January 9, 2013 (1 hour):
Team meeting to discuss project idea and decide team roles. Also drafted preliminary project proposal.
WEEK 01 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: Drafted initial project idea, and discussed alternatives in case of rejection.
Weekly Work Total: 2 hours
Project Work Total: 2 hours
January 16, 2013 (2 hours):
Set up Lab Notebook webpage and reviewed original project proposal. Discussed alternatives in case Leap Motion was unable to be obtained. Considered posibility of of needing new project ideas.
WEEK 02 SUMMARY
Accomplishments: Reviewed feedback and made changes to initial design, as well as consider other options.
Weekly Work Total: 2 hours
Project Work Total: 4 hours
January 22, 2013 (2 hours):
Met to discuss project due to feedback from our final project proposal. Proposed the idea of using a Kinect to control a Rock 'em Sock 'em robots game, using solenoids to actuate the arms. Put both ideas in the powerpoint and presented to class.
January 23, 2013 (3 hours):
Met to work on Eagle team assignment. Also reviewed feedback from TCSP presentation and decided on the new project tentatively named Pop 'em Drop 'em Robots (PEDER).
January 24, 2013 (3 hours):
Did research into possible solenoids and stepper motors for project. Found an appropriate sized 5V DC solenoid with a stroke length right around what is needed. Also found a possible stepper motor.
WEEK 03 SUMMARY
Accomplishments:Started Eagle turorial. Developed new, more appropriate project idea which was well received. Conducted research into actuating mechanisms.
Weekly Work Total: 8 hours
Project Work Total: 12 hours
January 29, 2013 (2 hours):
Conducted more research into stepper motor, solenoids, and control mechanisms. Agreed on solenoid and stepper motors to be used. Continued to look for drive and controller chips.
January 31, 2013 (5 hours):
Conducted even more research into stepper motor and solenoids after finalizing microcontroller selection. Documented datasheets and references. Found driver and controller ICs for stepper motor and compared with capabilities of microcontroller to drive them.
WEEK 04 SUMMARY
Accomplishments:Completed research and made decisions regarding solenoid and motor control drive mechanisms.
Weekly Work Total: 7 hours
Project Work Total: 19 hours
February 5, 2013 (5 hours):
Researched ways to mount robots to stepper motors to allow for left/right translation. Made measurements of arena and assembled power point presentation. Was unable to come up with other similar commercial products, so conducted analysis of original Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots game.
February 7, 2013 (8 hours):Thought of using Hungry Hungry Hippos and Whac-A-Mole as similar products to Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots. Analyzed packaging of games in terms of plug and play capabilities, as well as ease of assembly. Completed the packaging design homework. Created rudimentary "CAD" side view picture of underneath the arena. Need to find a way to get access to SolidWorks after unsuccessful attempts at figuring out CATIA.
.
WEEK 05 SUMMARY
Accomplishments:Completed packaging constraint homework. Identified need to use SolidWorks to create 3D models after struggling with CATIA.
Weekly Work Total: 13 hours
Project Work Total: 32 hours
February 12, 2013 (7 hours):
Took apart one of the Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots and examined the inside. Documented internal parts and looked for places to put hall effect sensors. After difficulty putting robot back together, began creating part libraries in Eagle.
February 13, 2013 (5 hours):
Finally was able to reassemble Robot. Completed libraries of parts in Eagle.
WEEK 06 SUMMARY
Accomplishments:Analyzed robot's internal workings for hall effect sensors and completed Eagle libraries for our parts.
Weekly Work Total: 12 hours
Project Work Total: 44 hours
February 18, 2013 (4 hours):
Downloaded and installed Microsoft Visual Studio and Atmel Studio to begin working on a heartbeat program for microcontroller. Still trying to find proper syntax for GPIO functions.
