TechBrick - 2004
From FIRSTwiki
| TechBrick 2004 | |
|---|---|
| Image:Therobot.jpg | |
| Competition Year: | xxxx |
| Team website | |
Contents |
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Robot
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Technical Details
- Drive Type: Stright Drive
- Motors Used: 3
- Sensors Used
- Port 1: Touch
- Port 2: Rotation
- Port 3: Light
- Max Possible Score: 400
- Max Score Achieved in Actual Competition: ?
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Special Features
- Solid Construction: Pins and girders are used throughout so we do not have to rely on ‘peg friction.’
- Sensor-Cam: To radically increase the sensitivity of the light sensor we used a lego magnifying glass to focus the inbound and outbound light. This allows the robot to see the bus stops from the sidewalk rather than having to be right alongside the wall.
- Many programs in one program slot: Programs are accessed by holding down a touch sensor and listen to beeps for each program (one beep for first program). Then you release it and it runs the program. Each program initiates the next program and waits for a touch sensor.
- We use multi-tasking to play songs and to prepare attachments for missions.
- Each mission end sets the arm for the next mission.
- We used rotation sensors to provide more precise positioning. Time-based runs are unpredictable and subject to changes in battery power and other changes on the board.
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Builder's "Journal"
We started by trying to build a robot that would drive over some of the elements. The first one would not turn. The second one (used successfully in the PA trials) was too easily broken as were our attachments. For our third robot we tried to apply the three principles our coach taught us: Simple, Repeatable, and Reliable. Along the way we learned simple is better, the great solutions are made up of many good ideas and points of view, and rarely do solutions work as first planned. Our fourth and final robot combined all we had learned and observed. We made it simpler, worked on predictable programming, combined tasks, and used video recording and evaluation to cut our table time from 4 minutes to less than 2 minutes for all missions.
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Lessons Learned
- Every Second Counts: We video taped ourselves and watched the mission noting time wasters and mistakes. We did this more than 20 times.
- You Can’t Have Two Motors Run your Wheels and Drive in a Straight Line: Lego motors speeds and power are inconsistent making it impossible to accurately drive the robot through turns. We tried this with our first three robots. Therefore we chose a straight-line approach in the end.
- The Robot must be Simple, Reliable, and Repeatable: Complexity makes it hard to manage and program. On this last robot, we kept attachments to a minimum and very simple.
