1. ) Claw

The claw could be a regular claw but with the ability to lift both the door, and 2 pixels at a time.

2.) Suspending

To suspend the robot, there could be a small bar thing that catches the rod and suspends the robot in the air.

3.) Drone launcher 

Two wheels touching together powered by a servo or motor that will rotate to launch the drone.

4.) Robot 

We could have a stationary robot with only a moving arm to save time so we don't have to make so many turns but in case the alliance team can't we would also have a fully functioning robot.

5.) Sensors

Add ultrasonic sensors to the claw so we don't accidentally bump into the backboard.

6.) Gears

We can add gears to increase the speed of the robot.

7.) Drone 

The drone will be a regular paper airplane.

8.) Lightweight 

We will keep the robot as lightweight as possible, minimize motors, and the overall build.

9.) Camera

The camera can and probably will be bolted on the arm.

10.) Suspending 

We could add a suspending mechanism to arm in order to minimize motors and weight.

While Santanne and Keely worked on the drivetrain, I worked on figuring out what parts are needed for the arm/stand. I started coming up with ideas, but I couldn't think of anything. So I went to Mr. Newman's robot to get an idea of how we need to build the arm. While I was looking at Mr. Newman's robot, I awas inspired by his drone launcher. So after coming up with a plan, I started working on building the drone launcher.

In class, we discussed what went wrong during the scrimmage. We concluded that our drone launcher needs fine tuning, we need to make our robot smaller and fix the programming issues. We also concluded that we need to find a solution to the suspending.

Today I worked on organizing our boxes so everything is easier to find. I also worked on the wheel mechanism of the drivetrain a little bit.

Today I worked on the drone launcher and the suspending mechanism for our robot. I worked on the new placement for the drone launcher and the new placement for the servo-launcher. I found a new location for the drone launcher on the new robot frame. I also figured out how to suspend out robot. We will do this by attaching 9 metal brackets together, so when the robot drives forward to go suspend, the brackets will hold the weight of the robot.

Today in class, I helped by working on the suspending mechanism.  I did this by reattaching it onto the arm so it is out of the way of the claw. I also helped by working on the starting position for the robot. I did this by working with Tabi on how the claw should sit, but we had a few problems. Some of these problems were: The claw wouldn't move all the way because the suspending was in the way. Because we changed the location of the suspending, it won't work anymore. So next class, we need to work on this. So we need to change how the suspending works and/or how the claw works.

Today in class, I worked on the suspending mechanism again. I remounted it onto the arm and tightened it up really tight so it wouldn't come loose again. I also helped organize the boxes so we could find things easily. Some ideas that we did test out is placing the hook on top of the arm. But that didn't work because the weight wasn't distributed evenly enough. So we had to scrap the idea. Another idea that I had was replacing the angle of the claw. But nobody else liked that ideas, so we scrapped it. Overall, I thought that today was a good day.

All of class, Santanne was working of the programming. So there wasn't anything for me to do.

Today in class, I worked on the sketch for the suspending mechanism. We are using 9, 90 degree metal brackets attached together to make one hook. We are making 2 hooks so that means we will be using 18 metal brackets. We will attach a gear onto the the hook, which will keep it in place when it is on the rod. The purpose of the rod is to give support for the hook, so it can hold the weight of the robot. Something our team noticed today is that the other team in our class has taken our suspending design. So we might instead 3d print a hook in the same shape of the current hook to make it look like a new design. But, we might only do this if they refuse to change their hook design.

Today during class, we practiced driving the robot through the practice field. I also worked on looking through the Human Player Constraints. I learned that 

• Drones and Pixels in the Pixel Storage Area cannot be handled until after the Match has begun with the exception of the Pre-Load Scoring Elements. 

• Drones and Pixels may be placed or dropped only in the Wing and only during the Driver-Controlled Period. Drones and Pixels can be in any orientation and may be in contact with other Drones or Pixels In the Wing. 

• Human Players may place a maximum of 2 Pixels or 1 Drone In a Wing at a time. Once a Pixel or Drone has been placed in the Wing, a Human Player may not pick it up or reposition it. Human Players may not Propel Pixels or Drones Out of the Wing. 

• The Human Player may enter the area between the Human Player Station and the adjacent Playing Field Wall while placing a Pixel or Drone In the Wing, provided that it is done safely. 

• The Human Player may not use tools or devices (including another Pixel) to manipulate a Pixel or Drone. 

• Accommodations and exceptions for Human Players with disabilities or extenuating circumstances will be made at the discretion of the Tournament Director. [For safety reasons, a Human Player cannot break the vertical plane of the Playing Field Perimeter or hand-deliver a Pixel or Drone to the Playing Field when there is a Robot In the Wing.] 

• A Disabled Robot In an Alliance Wing is not considered a safety hazard to the Human Player, therefore Drones and Pixels may continue to be placed. 

• A Robot cannot enter the Wing while a Human Player is In the Wing.

Today in class Santanne, Tabii, and I worked on finalizing the programming. Tabii and I helped by placing the pixels in the claw, and repositioning the robot. We test drove for around 45 mins, and these are the things that went right: the claw could pick up pixels and release the pixels, the wrist could move exactly as intended, and there was no problem with the wheels. Some of the things that when wrong were: the arm didn't stay in place when in the air,  and the autonomous wouldn't work for a while. The thing we fixed during class was the autonomous. Overall, I think that today was a productive day.

