January 15, 2011

This day we cut a hole with a circle saw drill in the robot, for the golf ball. We tested the robot on the floor trying to catch the golf ball.

January 12, 2011

This day I went to the before school meeting and tested the robot on the track. I found that the track was smaller than I thought. The robot bumped into the sides a lot, and turning the robot was difficult. The wire often caught under the wheels. There were many switches along the side, a small arena with a switch, and a ramp topped with another switch. This was my first day practicing driving the robot.

January 8, 2011

We worked on our engineering journal.
Mainly, we got the tabs ready, decided the order, updated all our material, and placed the papers inside the binder.
My binder is a blue (around 1 1/2 inch) ringed binder.

January 1, 2011

We drilled holes in the switch box and glued them inside. In the living room, we tested the robot. The robot could now move!

December 30, 2010

We started our list of materials and costs on "Excel". On the robot, we drilled holes in wood and in small strips of more wood. We fastened the axle by putting it through the hole and screwing it in. We had also drilled holes for the screws. Afterward, we worked on soldering the swtiches. We attached the wheels onto the axle. Lastly, we found a box to house the switches.

December 29, 2010

This was the first meeting after Christmas. Today we discussed the robot with our supervisor. We needed to untabgle the wires. We clipped them, seperated them, and taped them with electrical tape into one long thick cord. We tiewrapped the ends afterward. Later, our supervisor went to get connectors and plywood. We glued the wheels and gears together and unsoldered the wires from the motors and switches.

December 21, 2010

This was our last meeting before Christmas. This day we tested the motors on the body and placed together the wheels and gears. The motors were working, but we were having trouble attaching gears. We also discussed different motives for the competition.

December 20, 2010

We discussed the design of the robot. We cut the plywood for the base of our robot.
I know it doesn't seem like much, but we didn't have all day to do something. It was all we accomplished.

December 19, 2010

One of my partners and I finished wiring and soldering everything. We hooked or wired up the 6V AC adaptor and motors. Also, we gathered up motor and axle material.
That day we set up a little station in my home. On a long "table" of cardboard there was a soldering iron, flux, wire holders, and our equipment, papers, and gear. We used this little set-up for many more meetings.

December 15, 2010

In the morning, one of my partners and I finished wiring a switch. In the afternoon, our other partner soldered and wired another switch.

December 8, 2010

This day I went to the meeting and finished soldering for one switch. I began to wire the switch itself.

Materials

This project contains many materials. These materials include:

• 2 different colors of solid wire
• 12V AC car adaptor
• extra fuses for the adaptor
• 2 switches
• electrical tape
• project box to house switches
• gears (2 pinion and at least 2 spur gears)
• 2-4 wheels
• axle material
• scrap materials
• screws
• JB kwik weld
• PVC strapping of some sort (holds motors onto the vehicle)

These are all the materials that we need for the robot. Also, we are allowed to get more, but everything we buy cannot equal over $100.

December 1st- Starting to Wire

Today, my partner and I went to a meeting to help wire our motors. There was a complicated design, but first we measured out 6 feet in length of two different colored wires. Then we took a special tool that would "strip" the wire so that the copper ends showed. We twisted the wires, then took an iron and heated the ends until they turned silver. We started to put the wires inside the AC adaptor, but then had to pack up and leave. That was what we managed to do today.

Robotics

This is about a competition called "Robotics" or EDC. The goal is to create a robot or machine that flips light switches. The theme is to fix the oil spill on the bottom of the Gulf Coast. So, all along the way, you will journey with me as we create the robot and fix obstacles along the way.

By April Artrip