We started out the week with Problems. Our intention was to build two identical frames, one for competition and one for practice. But the "kit" this year had subtle differences from last year's frame. Not enough to matter, right? Uh...
Placing the "drift" wheel in the center of the machine where it works best showed us that we lacked a quarter inch of clearance. Fortunately we were able to flip a few things around and reclaim the needed space. On a night when we had exactly four weeks to go we were able to test a robust and clever drive base.
By Saturday we had the drive base and the tripod connected. This makes it actually look like something.
You always have to keep an eye on weight. We have a 125 pound maximum. So it was time to pile on everything we knew we would have on the robot.....
It looks as if it will be difficult to get into weight limit issues, but I have confidence we will manage it somehow.
We are pushing on towards building two machines. One must be done three weeks from now. This will be our competition machine. It is coming together pretty well.
Here you can see it with its vacuum tipped manipulator arm extended. It can also pivot at the "wrist". I estimate it at 70% complete mechanically although the software team has further to go. We are also building a near identical practice machine but that has been given second priority.
Sometimes it is the little things you notice during build season. I often arrive early to help get things set up. Down in the snack area I found this:
A digital micrometer being used to seal a bag of pretzels!
If they were using a Starrett slide caliper for holding the bag closed, then you could get grumpy at the person who did that. But since it is a Pittsburg, no harm and no foul.
ReplyDelete