DRAWER SLIDES and MOTOR BURN

Today began the final weekend of the build season.  We worked all day and well into the night finishing the vertical struts for the support of the turret armature and lift mechanism on both robots.

The minibot deployment mechanism was fabricated and installed utilizing a pair of standard drawer slides, which are a marvelous use for this application.  Many areas of this structure were also fortified with bracing to support the lateral movement during deployment.

 

High Fives are ALWAYS a good sign!

Many tweaks to the software programming are still to be accomplished to ensure a smooth operation at every step during a match.

Also, many short tests of subroutines of the 'pot' (potentiometer) are also needed to ensure a seemless instruction set.

We also had a visit from one of our Middle School FIRST Lego League Team members today and explained the workings of our robot design and its complexities. 

We also had a chance to test the pick and place operation of the first robot this evening in both low and high peg placement.

At the conclusion of tonight’s build session (around midnight), we did a 2 minute run of the drivetrain to test its durability and troubleshoot any potential problems.  The robot performed well and had no issues during the two minute match test run.

Unfortunately during this test run, due to the lack of a limit switch, we may have accidentally burned out a Fisher motor which controls the elevation of the lift mechanism.  We do not have a spare motor of this type, so we are looking for alternatives before the first competition!

 We all agreed, that despite the motor issue, it was very fulfilling to see our hard work come to fruition in the form of a fully functional robot that can last through the 2 minute match and successfully compete on the field and meet the imperatives of the game!