Rovers Found on Thingiverse

Moon Rover Body versions 1 and 2
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:15528
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:15717

Tri-Track "Wall-E" - This would be a great chassis to link with a non-functional Wall-E from Toys "R" Us
http://www.thingiverse.com/image:91655

Project Guidelines – September 29, 2012

To put our projects into a little better focus, here are some new guidelines. 

Please make sure conceptual design reviews, as a minimum, provide cost, detailed schedule, and plastic filament requirements.  Project managers; please provide preliminary cost estimates to me by Monday so I can request funding. 

Please put all presentation and project documentation in the Drop Box folder. 

Mission payload – (a) the spider and rover (tracked vehicle) should be designed to carry the EE444 standard sensor array (2 IR Rangers, Laser, Camera, plus support electronics and power), (b) The Nano-copter to carry one fixed hobby video camera only (all control to be provided from the MC3 or another bot), (c) RoFi to carry an Android phone with mid-range IR ranger replacing the ultrasonic ranger.

3D modeling of new standard sensor array should have already been started. If you have not done so already secure existing 3D models. To meet student friendly requirement, I am tending towards a more autonomous scan/tilt platform, with small Arduino preprocessing IR data, controlling the laser, and camera power on/off. This secondary microcontroller would then communicate with the chassis mounted Arduino over an I2C serial interface. 

Spider – Baseline the hexapod. Every project must balance cost, schedule, and performance. Our schedule is fixed, and I am worried that our low cost solution cannot be reverse engineered, designed, and fabricated in less than 10 weeks.  Therefore, we must accept a little higher cost. With the design decision to go with the hexapod made we can start fabrication of the legs immediately, while designing the interface to the scan/tilt platform.

BiPed – ROFI fabrication should begin immediately. Divisions to provide support necessary to begin 3D design of next generation ROFI immediately.

Tracked Rover – Assume use of Robot Shop components or substitutes (please provide me with a copy of your presentation so I can provide better focus). Assume form factor (key dimensions of existing RobotShop rover) but not shape of existing rover. This will allow 3D dimensional modeling to begin immediately.

Nanocopter – Unfortunately, this bot is still in the research phase.  

Thank you

Thank you all for your hard work, it has not gone unnoticed. In the end, I really hope everyone had as much fun as I did. Best of luck in the future and let me know if you need any help.

Final Agenda

Final Agenda for Monday May 14th, 2012

Deliverable Products

Hardware

RepRap: by Steven, Aric and Sirac  

FoBo: by Roena, Gianela and Anthony

Scan/Tilt: by Roena and Tuan

Modeling Files (zip)

Blender Scan/Tilt of FoBo’s Head: by Noel

Solidworks model of FoBo: by Alfred

Papers

                  Solidworks Manual: by Roena

                  Controlling 18 Servos (Servo Shield): by Anthony

                  RepRap Tips/Tricks:

·       Tips and Tricks: by Steven

·       Heated bed: by Sirac

·       Compiling Software: by Sunny

·       Design Software and Troubleshooting: by Aric

·       Repair and Maintenance: by Gianela

Battery Protection: by Chandra and Tuan

FoBo’s Moves and Possible Modifications: by George

Modeling FoBo’s Head in Blender: by Noel

Class Package: by Gianela

FOBO in SolidWorks.

Hello FoBa

"She's sexy and she knows it"

FOBO walking :D

Sasha Growing Up!

Printing filament holder for itself!

Hello World :D

FoBo being born :)

Agenda for Wednesday May 9th, 2012

 

Agenda/Presentations

• Continue Building
• Grading Strategy – President Hill
• Updated Low-Voltage Battery Protection Circuit – Chandra/Tuan
• Updated Servo Document – Anthony
• Final Planning – Documentation and/or presentation and/or F’12 Lectures
• Contact list with expertise (consultants) – Class

It's ALIVE Muahhahah!

Agenda for Wednesday May 2nd

Agenda/Presentations

• Critical path to operational Rep Rap – Team Rep Rap to lead discussion

• Scan/Tilt Prints Update – Tuan to lead discussion

• FOBO SolidWorks Modeling Update – Team Robotics to lead discussion

• Next Generation FOBO Documentation and Planning – George to lead discussion

• Announcements and Rep Rap Documentation  – Gianela to lead discussion

• Project Manager meetings with the Program Manager

• Program Manager meetings with the President  

Out with the old In with the New! Ramps V1.4

It never ends Ughh!

Jonathan has pointed out that our low battery solution only safes FoBo - what we also need to do is cut power to the robot after the shut down sequence is completed to avoid damaging the battery. Looks like a job for Chandra and Tuan.

April 25th

Bridging for the win!

Fobo's feet

 The start of FOBO :)

Agenda for Wednesday April 25th, 2012

Agenda/Presentations

• Critical path to operational Rep Rap – Team Rep Rap to lead discussion.

• Battery Protection – Chandra and Tuan to lead discussion.

• 4017 Timer – Anthony to lead discussion.

• FOBO Solidworks Modeling Update – Team Robotics to lead discussion.

• Next Generation FOBO Documentation and Planning – George to lead discussion.

