Integration 2: Mounting the Drive Circuit, Battery and initial Sensors

Today was Individual Evaluation 2! Because I was fortunate enough to be evaluated closer to the end, the day in the shop was pretty productive.

After remounting the encoder system with a smaller crossbar and battery mount, it was time to begin integrating the circuits and electromechanical subsystems. Mason set up the fuse and emergency switch on the crossbar, wired up the battery to the driver circuit, created a bus for ground pins, and placed the driver circuit on the crossbar.

Using alligator clips until we have proper components, the wiring was connected to the battery terminals and the robot. The switch worked, and the robot was driving! We also started to test our rotational arm, but we found that I will need to fit a piece of balsa wood to ensure the surface between vertical mounts and the horizontal piece that will come in contact with the pole is flush, so that it doesn't get hooked on the pole.

Initial driving of the motors using the power supply

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByRvHO1PC8A&feature=youtu.be

Driving Straight

http://youtu.be/sFj-pC7nfyg

Testing the Arm

http://youtu.be/1O0ssDigliA

http://youtu.be/WIjnNqqa9Bw

A few modifications to the arm were made structurally today in order to make it much more durable. Also, the break beam sensors were mounted to the arm. 

All in all, a successful day! I just need to figure out the best way to ensure the epoxy on one of our motor gears doesn't break - that is the main mechanical challenge at this point. I hope the rest of our integration goes smoothly :D