Dewey - Tell Me About Your VEX- Pinned Post

VEX Robot's Resource Page
If you are in my Mechatronics Engineering class and are working on a Vex Robot, please request access to post.  This is where you will post your VEX progress. Post Engineering Plans, Sketches, Links and Photos.  See Robot Club Rubric for the quality and expectation of the posts contents. - Don't Edit This Post

Christopher - AM - 1 Hour - Resolved Some Connection Issues

I had controller issues so I used a wire connection

Previously, I encountered an issue where the left drive motor was constantly spinning without any controller input.

I resolved this problem by switching some motor pins to the pin locations provided by the manual. 

-- The arm motor was supposed to be connected to pin 7 (Worked)

-- The claw motor was supposed to be connected to pin 6 (Didn't work)

When the process was done, the right drive motor became fully operational--previously the drive motor was inverted so I spent extra time fixing it--and the claw arm was functioning. 

**The left drive motor and claw isn't operational yet**

*Controller may need to be recalibrated* 

Christopher - AM - 30 Mins - Wheel glitch

Discovered that the two left wheels would spin by themselves when Dewey turns on.
- Most likely a pin connection error

Weight distribution problem can be potentially resolved by extended the rear rail to cover the second rail of the wheels.

Potential problem where the gear scrapes against one the metal parts.

Christopher - AM - 1 Hour - Future Plans

During this time I created an outline of issues and their solutions in the Dewey engineering notebook.

1st Issue: Inaccessible cortex
During our dire need to switch the pins around in the cortex, the pins broke off.
Solution: Relocating the cortex to the back would make it more accessible. To accommodate for the wires not reaching the cortex, we can use longer wires.

2nd Issue: Large hook
The claw arm doesn’t fit inside the mailbox when it’s fully extended.
Solution: Downsizing the hook would allow greater accessibility.

3rd Issue: Unreachable block
During the competition, the block was pushed in so far that the claw arm could no longer reach it.
Solution: Redesigning the claw arm so that it could reach further inside the mailbox would resolve this issue.

4th Issue: Broken motor pins
When we were switching the pins around in the cortex, the pins broke off.
Solution: Creating 3 pairs of emergency pins to connect the motors to the cortex in the event the motor pins break off again. The other solution is to relocate the cortex so that it’s in the back.

5th Issue:  Non-existent camera battery bay
The battery for the camera was barely hanging onto the chassis. If it fell off, it could had potentially disconnect the connection to the camera.
Solution: Using VEX parts or 3D printing a makeshift battery bay.

6th (Minor issue): Environment was dark making it a little hard to see the block.
Solution: Mounting a flashlight on the claw or on a fixed position.

7th (Minor issue): Unsecured screws
Solution: Tightening every screw tightly but not too tight.

Proposal: Redesigning the entire robot to resolve all these issues while increasing creativity, OR keeping the current design and resolving the issues.

Plan of action: Relocating the cortex the back and if time allows, create a battery holder in tinkercad.

Saul Payan - 1 hour - Dewey

I figured that the Dewey claw we are using isn't strong enough to open the mailbox. It just slips off. I plan to make a 3-D printed hook mechanism that will be mounted on one side of the claw to be able to open the mailbox door easier.

I figured that the Dewey claw we are using isn't strong enough to open the mailbox. It just slips off. I plan to make a 3-D printed hook mechanism that will be mounted on one side of the claw to be able to open the mailbox door easier.

I added a longer piece to the claw,so it now reaches farther.


I plan to mount the camera in the front.

Christopher - AM - 45 minutes - Revisions

During testing, the arm of Dewey was too short to reach within the mailbox.

Our solution to do this is to extend the arm of Dewey so that it could reach within the mailbox.

The other thing we are going to do is to change the controls of Dewey so it becomes easier to control.

The battery chamber is also pretty loose as well which would get fixed soon.

Christopher - AM - 20 Mins - Potential Solution

Here are the links to solving the software issue:
https://www.vexforum.com/t/restore-default-code/31378

Just follow the steps and the software issue should be resolved. I connected a HDMI cable to Dewey to download the code, but a password is needed to download the firmware program.

Here's the link to configure the cortex code:
http://www.robotc.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19325

Mostly focus on the first link though.

Christopher - AM - 30 Mins - Controller Issue

The controller connection issue from yesterday hasn’t been resolved.

Today all the lights on the controller and Dewey would turn green, as it should, except there would be no response from Dewey. Dewey couldn’t move in any direction or raise its claw arm.

Troubleshooting actions 

Replaced the battery 

Checked the wiring 

Used wired connection to Dewey and the controller

User another controller 

Solution

It is likely that the code in the cortex, not the controller has been corrupted. The most likely way to resolve this is to restore the code to its factory settings. If the issue persists, it may be a controller problem.

Christopher - AM - 2 Hours - Great Progress

For most of class, I was at the skillsUSA meeting. But during the time I did work on it, I have made great progress. Of all the errors mentioned previously, they have been resolved.

Resolved issues:

-Rear right wheel is now capable of moving backwards. Furthermore, I connected all three gears of the wheels on each side together. Upon doing this, I noticed that it significantly moved and roared faster and more smoothly. 