Today in class, I worked on adding our 3D printed worm gear. We decided to add a worm gear to help the arm stay in the air. We also decided to replace the 2 motors we originally had for the arm, with a better motor with 2, 5:1 gear ratios. We did this because we need more torque for the worm gear to work. To keep the worm gear in place, we used a spacer, and three brackets to keep it in place. At the previous competition, a robot rammed us, and launched the drone and cost us possibly 30 points. So our solution to this was to move the drone launcher inside of the robot along with the servo that launches the drone, but we are struggling to find a good location for the servo, so I haven't attached it yet. A problem that has come up with the worm gear is that the teeth of the gear is not long enough to effectively reach the worm gear and spin, resulting of the destruction of the teeth, and the skipping of the gear. We are going to redesign the gear by making the teeth longer so it will reach the worm gear.

Today in class, I worked on getting the worm gear to work. The team tried many thing to make it work. At first it wouldn't work because the worm gear and the worm drive were not connecting like they were supposed to. When I changed the gear to a REV plastic 42 tooth gear, and pressed the worm drive up really close to the plastic gear, it worked. I also used some surgical tubing to try and relieve some weight off of the robot arm. The point of the surgical tubing is for it to be pretty tight when the arm is down so when the arm goes back up, the surgical tubing will try and relieve some tension so that the arm goes back up faster.

Today in class, I helped come up with new design ideas for the arm. We have to make a new arm design because it is  not strong enough to lift itself. One of the ideas is to use sprockets and chains to lift the arm because we know for sure it will be strong enough. I also helped to create a new suspending idea. The idea is to use Go Builda pieces to suspend the robot. We would build two of these. The reason it would be so useful is because we would be using a lift system that would raise up, hook onto the bar, and then retract, which would lift up the robot.

Today in class I helped find the Go Builda parts so we can order them. I found the suspending supplies. It is called a 2 x Linear Actuator Kit. The idea is to use these Go Builda pieces to suspend the robot. We decided that the best plan of action is to have 2 of these to suspend the robot. Our goal for the suspending mechanism is that the lift system would raise up, hook onto the bar, and then retract, which will lift up the robot. Down below is the design we have chosen for where we are going to put the suspending mechanism. I found the motor we need too. It is called 2 x 5203 Series Yellow Jacket Planetary Gear Motor. We are getting this motor because we need it for the suspending, and the motor does not come with the Linear Actuator Kit.

Today in class, I started working on building the new arm. My focus for today was to find a way to mount the motor vertically on channel. I found that it would mount if I attached it by the middle angled wholes on the channel. My idea for how the new arm will work is to just change how the motor is mounted, add sprockets and chains, and that will make the arm move without problems.

Today in class Tabii and I worked on figuring out a new plan for the arm. I was under the impression that we were just going to change the motor and the chains. But now the plan is to change the whole design of the arm. Our plan for the arm is to mount it in the middle. We will have a channel horizontally mounted in the middle. We will have two more channels vertically mounted. We will then have the motor mounted on the vertical channel. We will use sprockets and chains to make the arm work. 

Today in class, I worked on figuring out which brackets should be used to mount the arm. At first I though of using pillow brackets to mount everything. Then I went through a lot of different brackets. But after a lot of thinking, I decided to use L brackets. I choose this type of bracket because I believe that it is the most structurally stable choice and provides the most strength and stability for the arm.

Today I worked on the new design for our claw and wrist. For the wrist, I plan to use hex pillows, and a regular pillow block to allow the wrist to have better flowy movement. The claw design will stay the same.

Today I worked on building the new claw and wrist design. I used hex pillows, and a regular pillow block to allow the wrist to have better flowy movement. The claw design will stay the same.

 Today in class, I explained to Tabii the new idea for the wrist and claw. I also worked on putting on the claw. Santanne took it off because she wanted to create a new claw before the comp. But because everyone was gone, there was no time to work on the new claw because no one understood it. I also readjusted the suspending mechanism to be more aligned.

Today in class, I worked on fixing the chain system for the arm. We found out that the motor itself was messing up because one of the gear ratios was really messed up. I also finalized the drone launcher and I helped finalize the stuff for the claw.

Today in class, I worked on fixing one of the GoBuilda motors. While Santanne pressed the triggers on the controller to move the suspending mechanism up and down, we all noticed that one of the things was having trouble going up and down at the same pace. So I suggested that it could be a programming issue, but it turned out that it wasn't. So I decided to watch the gears of the suspending mechanism with the problem and I noticed that at one point the gears would slow down for half a second but then speed back up. I came to the conclusion that the motor was skipping a tiny little bit. So I decided to take apart the motor to see if there was something on the inside that was causing the skip. Once I took it apart, I found that there was WAY to much grease/lubricant inside of the motor. Tabii helped me clean it up, and then I put it back together to see if that was the issue. Once Santanne tested it again, I came to the conclusion that the skip was happening on the actual inside of the motor, (the part of the motor that I could not get to, to fix it.) So after talking to my team, we have decided to get a new GoBuilda motor.