Week 6

Date: 10/18/18 Time: 4:30-6:30pm

Week #: 6

Quick Summary:

• We relieved the pressure on the gear and sprocket system by putting the system directly under the arm instead of to the side.
• We added a bracing bar that strengthens the frame. However, this interferes with the path of the arm.
• The rubber bands on the vacuum are not thick enough to pick up the minerals all the way.

What We Accomplished: After discussing our team goals and priorities, we split into two groups that tackled different problems. Jason and Titus worked on not making the sprocket and gear system put so much pressure on the arm and cause it to bend. This means they put the gears and sprockets inside channels and made them kind of “inside” the robot instead of outside. This puts the pressure right under the arm, which fixes our pressure problem. Luke and Abigail worked on strengthening the frame by adding a bracing bar above the vacuum. This improved the robot’s structural stability.

Our Problems: The bracing bar interferes with the path of the arm, not letting the arm go all the way down and have the minerals enter the bucket. The rubber bands on the vacuum system are not strong enough to hold the minerals. They lift slightly off the ground but then fall back down. We need thicker rubber bands and more of them.