PmWiki | Robots / MMPlanning

Manan: Your plan sounds good. :-) Thanks for getting rid of the tape. But how stable is that lego contraption now? Also, I agree that we should either collect all the balls at once, or kick the balls towards the goal to save time. Collecting seems to be better, as it is more precise. (the only problem is, with collection, its all or nothing in getting the balls to the goal).
Mark: About the ball collection I have two lego contraptions that might work (still testing and theorizing). The distance sensor from the front isn't getting power anymore because the red wire isn't connected anymore (It looks like it was a case of that wire being taped down and the servo moved too far one time). I'll try and solder it tonight but the really strange thing is that when I run your code it is still displaying a reading on the display that is changing, even though the sensor doesn't have power. Also, how should we split up the tasks for the practical exam tomorrow? We've kind of been coding together on this but I'm thinking that you'll just show the ball find/capture and I'll show the return to goal.
Manan: I think you're right, regarding the picking up all the balls at once. With the time we have left over after the biotech exam, we should get two things done tomorrow. First, plan out how we are going to collect/store the eggs, and then make the container/device to do so. Then one of us can program it at home.
Manan:We should change the servo for our capturing device to one that isn't fully rotational. That way, we'll be able to more precisely control the position of the servo. With a continuous rotation servo, you can't set the actual position, but only the speed, which makes it difficult to know exactly where the servo position is.
Manan: We should focus next class (Friday) on the actual layout. Right now, we have a bunch of motors/sensors that we're just putting on the top of the robot in a temporary position. However, it is important that we work out exactly where everything is going tape it down (or use velcro/legos). That way, our sensor values and all will be fixed in place, so we won't have to edit code because of sensors moving when they're not supposed to.
Manan: After placing a ball into the goal, we could somehow search the goal in order to find the opponent's ball and take it out.
Manan: We are allowed to coordinate with one other team. Not that we need to, considering we're already going to win, but David M. and Lisa said we could work with them.
Manan: I realized we can't really find a ball of our color and then go to it. Rather, we have to find a ball, go to it, and then check whether or not it is the color we want. This is because of the limitations of color detection.

**Cool.

Manan: Regardless of which color we get, we should check for both. This is what I mean. First, we check for our color ball, and after capturing it, go towards the light. Then, we check for the other colored ball, capture it, and go away from the light.
- Mark: Accomplish one task at a time: Don't waste time getting there balls away from the goal if our balls aren't in the goal.
- Manan: We aren't really wasting time at all. Our ideal sensor readings for color detection are only a 1 to 2 inches away. If the egg is already in capture range, why not simply capture it and move it back. The amount of time it'll take the opponent to try to find the eggs is greater than the amount of time we wasted.
Manan: This idea is really good. :-) Rather than requiring multiple distance and light sensors, we can have just one of each. then, we attach it to a servo, so the sensor can rotate left and right, essentially looking around for the balls without turning!!!! It is better if we use a contiuous rotation servo, as it will allow the distance sensor to look all the way around!!
- Manan: I just tried this out by using one distance sensor and a servo for wall following, and it works great.

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