The Final Result

Labs Video Diary

Meeting 9 Agenda

Agenda: Thursday 5th March
Chairing: Shazia Khan
Minutes: Caroline Harfield
Summary from last week
Solimon: modeling the current design
Caroline: finish writing up report section
Sean and Caroline: constructing the frame
Ayad, Ida and Shazia: fixing the wheels to the axels and motors
Rammah: writing up the design report, working on the mathematics of the robot and working on the presentation
Oli: writing up the website for the report
Group: decide on the tracks in the Friday labs session

To discuss
Everyone’s progress made this week
• Design
• Modeling
• Construction
• Electrics
• Tracks
• Website/Video/Media related
• Presentation
Ida, Ayad and Shazia:
• The holes for the two non driven wheels
• Need a different switch
• A ball bearing gadget for the wheels – Ayad will explain
• Any new parts to be ordered (if needed)
Establish what report sections have been completed
Details of the synoptic interview and the critical self review

Tasks to be set
• Which report sections need to be completed by next week?
• Set a target on what will be constructed by next Thursday
• Lab session arrangements

Any other business

Meeting 8 Agenda

Group 1 Agenda
26/01/09
Chair: Soliman Edris
Minutes: Caroline Harfield
Absentees: Apologies given in advance from Ayad Abid Ali for his absence.

• Review:
o Feedback on the Video Diary.
o Delivery of parts.
o Progress since last week’s meeting.
 Construction of frame

 Wheels and Tracks

 Modelling
• Next steps:
o New orders for parts?
o Tasks for next week.
o Group 1 outing to Hare and Tortoise.
o This coming Monday’s meeting: place and time.
• Any Other Business

Minutes from 7th Meeting 19/02/2009

Minutes by Caroline Harfield
Chaired by Ayad Abid Ali

Present: Group 1 – Ayad Abid Ali, Soliman Edris, Caroline Harfield, Ida Karymy, Shazia Khan, Rammah Shami, Oliver Smith, Sean Yardley

Progress
Sean & Caroline
• Currently waiting for the order of the L-shaped aluminium bars to arrive. They haven’t, however, received confirmation that it has been ordered by Dr Fry.
 Action: Caroline is going to ask Professor Aylward whether it has been ordered and, if so, when it is expected to arrive.
• 5m of aluminium L-shaped bar costing £50 has been ordered.

Shazia, Ida, Ayad:
• Batteries: We are going to use the two 6V batteries that we currently possess. This should supply enough power for the robot to run for 1 hour.
• Motor: Both motors have been tested and it has been decided that we’ll use the Maplin motors as they can deliver 22000gf.cm of torque, which is more than was initially thought. This means that our robot may weigh up to 15kg. Furthermore, when the drill was stopped after use it gave off a burning smell. It is slower to stop than the Maplin motor, however when it is stopped it doesn’t emit a burning smell.
• 3 more motors, at £20 each, are needed thus costing £60.
• Speed Control: One more speed controller is needed in order to make the robot turn. A speed controller will cost £15.

Wheels
• The caterpillar tracks form a triangular shape, with 4 wheels on the four base corners which are driven by the motors, and another 2 wheels at the top-front corner of the parallelogram shape. These 2 will not be driven by motors.
• Rammah asked why we are not keeping the 4th set of wheels as in the initial design.
• The main benefit of having a 3-wheel design is that the lower weight of the robot means that there is less friction between the tracks and the surface, and thus the motor does less work.
• The majority agreed that a 3-wheel design would be more practical.
• The surplus rims of our current wheels will be trimmed down for the time being while we try to find wheels with a smaller width.
• Trimming down this surplus will make the robot more efficient.

Tracks
Plan A
• Use fan-belts as they are elastic (as they are made out of rubber). They have grip on them which will increase the friction. They are thin, however, and the wheel rims will need to be trimmed down to below the thickness of the fan-belt.
• Oliver suggested that we put the fan-belts on the rims themselves because if we get the tension right it should fold and mould around the rim.
• We can keep the rubber fan-belts to the wheels by either cutting grooves in to the wheels or by putting notches around the middle axle of the wheel. We could also attach sand-paper around the middle axle to keep the tracks to the wheel.
• We can stick 2 fan-belts back-to-back to make them more secure.
• There are numerous ways of getting the fan-belts positioned to make the robot function.
• Ida will hopefully obtain some fan-belts from her driving instructor.
• We will be able to cut the belts to the length that we want.

Plan B
• Use inner-tubes of bicycle tyres with spikes in them to provide grip. It may, however, be difficult to get the right sized inner-tubing.
• We should ask at bike shops for any bicycle tyre cut-offs or old inner-tubes that they no longer require.

