• Welcome to Redshift Project Depot.
 

2017-2018 Implementation

Started by Pablo C, October 18, 2017, 03:10:16 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Pablo C

I have downloaded XAMPP and WordPress sucessfully on my personal computer to start getting comfortable using the programs. I will focus on text content and menus, then look into image and video content.

As for the final product, I'd like to have the skeleton up and running before build season so all that is left is adding in all the content.

Pablo C

I sucessfully hooked up my laptop to the monitor! My mom asked me why any regular desktop user would ever need two screens. Anyway, on the top and sides of the dell monitor you can see there are borders that, if need be, could be removed to fit more content. I am not diving into that just yet because I think that is part of the theme and I dont trust myself just yet tinkering with that in a language (PHP) I do not yet know.

Pablo C

Today XAMPP got installed and WordPress got downloaded. Once I install wordpress and mess with those settings it will be time to put in the content. We should also decide on the input/interface method soon.

Louis L

I've been thinking about stuff to add to Arcadia for PowerUp. Here are some thoughts; not in any order.


       
  • About Arcadia. What is it and why do we have it? We wanted a tool that will help the team present our team and robot to outsiders (other team, judges, sponsors, individuals). It's an information kiosk. It can be easily modified as needed and can present content that would otherwise be difficult to do with pen and paper such as videos, CAD models, etc. It can speak for us when no one is in the pit. It can help students answer questions when talking to judges. It also represents a technology itself and students had to program it; and give it content.
  • Features of our robot - what we did and why we did it this way. We have distinct parts on the robot - the gripper, the arm, the intake, the climber, the chassis. We can handle Cubes in both height and width orientations. We made a lightweight version of last year's chassis. We have swerve drive with field-centric support for ease of use. We designed the robot for fast and secure game piece handling. We protect the robot by avoiding exposing our appendages when not necessary. We protect the chassis from falling Cubes.
  • Engineering and design - what did we do to make this robot the best that we can make it? We have sensors on all moveable parts. Each is protected by limit switches with direct connections to its motor controller. All moveable parts have position sensor such that software can always measure location and not rely on saved states. This is very important because things don't always move the way you want them to. There are timeouts for all actions as a safety measure. The arm is fully fly-by-wire to prevent breaching of the 16 inch limit. We design for robustness to minimize repair time in the pit.
  • Software - this is our 3rd year of doing tri-lingual development where we program in 3 languages. This gives more students exposure to robot programming, fosters team work as information is shared between groups, allows different code to be used at different competitions, provides internal competition to see who finishes first. We share common designs such as the UI and autonomous modes so we make sure to promote the thinking aspects of engineering - thinking and designing these components first, writing it all down on the forum, then programming them 3 languages at a time. Parallel development across language is also possible - we did this in 2017 with swerve in Java and Pixy/vision in C++ - this can reduce development time since each team is tackling a difficult piece in parallel instead of serially.
  • Forum - the use of a forum for sharing information and archiving it for future reference. There are numerous ways to share data and to communicate today. But not all are good for archival purposes. Google documents using student accounts only last while the students are in school (their accounts are deleted after they graduate). Chat systems are good for group communication but not for archival and not good for large volumes of data. Email often bounces and is often ignored. There is no perfect system. The use of the forum allows for access from different devices (from phone to computer) at any time. Ex: we looked up the wiring spec at an event when we weren't sure where a wire was supposed to go.
  • CAD - I would love to have a 3D model of the robot, still or animated, that can be pointed with the trackball and clicked. This would bring up descriptions of each component.
  • Imagery - with a bigger team comes more opportunity to do different things. Imagery is one area that has grown significantly. We now offer pre-season sewing classes. Imagery is more than just costumes; it's also about marketing and about a total look and feel. It's about the pit and the robot too. Students get to think about the big picture - how does a costume work when someone wearing it has to sit? or carry a robot onto the field? The same task planning issues faced in building a robot are faced in imagery.
  • Off-season stuff like the Fleetbots. What are they? Why were they made? How can they be used? What's their current status and what are their future plans? I can put a lot of details here later.
  • Images and video of the team, past and present.
  • Safety poster. This is our 3rd year doing the poster. Why do it? Show the previous ones. What goes into making such a poster. What does it teach aside from safety? It's a fun way to promote safety awareness that's different.

Saharsh Y

#4
Here are some of the notes that were taken during the content meeting.

We were also planning on recording students speak out some of the content, maybe even record their faces and not just audio.


I attached a link to the document where notes were taken because when I copy paste the information, the forum removes formatting.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SXDEQhQn9dv5B6FC4Amoc5YFS4TqfJ5L5WjEifDrCC4/edit?usp=sharing

https://goo.gl/FaaBj9

Louis L

Wordpress and Xampp are both installed in a new Dell laptop that will host Arcadia software.

Proof-of-concept for this new host and setup are almost done.

Videos and still images have been taken. Final video clips still need to be assembled.

Goal:
Initial goal is to focus on the 2018 Power Up season.
Subsequent additions to the kiosk will have additional team and season info.