I considered adding two smooth wheels instead of one Omni wheel and one smooth wheel. However, when I did this, I noticed that Dewey moved significantly slower and that the smooth wheels greatly reduced the turning speed.

-Claw arm is now fully operational. Before the claw arm couldn’t move up or down, but now it can. The issue was that the claw arm gears were offset and that the motor wasn’t properly connected. I resolved the issue by reinforcing the existing washers and adding an additional one.

-Zip tie connection is now fixed but I’m considering in moving the battery placement to be more visually appealing.

Potential issues and solutions

-The claw arm opens very slowly and closes very fast. Not much of a concern since it functions, but it could cost precious arms

-Wiring is messy, but that’s a very easy fix.

-I still need to decide on the camera placement as well, but would most likely stay in the front left corner.

Christopher - AM - 1 Hour - Issues

The problems I encountered were:

-The rear right Omni wheel is touching the ground and spins, but it doesn’t go backward

-The claw motor spins, but the gears are offset or not connected well, and so it doesn’t go up or down

-The claw arm does work, but it opens extremely slowly and closes fast

-Cable management is an issue but is an easy fix

During this time I fixed the issue where the Omni wheels were making contact with the gears. I added the blockers to resolve the issue. However, this may be causing the rear right wheel not to spin so I have to take a closer look at this.

Christopher - AM - 2 Hrs - Movement and Video Feed

After finishing the blueprint of the field, I worked on Dewey. What I accomplished during this period was that I reattached the wheels and gear since they came off. I need to attach a washer and a screw to keep the wheels in place. I powered on the controller and plugged in the transmitters to get video feed from the monitor. When the battery was attached, I was able to make the claw arm of Dewey open and close. Dewey was able to move forward, and spin very quickly. I might have to fix the structure of Dewey since the chassis it slanted down at angle. This may posed an issue when opening the mailboxes. Other than that, the main issue was that the claw arm didn't go up or down. Something may be wrong with the wiring or the way the axel was attached so I have to fix that. Cable management is another issue since the wiring of the camera gets in the way of the wheels.

Christopher - AM - Dewey

After cleaning the tables, I spent 10 minutes reassembling the omni wheels back on to Dewey. I finished completely removing the rear wheel of Dewey. I then spent several minutes testing the video feed of the camera which seems to work. Then lastly, I spent the remainder of the time drawing the blueprints of Dewey. I only managed to work on the top view of it.

Christopher - AM - 30 Mins - Dewey

After looking at the design of Dewey and the circumstances of the field, I decided to replace the omni wheels and the rear wheel. Then I plan to add three wheels wrapped with tank tread. The reason why is that since there is going to be carpet, the omni wheels may get caught on the carpet. The tank treads should be able to solve this problem. Furthermore, I removed the rear wheel since I don't think it would be necessary. The originally intention of it from the previous team was to provide more stability. But since there's going to be carpet it would slow down the overall speed of Dewey.

Open lab 3/26/18

Today for open lab we fully tested the new back wheel we added.
In addition to this changed we have also made some maintenance after an incident that occurred when testing. We have realized that the previous team did not follow the instruction to the best capacity. Today we fixed the an arm problem that made the arm temporarily motionless. we did this by tighten lose parts

Alan, Vincent, Jose, Aidan - PM - 120m - Squashing physics errors and patching real life

Dewey did not have much done to it today, unlike Saturn's Rings, which we do not have access to. But we did end up fixing some loose ends (screws) on both robots, which ended up causing the stability of both robots to vastly improve. Afterward, we brainstormed on what to do to improve the robots.

Currently our plans for the robots are:

Dewey

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• Rework structure of robot
• Keep it from falling over
• Change overall look to rival Saturn’s Rings in terms of awesomeness
• Have Dewey specialize in its own special field for contests
• Change the arm and claw buttons back to the triggers
• Fix screws

Saturn’s Rings

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• Making the front wheels smaller
• Change back the arm right side up
• Make the arm somehow not slide down when pressed once
• Work on the code
• Fix screws

Log #1 March 5 2019

Our future goals with the project will be to:

• Experimenting on different types of wheel's
• Fix all bugs still present 
• Change the frame of the bot

Today we did not do anything to achieve this goal for the Dewey-bot spending time on the Saturn's Rings bot instead.

This is a Picture of the Saturn's Rings bot journal stating what we wanted to achieve for the bot

You can also look at the physical copy

Open lab 3/4/19

   In addition to choosing our poster I dubbed the real Duck-tales we also finalized the people who work with the Dewey bot and who is working on his bro-bot Saturn's rings

new poster for the project

Assignment: Update Your Project Cover Image

Mr.Burnham's Assignment/Request: 
Luis,if you want to update your Dewey Vex robot cover image, post it here on the blog and I'll update the Robot Club link page.

• Edit the post title to say "Dewey Project Cover Image"
• Add Image here that is a square, with your cover art and logo inside

Dewey - Historical 2019-2019 PM Team

Historical Team Members:

2018-2019 - PM Team - Luis, ??