then I find out that the robot isn’t even turned on or I haven’t even enabled the robot.

II. One of the things I do when I am testing all of our devices is that I separate all the code to read the feedback from a device that I know works and document it so that in the future, if a certain device doesn’t work, I can rerun this code to further deduce any problems.

III. Check the wiring. Make sure all the connections are okay and that voltage is running through the correct wires. One of the ways you can do this is to take a multimeter and check that the correct amount of voltage is running through each wire. For example, in the FRC 2012 KOP, there was a gyro that was meant to be plugged into the Analog Breakout of the cRIO. 5 Volts get supplied to this gyro and when standing still, about 2.5 Volts was sent back through the signal wire.

IV. Pay attention to errors when running your code. You can do this with the NetConsole which should be supplied in all the tools through LabVIEW. Sometimes exception errors pop up where the logic in your code may be wrong or your hardware is incorrectly configured. This could put a stop to the rest of your code.

On another note, its pretty late into the season but I’ve gotten done quite a bit of my reference for programming in robotics which can be found here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b-d60PLkSIPS35jIJ-kZYa6BKLmqso1g2bzMYbIHZ6A/edit

Feel free to make any comments on it. I plan on periodically updating it.

I’ve also recently opened up the RoboLancers’ repository on google code (which I should have done earlier in the season) which can be at here:

http://code.google.com/p/robolancers/

I plan on putting all our code here from now on, including all of our robots we make and all the code I’ve made for various devices such as the ultrasonic rangefinder in the 2012 FRC KOP.

We didn’t get into an alliance. Probably our best competition with our best robot. Very tough...

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 12:45:59 -0400

We didn’t get into an alliance. Probably our best competition with our best robot. Very tough loss. We are all so proud of our work though.

First two rounds today were not so good. Dropped us down to 25th place. Our last round was better....

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 12:25:11 -0400

First two rounds today were not so good. Dropped us down to 25th place. Our last round was better. We wound up finishing 21st place. Not a great day.

We’re now waiting for alliance selection.

Day 2: Three rounds to go. We are currently in 10th place. The way it works is that after the...

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 08:59:34 -0400

Day 2: Three rounds to go. We are currently in 10th place. The way it works is that after the qualification rounds the top 8 teams get to select two other teams to ally with them on a team. But if one of those teams choose one of the top 8, every one shifts up. So we could wind up choosing other teams. That’s what we are hoping for. Our ability to balance has been gaining recognition as has our consistency. Solid constructed robot with little problems. We may not be able to make 6+ baskets, but this is a good robot for us. Wish us luck!

FRC Lenape Regional Live Stream

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 06:19:09 -0400

FRC Lenape Regional Live Stream:

View the live stream of today’s matches here. Cross your fingers for us today!