February 20, 2013 (3 hours):
Tested 5V solenoid's ability to actuate robot's punching mechanism. Solenoid stroke distance seemed smaller than needed upon original inspection. At 5V, solenoid did not have enough force to move the pin. From the demonstration video of the solenoid, we knew it was capable of handling at least 13V. We decided to test with a 12V supply which I would go and get from Purdue Surplus. We also looked into alternate solenoids in case the solenoid was still not strong enough
February 21, 2013 (5 hours):
Got a 12V and a 20V supply from Purdue Surplus. Tested the 5V solenoid using the 12V supply first. It still did not have enough power to effectively move the pin a sufficient amount to initiate a punch. Tried with the 20V supply, being cafeful of overheating the solenoid, and found that with a bit of preloading, the solenoid could at least move the pin all of its stroke length, but because of the dimished stroke length from preloading, it was unable to serve our purposes. Conducted more research into solenoids and linear actuators. Expanded search options to include higher voltages because it was determined that to get the appropriate force, a higher voltage will be needed. Ordered a 12V solenoid off of Amazon for $10.
WEEK 07 SUMMARY
Accomplishments:Tested out solenoid with various power supply voltages. Determined that we need to find a different actuation mechanism. Purchased a new solenoid to test. Should be delivered on Monday.
Weekly Work Total: 12 hours
Project Work Total: 56 hours
February 24, 2013 (5 hours):
Set up parts in lab and began prototyping with breakout boards. I spent a majority of the time soldering headers and chips onto breakout boards. The pitch on some of the breakout boards did not patch that actual piece, so those will be completed at a later date. Also spent some time working with Tom on the dev board..
February 26, 2013 (3 hours):
Met as a team to discuss current project status. Began organizing design review order and content. Created a gantt chart outlining projected work progress for the coming weeks. Also ordered a car door lock actuator as an alternate actuation mechanism. Cost is approximately $5, with free shipping through Amazon Prime. Expected delivery is Thursday.
February 27, 2013 (4 hours):
Finished soldering chips to new breakout boards. Received actuator package a day earlier than expected. Tested the actuator with Tom and concluded that it would be able to reliably and safely be able to serve as our actuation mechanism. While it is somewhat large in size, it is only 5.6oz. The tip of the actuator is also lines up perfectly with the size of the pin in the robot. We decided that we would use the door lock as our mechanism so I ordered four more.
February 28, 2013 (4 hours):
Reconstructed "CAD" drawings of robots in preparation for design review. Reviewed component selection rationale of some parts with Tom for the subsystems that he designed.
WEEK 08 SUMMARY
Accomplishments:Finalized decision for actuation mechanism. Finished soldering on breakout boards. Updated CAD schematics in preparation for design review.
Weekly Work Total: 21 hours
Project Work Total: 78 hours
March 5, 2013 (6 hours):
Conducted more research into stepper motors since we still had not received the ones we ordered from YourDuino. I found a very strong stepper motor from Canakit that had 2.3kg-cm hold torque that was a little bit expensive compared to the motors we ordered, and also did not come with any sort of driver module. Duncan had ordered some H-bridge ICs from TI which should arrive soon, but the data sheet does not explain how to set them up very well. So I will work on that when they come in. In order to simplify some of the mechanics and mounting, and guarantee that the motor is strong enough to do what we need, we have changed the idea of translating the robots laterally, to an axial tilt. We can mount the stepper motor on an appropriately sized block and then attach the robot directly onto it. Our previous plan to mount everything was to suspend it undernearth the arena, which would have required extensive modifications to the arena.
March 7, 2013 (9 hours):
Went and talked with George about the H bridge chips that Duncan had ordered. He was not able to figure out how they were supposed to be configured, and suggested that using the L298 chip would be much easier. The L298 contains two H bridges, so it would reduce the number of chips we would need. We would need one chip for each of the bipolar stepper motors, and two more for the four actuators. I manually wired up an H bridge using TIP120s and dip switches to demonstrate exactly how the L298 works as a proof of concept since we did not have the chip. After demonstrating it to the team and explaining the situation, I ordered six of them through Digikey.
Another issue that arose was the issue of overcurrent through the actuators. When testing the acutators, the power supply was only supplying about 2V out of the 12V, but the unit was still drawing 1A of current, which is the current limit for the 25V line of the power supply. The actuator datasheet only had dimensions on it and I was unable to find its electrical characteristics. I assumed that since it was designed to be put into a car on a 12V system that it had the neccesary internal resistance to limit the current. It turns out that the resistance of the acutator is about 2 ohms. This would lead to a problem when we actually hook it up to our power supply, as it would try to draw 6A, which is above its rating. After some testing, I determined that the actuator needs 1A to punch with the proper intensity, but it could still work at around 750mA. We needed to come up with a current limiting resistor valued around 10 ohms to limit the current to 1A. Original searches for high wattage resistors yielded results far out of our price range (about $40 per). We finally found some 10 ohm, 10W resistors for about $3 at Radio Shack which were exactly what we needed.