Plan C
• Rammah suggested that we use bicycle chains and attach grip to them. This way we could use the bicycle gears that come with a bicycle chain.
• A website about building model tank tracks found that the bicycle chain/gears system derails a lot because that’s what they’re designed to do. In addition, attaching grips to the chain may be a difficult task.

Soliman
• Modelling is progressing well. Soliman has obtained a professional CAD programme called SolidWorks on his home computer courtesy of his cousin.
• He can model a prototype but he needs very precise and accurate measurements of the various parts of the robot. Major difficulties arise later if accurate measurements aren’t made from the start.
• Oliver asked if it is possible to build each section separately and then put them all together once we know exactly what our measurements are. Soliman said that that is the best thing to do for now.

Rammah
• Should be helping Sean with design and Soliman with modelling.
• He will start to write up his section of the report: the shape of the design and the reason we chose this. For example: the mechanics of how the robot will go up the first step and the reasons we chose the rhombus.
• Rammah and Sean need to meet up in order to decide how they will write up the design section of the report. As Sean is writing up about the technical design (i.e. the mechanics of how it pieces together) and Rammah is writing about the generalised design.
Oliver
• Those who are in Lab 3 on Friday will contact Oliver in order for him to come and take photographs and film. They will call him when they are in Lab 3.
 Action: Can everyone send Oliver their sections of the report. He doesn’t mind if it comes in paragraphs as long as he can start editing it.
• When sending images to Oliver, include the picture in the written section and also as an additional *.jpeg file as Oliver has trouble getting images from text documents onto the website.

Meal
• We are considering going to the Hare & Tortoise (which serves Chinese-food) for a meal next week. The group have agreed to chip in to treat Dr Fry to his meal.
• The Group might also go for lunch together after Lab 3 closes on Wednesdays.
• We will discuss this more next week so we must each decide on when we’re available.

Edited by Soliman

Meeting 7 Agenda

Dear Group,

I would like to start by reminding you all that Dr. Fry is not able to attend tomorrows meeting. Nevertheless the meeting will take place as normal.

Agenda 19/2/09

Shazia & Ida completed and sent the review of group two. I have seen the report and it looked well good.

Progress, Research, Cost & Plan for already allocated assignments

Sean & Caroline:

Aluminium

Shazia, Ida & Ayad:

Batteries
Motor
Speed Controller
Wheels
Caterpillar track

Soliman:

Computer Modelling

Rammah:

Design

Oliver:

Photography
Website Material

New Assignments

Controls
Other?

Things to bring up for Monday meeting.

Venue: I thought we could have a private room in the Cruciform Building, for the next meeting.
Other?

Any Other Business

Dinner; thoughts and opinions.
Other?

Minutes from 6th meeting 12/02/2009

Minutes from Meeting 12th February

Minutes by Caroline Harfield
Chaired by Rammah Shami

Present: Board Members: Dr Fry; Group 1 – Ayad Abid Ali, Soliman Edris, Caroline Harfield, Ida Karymy, Shazia Khan, Rammah Shami, Oliver Smith, Sean Yardley.

Rammah arrived to meeting 25 minutes late due to delays to his train and bus services

Initial Notes:
Dr Fry is away for most of next week (including Thursday’s board meeting) though he will be at University on Monday 16th February. Therefore, we need to have any order in by this Friday (13th February). We should have orders in ASAP.

Orders
To order from Dr Fry :
1. Orders must be made with Maplin or RS as they are approved by the department.
2. For each order we must give the company name, part number, description, price and quantity needed.
3. Email the above details to Dr Fry who will then verify it with Professor Aylward.
4. The orders will take approximately 1 week to arrive.

Review of Group 2
• Ida & Shazia have decided on questions to ask group 2 on Friday. We all agreed that they covered all of the important issues and we will discuss their findings on Monday.

Review of completed Tasks
Ayad, Ida, Shazia and Soliman:
• The decision has been made to use the Maplin geared motor rather than the drill as the motor is easier to mount, exerts more torque and can rotate more slowly.
• To allow the motor to reverse, simply reverse the power supply and add a switch to the circuit.
• The decision has been made to keep the two 6V batteries, connected in series in order to get a 12V output [see circuit diagram from Sean Yardley], so no more batteries are currently needed.
• Another speed controller is required. A possibility is to use a servo to rotate the knob of the speed controller. We require two speed controllers so that the robot can turn both left and right on the spot.
 Action: Buy another speed controller.
• To get robot moving in a speed-controlled reverse use a Double Pole Double Throw (DPDT) switch.
• 3 x motors and 1x speed controller are required. We also need new axles for the wheels as the ones we currently own are bent. We currently use ‘studding rod’ axles. [See ordering instructions for more information].
 Question: Dr Fry asks what is the maximum current a speed controller can deliver to 2 motors; i.e. how much current (and thus speed) can the two motors simultaneously draw from a single speed controller? It should not diminish the power if the motors are connected in parallel, but he suggests that we make sure as we may in fact need 4 speed controllers.

