Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Robots and plastic 3D Prototyping parts

So, I finally got around to making the 3D DUX UNLIMITED plastic frames for my older brother and then the machine jammed full of it's own plastic. I can easily purge and clear the solid plastic jamming up the exit hole in the end effector, but it is still under warranty so I am 'not allowed' to touch it internally (insert Beavis and Butthead laugh).

Frustrated, I took this picture anyway to prove that even after 30+ months, I am still trying to do that for him.
I am also helping some students who want to get to California in April 2009 for the next ESPN BattleBOTS series. They are making a fierce steel competitor, but my bot will still destroy them during testing in January (I am making my weapons to counter their weapons/ defenses). We are in the under 120 lb high school level.

This Friday afternoon we are getting out our HONDA robot. This thing runs on hydraulic motors, powered by a HONDA DHV gas engine. Bada$$, but we can only run it outside (gas fumes are bad mmmmmmmK). We might put a T-shirt launcher on it for football/ soccer games, and we can switch out a paintball turret equppied with ultrasonic sensor systems to locate targets up to 26+ feet. Bob and weave fool. The seniors even made a 'garage' to lock it up (indeed, robotix is an expensive hobbie/ educational venture. HONDA bot = 5K!)



Friday, October 24, 2008

Cuz I'm workin' for a livin'



Argh pit-stop pirate!! Know your Thundercats villians-

Captain Cracker (voiced by Earl Hammond) — A robotic space pirate who captains a starship named the Jolly Roger. He raids the Great Penal Planet to release a criminal contingent to help him take over the space-ways. He has a robot parrot named Polly.




Thundercats- HooOO!


Well, I've been busy with lots of students' design brief projects & I've been learning new software too. Between the NXT and VEX advanved learning I'm trying to accomplish, one of my co-workers found ALIAS Autodesk Designer. It's a 3D engined modeler that concentrates specifically on automobile design. The control toolbars are clearly labeled so the learning curve is good for high schoolers; they are teaching me quicker than I can learn it alone too. Mumm-ra reactive brainstorming!








Brummell picture exposed!



3 witnesses SNARFED for coming on the property!



We'll be getting into TSA projects and fundraisers as the holiday season roles around at work. Soon to be pluckin' sum duckins' I hope! Let's see how the weather looks in a few weeks to reactivate my boomstick :-}

Have a ghoulish holiday!!!!!

But watch out for the goulash....

Monday, September 22, 2008

WIN XP service pack 3

Win XP SP3 = Wack. Don't do it, yet. The fixes still have glitches depending on your machine setup (hardware and software). If it's already on SP3, do this to get back to SP2:

CLICK ON START MENU--> CLICK ON RUN-->TYPE (CASE SENSITIVE)—

c:\windows\$NtServicePackUninstall$\spuninst\spuninst.exe

THIS WILL UNINSTALL SERVICEPACK 3–IT TAKES A WHILE CUZ IT’S A HUGE PROGRAM –CLICK NEXT AND REBOOT

*THX LINDA

BTW: Used the plasma cutter with the students today to cut some light steel. Sawsum.

Friday, September 19, 2008

CAD pix/ robot update

Here are some new CAD pix of the SOUL SPLITTER. The actual robot is coming along, as the students have started putting on the drive train system at the new correct height. This is key as the armor/ frame must be close to the floor so other bots cannot easily get under it to flip it over. Yes, the blades spin in opposite directions for max destruction of the opponent's steel/ iron armor plates. **We also aquired a HONDA gas powered robot that we plan on attaching a pneumatic T-shirt launcher for the football/ baseball/ soccer games. Sweet.

We are also learning some basic programming skizillz so they can move on to controllers, sensors, motors, servos, etc......




Here is the A.R.M. w/ conveyor belt that goes through basic teach pendant programming, then we go on to attribute programming, then JAVA based then, oh yes, C programming near the end of the year.





We also have a student in advanced engineering that took my robotix class last year who is working on a 'humaniod' bipedal robot. This requires lots of micro-servos and gyros to help with balance, but he has the top half almost done (from the chest up). Here is the basic mechwarrior that he designed for it. The feet aren't finalized and the missle launchers will NOT be made. School safety, dang it.



And for the Star Wars fans out there (the FORCE UNLEASHED came out yesterday for my PS3, a purchase that is a necessity in my opinion) here are some CAD 3D models I made. You can find some of these .STL/ .DWG files online, but I enjoy making them myself.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

ROBOTS!!!!!!!

So, here are a few pix of mine and my students bots; they perform different tasks. The larger bot goes into a 120 lb. division. I have some great CAD files but they are on my work network, so I'll add those when I get them.


This is the larger bot with some electronics. It'll make more sense when the 3D CAD files are added so the final product can be seen. We use to do FIRST competitions at our school (before Dean Kamen decided to turn it into his money making machine of impending DOOM!), so those are the parts we have/ use for our larger battlebots.









These next ones are our VEX special ops unit. They had to pick up and move different sized objects in a 4' x 8' arena, then drop them over a wall to score points. They have been approved by the 501st Legion.





We also do some hydraulic end effector bots and NXT LEGO bots in the beginning of the course.




Thursday, August 7, 2008

YT

New. International. All up in yo' face.