I've created a Google Calendar and embedded it into a page on this blog to help myself and others visualize the weekly meetings and the challenges that I'm aware of.
I looked at the EBLS calendar and cleared team practices for days when there isn't any school.
The Monday/Wednesday team gets hit with Monday holidays a few times. When Monday is a holiday but Tuesday isn't, if a Monday/Wednesday team member is willing and able, they can attend on Tuesday of that week instead.
I don't know what the plans are after the championship challenge at the end of February. I am anticipating meeting at least once after as a wrap-up. We will figure out those details as we get closer.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Monday/Wednesday team completes the clawbot
The two team members of the Monday/Wednesday team made great progress today and stayed longer than an hour (thanks to the patience of their parents) and finished their clawbot. Nice job you two!
It is a fun design. It reminds me of a combination fork-lift and automatic stacking hay wagon.
We weren't able to test it completely because the borrowed motor needed it's firmware updated to talk to the controller, but all the parts appeared to be in the right places and everything but the claw, where the borrowed motor was attached, worked. I had my laptop but haven't been able to sort out network access yet, so I had to bring the robot home to update the firmware. Once updated, it all ran fine.
We should be ready for Saturday without meeting Friday. I hadn't heard back from any parents about Friday anyway so Mrs. K and I are not planning on it.
Now the only hitch is that we haven't received our second welcome kit with the name plates. We will have one pair to share between two teams. I hope they work with us.
It is a fun design. It reminds me of a combination fork-lift and automatic stacking hay wagon.
We weren't able to test it completely because the borrowed motor needed it's firmware updated to talk to the controller, but all the parts appeared to be in the right places and everything but the claw, where the borrowed motor was attached, worked. I had my laptop but haven't been able to sort out network access yet, so I had to bring the robot home to update the firmware. Once updated, it all ran fine.
We should be ready for Saturday without meeting Friday. I hadn't heard back from any parents about Friday anyway so Mrs. K and I are not planning on it.
Now the only hitch is that we haven't received our second welcome kit with the name plates. We will have one pair to share between two teams. I hope they work with us.
A spare VEX IQ smart motor
Gary emailed back and suggested that we look into having spare parts to avoid being in a pickle like this. He said that his VEX IQ robot wasn't going to be used this weekend so we could borrow a motor from him until the end of the challenge on Saturday. We're saved. This is a very good thing because we had a couple of very enthusiastic builders from the Monday/Wednesday team show up today to keep building.
I talked to VEX support on the phone and they were very helpful. They said that it sounded like stripped gears in the motor and said they can help resolve the issue if I get them an order number. Great news.
I talked to VEX support on the phone and they were very helpful. They said that it sounded like stripped gears in the motor and said they can help resolve the issue if I get them an order number. Great news.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Transmission trouble
While waiting for me to finish with the Monday/Wednesday team Esther got out her team's clawbot for some driving practice, but there was some trouble. The robot pulled more and more to one side until finally it failed to turn the wheels on that side at all.
Pulling the motor out we found that it sounded like the electric motor was spinning inside, but that the place the axle inserted into would stop spinning with the lightest pressure, as if the gears inside the motor had stripped. A bit discouraging on a new robot just days before the first challenge.
I saw that we were past the VEX support hours so I sent off an email to them and to Gary Stewardson and hoped for the best.
Pulling the motor out we found that it sounded like the electric motor was spinning inside, but that the place the axle inserted into would stop spinning with the lightest pressure, as if the gears inside the motor had stripped. A bit discouraging on a new robot just days before the first challenge.
I saw that we were past the VEX support hours so I sent off an email to them and to Gary Stewardson and hoped for the best.
The Monday/Wednesday team finishes the robot base
The Monday/Wednesday team has come a long way from their rough start more than a week ago. The divide and conquer method they had started near the end last week was working out well and they not only finished up the robot base, but they made some progress into the parts for the clawbot.
We held a driving practice and competition the last ten minutes of the meeting and talked over strategies to score points if we weren't able to complete the clawbot before Saturday. Two of the team members said they could come tomorrow to build and another said they could come on Friday. I told them that I would come tomorrow and would come Friday only if they talked to their parents and their parents had agreed.
We held a driving practice and competition the last ten minutes of the meeting and talked over strategies to score points if we weren't able to complete the clawbot before Saturday. Two of the team members said they could come tomorrow to build and another said they could come on Friday. I told them that I would come tomorrow and would come Friday only if they talked to their parents and their parents had agreed.
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
EBLS Robotics - VEX IQ Challenge this Saturday
The Edith Bowen Laboratory School VEX IQ teams are registered for the challenge this Saturday, December 6th, 2014, at Wilson Elementary in Logan from 9:00 am to 2:45 pm. More information about the event can be found at robotevents.com here:
http://www.robotevents.com/
VEX IQ challenges are cooperative team events to achieve a goal. This year's challenge is called Highrise.
http://www.roboticseducation.
The staff at EBLS will register the two teams for the event tomorrow. It would be great if the teams had some names for them. Something less generic than EBLS - A and EBLS - 1.
http://www.robotevents.com/
VEX IQ challenges are cooperative team events to achieve a goal. This year's challenge is called Highrise.
http://www.roboticseducation.
The staff at EBLS will register the two teams for the event tomorrow. It would be great if the teams had some names for them. Something less generic than EBLS - A and EBLS - 1.
The Tuesday/Thursday team finishes their clawbot
I dropped by at the end of the Tuesday/Thursday team meeting today and they had already finished their clawbot and were ready for some driver practice. Nice teamwork! They had done a divide and conquer build style, with each team member pulling parts and pre-assembling their step as much as possible. They were going to be ready for the challenge this Saturday.
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