Other accomplishments: I added the L298 to our Eagle library, and fixed a few parts for Duncan while he worked on the final PCB design.
WEEK 09 SUMMARY
Accomplishments:Ordered new stepper motor and H bridge parts. Set up a proof of concept for the H bridge chip since we didn't have the chip on hand. Discovered and solved overcurrent issue with actuator. Changed translation mechanism to an axial tilt
Weekly Work Total: 15 hours
Project Work Total: 93 hours
WEEK 10 SUMMARY
Accomplishments:Did not die during spring break
Weekly Work Total: 0 hours
Project Work Total: 93 hours
March 19, 2013 (4 hours):
Soldered L298 to breakout board. Tested new bipolar stepper motors and found them to have be even stronger than anticipated. Stepper motor has small step size so fine tuning the movement will take some experimentation. Also soldered and tested power supply parts on breakout boards to convert 12V to 5V and 3.3V.
March 21, 2013 (3 hours):
Received PCB. Original plan was to solder on power supply, but Duncan needed to get a new inductor so I soldered all of the headers to the board. Next step is to burn in the power supply.
WEEK 11 SUMMARY
Accomplishments:Finished breakout board testing on new H-brdiges as well as power supply unit. Started to populate the board with headers and power supply parts.
Weekly Work Total: 7 hours
Project Work Total: 100 hours
March 24, 2013 (6 hours):
Continued soldering headers to the board. Also began soldering surface mount resistors for the LEDs as well as various capacitors around the board.
March 26, 2013 (3 hours):
Had a mix up in communication with Duncan, so neither of us went to get the inductor we needed from the parts room on Monday. I went to the parts room today and found that they don't have the value of inductor that we have on the schematic in the proper form factor. They have a larger "teaching" inductor that barely fits and must be positioned much higher above the surface of the board. Duncan says we can use a larger inductor, so I will let him selct it. I was able to obtain some 14 gauge wire for our power supply, so once Duncan picks out the inductor later today he will start start the burn in.
March 27, 2013 (2 hours):
Went with Duncan to lab after TCSP to check on burn in. It looked to be successful and testing of the voltage levels were within reason. The power supply is a little high though, at 12.5V instead of 12V, which may cause an issue in the longevity of our linear actuators if they draw too much current. We already had to put some very large 10W 10Ohm resistors to limit the current.
WEEK 12 SUMMARY
Accomplishments:Continued to populate the board with non-IC parts and soldered power supply on. Burn in was completed and voltage levels were mostly appropriate.
Weekly Work Total: 11 hours
Project Work Total: 111 hours
March 30, 2013 (1 hours):
Looked at various bluetooth dongles and ordered one to integrate the Wiimotes..
March 31, 2013 (6 hours):
Began soldering the microcontroller to the board. Had several issues while trying to solder it. I could not find the right tip to use which increased the difficulty. Also, because I had soldered the headers on already and they were in close proximity, it was very difficult to get the iron positioned correctly. Some of the pins were bent, and while trying to get them on the pad, one of the pads was pushed out of place so I decided to stop soldering and try again the next day. I also soldered some of the capacitors around the micro.
April 2, 2013 (6 hours):
Finished soldering the microcontroller. I was able to get everything soldered down and the displaced pad was still connected so it should be fine. After testing with Tom, we couln't get the micro to program. I resoldered some of the sides, but I'm afriad that the micro is probably damanged from excessive heat. There was some excess solder on the pins which I removed.
April 3, 2013 (4 hours):
The bluetooth dongle arrived so I gave that to Jackie. Continued to try to debug the micro for the rest of the night but with no success. There may be a solder bridge undernearth that I can't get to. I tried using solder wick but I can't get the angle right to heat the wick up enough.
WEEK 13 SUMMARY
Accomplishments:Soldered and attempted to debug micro with little success. Got the bluetooth dongle which has been much easier to program and actually makes our packaging much easier.
Weekly Work Total: 17 hours
Project Work Total: 128 hours