 Question: Ayad asked us to construct a force diagram (along with full equations) for our system. The main question is: For a motor that delivers 6000gf.cm of torque, what is the maximum mass that can be driven up a 35° slope? We will discuss this further on Monday. Soliman, Ayad and Oliver volunteered to look in to this by Monday.

 Action: Can Ayad please email the exact question to everyone by email so that we can all look into it over the weekend for Monday’s meeting.

• Dr Fry suggests that we develop a robot with an ‘umbilical cord’ remote control before thinking about trying a wireless control.

Soliman: Progress with Modelling programmes
• The CAD software available at UCL is designated to the Mechanical Engineering departmental clusters. Soliman suggested that he apply for a temporary Mechanical Engineering account on their cluster so that he can use the CAD software. Dr Fry said that this would be impossible.
• The programme Phun was suggested by Ayad as it has the ability to make the robot model move.
• Soliman said he looked into Google Sketch but couldn’t find evidence that it allows final video footage of the model. He checked YouTube links for Google Sketch and couldn’t find video footage of any models. Oliver requested for Soliman to send him the link so he can have a look at it.
• Oliver suggested looking at the BBC Science website and the Science museum. The latter has a simple modelling programme where one can design a Mars Rover (ie: a box with six wheels that climbs over rough terrain).
• We simply require a model of a similar design to the Mars Rover to go up stairs, though it doesn’t have to include a power supply if we are unable to.
• A model of the robot going up stairs will look good in the final presentation, on the website and in the report.
• Dr Fry suggested using a programme such as Simulink which is a built-in MatLab simulator.
• Dr Fry said that if we can’t find a free modelling system that does what we require, we can purchase some software provided it costs under £30.

Caroline & Sean
• 2 of the diagonals (‘up- rights’) are constructed completely. Another up-right went wrong although we may be able to salvage it. Only 1 more can be constructed with the material that we currently have.
• 10m of L-shaped aluminium bar is required.
• RS code for L-shaped aluminium bar: 681-716. Dimensions: 1.5x 1.5 x 1/8 inch.

Everyone
• Continue with the tasks that have been previously arranged for everyone for the time-being.
• We will discuss and assign the tasks for next week on Monday’s meeting at 4pm.

Group Bonding
• Vote on whether we want to go to China-town or Nandos for a meal.
• Date rescheduled to 23rd February as Dr Fry is available then.

Monday’s Meeting, 4pm, Physics and Astronomy Common Room
• Shazia & Ida’s results from their review of group 2.
• Figure out and discuss aforementioned torque issue.
• Assign jobs for week beginning 16th February.

Edited by Soliman Edris

Feb 16th meeting notes

Notice’s:
1. When in Lab3 and doing work call Oliver so he can film and take photos of us working.

2. Everyone who is doing work in lab 3 can you get a Lab book so we know what’s happened and start writing it up.

3. We have £150 left of budget, Al will cost £50 so that leaves £100 for motors, speed controllers, batteries, tracks and wheels.

Deadlines for this week:

18th – final report on group 2 should be handed in. Ida, Shazia

19th – Final decision should be made on the motor. Ayad, Shazia, Ida

23rd- Ayad, Shazia, Ida
Should have order ready ( see last minutes for ordering)
for the Tracks, motors, batteries, speed controllers and wheels to send to Dr Fry, as it takes about a week for stuff to come in.

For Tracks we need to start looking at a final design:
• How to get tracks to work?
• Set up of wheels and track?
• What material we will use to make wheels( hard/soft foam/ other0, tracks ( ideas so far, rubber mat, fan belt from car, bicycle tires)?
• Need to think about which offers most stability and grip
• Also need to know how much the final idea will roughly cost.
By Mon 23rd we should have a final idea of the materials we need to buy so we can order them .

Progress:

Sean & Caroline:
have got the 4 up rights cut out of Al and found some Al they can use in the Physics lab 3 workshop. Cutting there order down to 5 m of Al £50. should come in by end of week or next week. They should have this completed by next week depends when Al comes in.

Ayad: Found that the max our robot can weigh is 7Kg.

Soliman:
Has Modelling program Solid Work, which a friend of his knows how to use and is teaching him how to use. Soliman needs exact measurements to do this modelling do any changes to design/ design details we need too email him.

Rammah:
Has a lay out of the presentation. The presentation is approx 30min, 20min of us talking 10 min videos. The talk will contain an intro, main and conclusion section.
Oliver said he could set up a power point with the video segment.
Rammah suggests we do a fun presentation in which we don’t take ourselves too seriously so that we have a good presentation.

Ida:
Can you start on the background research of the tracks..