• Announcements and Rep Rap Documentation  – Gianela to lead discussion.

• Project Manager meetings with the Program Manager 

Old Team's Grades

Hi Team,

Just a friendly reminder to send Professor Hill an email with your old team's grades.

(Scores must have a mean of 3.5)

Thanks,

Gianela Gozalo

Program Manager

Agenda for Wednesday April 18th

Hi guys, 
Below is our next meeting's agenda:

Agenda/Presentations for Wednesday April 18th, 2012

• Demo/Talk (lessons learned, critical path to operational RepRap, and documentation) – Team Rep Rap to lead discussion..
• Battery Protection - Chandra to lead discussion.
• Battery Protection Code - Tuan to lead discussion.
• FOBO Solidworks Modeling Update – Team Robotics to lead discussion.
• Next Generation FOBO Documentation and Planning – George to lead discussion
• Announcements and Rep Rap Documentation  – Gianela to lead discussion
• Project Manager meetings with the Program Manager 

See you next week! :)

There he is :)

It prints! :)

Controlling 18 servos

Hey everyone,
I posted the  document regarding the servo controller in Google Docs. Let me know if I need to make any changes.

FOBO

Running Man

I am not sure but I believe I am now the proud owner of the most expensive plastic running man with a hat on the planet.

Congratulations to the RepRap Team!

Jonathan (FOBO creater)

Hey everyone,

  I've never used Solidworks before (although all of the MEs where I work really like it), so I won't be any help on that front I'm afraid.  You might try using Blender to export to a different file type.  Blender supports exporting to 7 formats, and is of course always free (and for every operating system).  Unfortunately DXF isn't one of the supported export types in Blender, so you could try exporting to a different format (maybe 3ds) and then converting this to DXF files.

To export in Blender :

1. select the part to export (right mouse click)
2. from the main menu File/Export/"your format"

  I've done a little bit of simulation with the Bullet physics engine that is included with Blender for some earlier prototypes, but I've never done anything for FOBO.  I'm curious to see what you guys can do with Solidworks.  Keep in mind that the Blender file is using inches as the unit (the stl files were converted to mm ... yes it is lame to mix units). Hope this helps!

Jonathan

Agenda for Wednesday April 11th, 2012

Hi guys, 
Below is our next meeting's agenda

Agenda/Presentations for Wednesday April 11th, 2012

• RepRap/Critical Path Steven Peterson to lead discussion.
• Manufacturing Status of work orders in process and New Blog – George to lead discussion
• Battery Protection Chandra to lead discussion.
• Explanation to Quantify “a bit of additional weight” Tuan to lead discussion.
• FoBo Update and Announcements – Gianela to lead discussion
• Corporate Goals and New Schedule  - Gianela to lead discussion
• Project Manager meetings with the Program Manager 

If there is anything you would like to add or present next meeting, let me know :)

See you next wednesday!

.stl to CAD

A few issues:

1. I have found that although I can convert from a .stl extension to a .sldprt (Solidworks) file extension the parts are not editable because .stl uses a picture based mesh to create its parts. STL will convert the drawings made in any software into many triangles which cannot be edited. You will read online that it is in fact editable when converting between the two but from experience, you are pretty much redrawing the object because of all the errors that arise when converting between the two formats. Someone compared the conversion of .stl to a 3D software as putting together a shredded apple; not exactly doable.

2. According to the FOBO documentation found online, the original FOBO is 4.5" x 6" x 9.5". Assuming that those dimensions are depth, width, then height, the scan and tilt dagu kit along with the designed platform are almost perfect size. The width of the platform is approximately 3.5" wide so it is slightly (~3") thinner than FOBO's center.

3. The question posed before about Blender: How can you see where the drawings are in reference to each other? Like when Hill asked for the 2 cubes to come together at a specific corner. From what I have read this is actually not doable in Blender because it is made for what someone called "pretty pictures". This actually causes a GIANT problem for people going from a Blender .stl file into a 3D file because there are gaps and face faults in the drawing.

All of the above is from experience and if you have a way of converting between the two effectively, let me know because I want to create an assembly of FOBO with the new scan and tilt platform so that we can effectively come up with a design for his upper portion. Otherwise it is pretty much a guess and check.

With all that said, can we ask the FOBO god to send us a 3D version of the drawings not in .stl? :)

FoBo parts ordered yesterday!

John Dowdall FoBo Documents Added

As I mentioned in class today, Jonathan Dowdall has added us to a number of FoBo Google Documents. I have found them and moved them into our class folder in a new folder named FoBo. Let me know if you can not find them.

Ready To ROLLLLL!!

Current Critical Path

The RepRap team is currently working on the critical path obstacles. These include:

-New plate of printed parts from Ben
1. Large gear
2. Small gear
3. X-carriage
4. Side brace (mustache)
-Simplified fan duct design
-Calibration with Marlin (Sunny)
-First test print (20x20MM cube)

Please post any questions as a comment to this blog post. We will post an update this weekend with some photos showing the progress of the printer.

Steven

Hi Team

Hi :)

Welcome Bloggers