Archive for December, 2006
Christmas Robotic Road Trip, Part 5
Today I went to a book store and bought the latest copy (January 2007) of Servo Magazine. Also I bought some books including Robot Builder’s Bonanza by Gordon McComb and Take This Stuff and Hack It! by Dave Prochnow. For the rest of the evening I read some books and went swimming, read a little more and now I’m going to go to bed.
–Scotty
Add comment December 30, 2006
Vex Robotics Build Report 8/Christmas Robotic Road Trip, Part 4
After finishing the tracks this morning, we really wanted to have a robot on the ground moving, today being the last day with my uncles and all. So first we built a flat platform to go between the tracks. Then we decided to put sides on so we would not have to mount the electronics.
Around 4:00 p.m. we finished building it. We tested the bot on some tires and beams to see if it could climb over them. It worked okay, but it did not go over some of the taller stuff. So we took off the tracks and started building a new platform.
Around 5:00 p.m., we had a design and the robot had ‘tabs’ (shown in the picture below) on its tracks, but we stopped and ate dinner. For the rest of the day, we worked on it, but we did not get it done, so I’ll post more on the first of next year. Until then, I’ll keep posting about my trip!
–Scotty
1 comment December 29, 2006
Vex Robotics Build Report 7/Christmas Robotic Road Trip, Part 3
Today I got up at 6:00 a.m. and made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. After breakfast, Peter, Justin (my other uncle who likes to do robots), and I started to test the bot that we built the other day. But again, there was a problem. As the tracks went up or down, it brought the gears away from the other gears. We forgot to hinge it where the gear was!! Thinking about what to do, Justin suggested we should look at the MythBusters’ extension article online. In some of the pictures towards the end, we saw that they used a sawn beam in between the gears. For the rest of the day we worked on the tracks.
Link:
MythBusters’ extension article
–Scotty
Add comment December 28, 2006
Vex Robotics Build Report 6/Christmas Road Trip, Part 2
Today, Peter (my uncle) and I started at about 10:00 a.m. building Vex stuff. We took the frame that I built and started improving on it. Then we had a break for lunch and opening presents. I gave Peter the winter 2006 issue of Robot Magazine. The we worked on the double gear design that the MythBusters used for their Vex Pack Bot back in 2005.
Link:
–Scotty
Add comment December 27, 2006
Christmas Robotic Road Trip
December 26, 2006
Today I’m going to see some relatives. Two of them like to do robots, so that is what I’ll be doing for the next few days. I’ll post the progress we make over here at Ribo-Labs (umm…I mean at my uncle’s kitchen table…).
–Scotty
Add comment December 26, 2006
Thag’s Christmas
Well, today Thag woke up at 7:00 a.m. and woke everybody else up so we could open presents. Thag got a Super Whattmeter from Astroflight, but with the present being big, and a box, and he having claws, I helped him open it!
Thag and I also got some books on robots that I’ll post more about later.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Links:
Astro Flight Super Whatt Meter (No Connecters)
–Scotty
1 comment December 25, 2006
Vex Robotics Build Report 5
Today I ordered the servo savers from Vex Labs with two day shipping, so hopefully it will come in time for the Christmas trip (more on that later). A bundle of three servo savers (motor clutches) costs about $5, not including shipping.
Link:
–Scotty
Add comment December 22, 2006
Thag’s Robotic Meal
Today Thag made his lunch of one blue Lego brick, four small yellow Lego bricks, and one multi-layer Lego gear cake. And on the serving tray were some flowers that he picked from the garden.
Add comment December 14, 2006
Vex Robotics Build Report 4
Today I’ve been working on the bearings and rods. Then I tested it, but there were some problems:
The lifting gears started to slip when I had the front tracks halfway up. When I had the tracks go down, the servo motor on the right side stripped its servo horn and was not able to make the tracks go down to lift the bot. Also, when the gears slipped, one tooth broke off, so I took out the gears, replaced the broken one, and tried a different configeration. But with the right servo motor not able to move the gears, the left servo motor was not able to supply enough torque to move the tracks up or down.
Luckily, Vex Labs sells the servo horns separately, so I’ll have to buy some in the next few days because I’ve broken all of the other servo horns with other projects. In the next few weeks, I’ll figure out how to lift and put down the tracks and then post how here!
Link:
–Scotty
Add comment December 10, 2006
Vex Robotics Build Report 3
Today I worked on the new frame. I decided to build one like the MythBusters made for Robot Magazine in Winter 2005. (You can see the article for free with the link below.) So far I made the front and back frames and put in the gears to lift the front tracks. Tomorrow I’ll put on the bearings and put the rod through and test the bot!
Links:
–Scotty
Add comment December 9, 2006