Written Report:
• We all decided to go with the final written Report to be bound so that it looks professional, as we get marked on written presentation.
• Only space limit we have is The executive summary which can be no longer than 2 A4 sides.
• Can everyone make note of references as they go.
• Can people get the background on the robot designs done please.
• Reminder that any big spreadsheet data or long calculation should go in the Appendix’s, only summary tables and relevant data should be in main body of text.

Lab Logs 11th-19th Feb

Date: 11th Feb 2009
We chose the Maplin’s motor as it is already geared and ready to be attached to the wheel. We looked through the different motors that are available depending on different torque and power. Others will have either more power but will not have enough torque to carry the robot up the stairs or have less power and again not be able to drive up the stairs. We decided to use the current model. Time will tell if the chosen motor has enough torque and power. However, we have started on calculations to see if theoretically it will work.

The new steel rod for the axial has a large bend and is difficult to straighten. Therefore, we will use the straight part of the rod, which is 120cm in length. For four wheels, we will need 4 x 30cm (with excess) rods. Within time, we will cut it shorter when all four motors are attached.

We have 6 couplers that will connect the new rod to the Maplin’s motor. Ayad got hold of them. However, the couplers were too small, so we will need to drill them to make them bigger to fit the rod. Also, we need to file a dent on each rod to allow the connector to clasp tightly on to the rod.

When we connected the motor to the modified wheel using the new rod, there was a ‘wobbling’ problem. We decided that if we put some paper in the coupler, this would reduce the width of the tunnel and tighten the clasp.

We discussed steering. By turning off the power to one side of the Rhino, the robot will turn in the direction of the powered side.

The provided battery is too heavy. But the 12V is enough. We need to look for more battery packs.

We need to check if the Maplin’s rotor will allow the robot to reverse.

We want to look into radio controllers.

Date: 18-19th Feb 2009
We had to discuss the following:
• Robot design
• Motor
• Tracks
• Batteries
• Speed controls
• Wheels

Motor
We compared the two motors. When testing the torque on the drill by grabbing it, the drill stopped easily. The torque on the documentation seems to be false. When it was held, you can smell something burning inside. Tested the Maplin’s motor, the motor would not allow us to stop it. Very strong even at the lowest speeds. The torque of this motor was not 6000gfcm as stated in the documentations. We researched on the manufacturers website, the torque was stated to be 22851gcm at 12V.
Therefore, we have chosen the Maplin’s motor.

We need 3 more motors.
3 x ~£20.

Batteries
Since we’re using the Maplin’s motor, which has greater torque, we want to use Dr. Fry’s batteries. Even though they seem very heavy, the torque will be enough to carry them. However, if worse comes to worse, we will use a very long cable to attach the battery to the robot. This will save us money.

Speed Controls
We need another speed control, the Maplin’s speed control.
1 x £15 (we checked the price!)

Tracks
Ida had a brilliant idea! We should look for fan belts or motor belts as they have built in grips and are very strong. We need to look into Kwik Fit or any car garage/mechanic to ask for scrap fan belts.

Wheels
We will use the cable reels. We would prefer having a smaller width wheel, as this will be more efficient due to the decrease in mass. We went to the electronic stores on Tottenham court road to ask for more reels. Ayad even jumped in a skip to look for reels (photographic evidence for the website!) but we could not find any. We will cut down the ridge of the wheel to avoid adding foam as this will increase in mass. However, we still need some kind of material to fill the gap between the axial and the tracks. Need groups input.

Robot Design
We do NOT need 8 wheels! We don’t have choice as we only have 6. Ayad will explain to the group why. This will be documented in our construction report.

Meeting 4 agenda

Aim
Discuss the progress within the two groups for the past week and what else is required to meet the prototypes deadline next week, 5th February.

Review from last meeting
• We established what materials are available from Dr. Fry
• We discussed what materials we will need for each prototype
• The Rhino prototype was to be reviewed and discussed again within the group for further ideas on design
• The SHRIMP prototype was to be researched for Lego Technics and Meccano
• Caroline agreed to do a survey of the Portico steps and look up the terminology of steps
• We decided to submit a design idea to Oliver for the web site, which will be added to the final report

Issues to discuss
• What progress has been made with the Rhino prototype?
o Meetings? Drawings? Model?
• What progress has been made with the SHRIMP prototype?
o Meetings? Drawings? Model?
• Are we keeping notes of the progression of these prototypes for the final report?
• Are we ready for the prototype deadline or do we need a one week extension?
• What are the results from the survey?
• Do we have a list of the terminology of steps?
• Who has submitted design ideas to Oliver?
o Has the website been updated with these ideas?

Targets for next week
• Establish a timetable within the groups for the construction of the prototypes
o Do we need to book Lab 3?
• Submission of design ideas to Oliver for the website
• Set targets for next week’s meeting

Any other business?