11.00am - 6.00pm
1. Glued two surfboards to the satellite boxes. (0.5h)
2. Created holder for LED of main PC (4 h)
3. Glued LED light and surfboard to holder (0.5h)
4. Extended wires of LED for 4th board (1h)
-------------------------
1. The surfboards for the LEDs had to be glued onto the satellite boxes using epoxy.
2. The last LED had to be held to the frame of the left hip box using a piece of aluminum. This aluminum would be screwed to the frame. A hole had to be drilled through the aluminum for the LED to pass through. A corresponding hole was drilled through the face of the hip box. This would allow the LED to be seen.
3. The LED light was soldered onto the surfboard and the surfboard was glued onto the piece of aluminum. The aluminum had to be first "roughened" using the dremel tool in order for the epoxy to work well.
4. The ribbon cable from the surfboard was not long enough. Another piece of ribbon cable was attached to the original piece and soldered together. Heat shrink was used to insulate the wires.
November 17, 2007
November 16, 2007
11/15 Stephane Constantin
4 to 5:30
1)Merging Video and graphs
Kevin and I attempted to merge the graphing matlab program with the one that plays video framewise. The issues in this task is the blocking function in the graphing script "ginput". We decided that we will try to remove that function, and therefore use graphical buttons instead of keyboard entries to facilitate this merging.
1)Merging Video and graphs
Kevin and I attempted to merge the graphing matlab program with the one that plays video framewise. The issues in this task is the blocking function in the graphing script "ginput". We decided that we will try to remove that function, and therefore use graphical buttons instead of keyboard entries to facilitate this merging.
11/16/07 Yingyi Tan
4.00pm - 5.30pm, 6.00pm - 8.00pm
1. Soldered 4th surfboard for the new LED that will be connected to the main PC board. (1.5h)
2. Re-soldered lose resistors on two boards (2h)
--------------
1. Soldered a ribbon cable to the 4th surfboard. Soldered 2 300 ohm resistors to the board for the green and blue light. Soldered 2 1000 ohm resistors in parallel for the red light since we were out of 300 ohm resistors
2. When we tried to test the boards with the LEDs, we realized that some of the resistors were not soldered properly, hence not all the colors of the LED would light up. Used the odometer to find the loose connections and re-soldered them.
1. Soldered 4th surfboard for the new LED that will be connected to the main PC board. (1.5h)
2. Re-soldered lose resistors on two boards (2h)
--------------
1. Soldered a ribbon cable to the 4th surfboard. Soldered 2 300 ohm resistors to the board for the green and blue light. Soldered 2 1000 ohm resistors in parallel for the red light since we were out of 300 ohm resistors
2. When we tried to test the boards with the LEDs, we realized that some of the resistors were not soldered properly, hence not all the colors of the LED would light up. Used the odometer to find the loose connections and re-soldered them.
11/16/07 Gregory Falco
1:00PM-4:30PM
1. Dismantled 2x4 (1.5 hrs)
2. Meeting (1.5 hrs)
3. Devised plan for microwave (.5 hrs)
---------------------------------------
1. Dismantled old student project and put remaining parts in machine shop
2. Attended and took notes for lab meeting
3. Devised a plan of action on how I will mount the microwave above the sink. I will be using shelf beams and this other cool gadget I found.
1. Dismantled 2x4 (1.5 hrs)
2. Meeting (1.5 hrs)
3. Devised plan for microwave (.5 hrs)
---------------------------------------
1. Dismantled old student project and put remaining parts in machine shop
2. Attended and took notes for lab meeting
3. Devised a plan of action on how I will mount the microwave above the sink. I will be using shelf beams and this other cool gadget I found.
11/16/'07, Rohit Hippalgaonkar
Hours :
Monday - 3. 30 pm to 5.5 pm
Tuesday - 2 pm to 4 pm
Friday - 1 . 5 hours (meetings)
1. More testing with code
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It seems that one cannot balance the relevant mass properties without adding to the inertia of the outer leg (we want to keep this at a minimum, since it is already large, and considerably greater than the inertia of the inner leg). Another constraint is that we want the second battery to be added, and preferably all 600 gm of this second battery (i.e 2 pieces of 300 gms each) should be at the same place - this is from the point of view of ease of addition of masses.
Am currently trying to work out which of the following configurations will be better with respect to minimization of outer leg inertia -
a) adding the second battery to the inner leg in the motor box (~ 13cm to 16 cm from the hip)
b) adding the to the inner leg somewhere lower down (between 25 cm to 45 cm)
I think it is a) but not sure yet - am working on a piece of code
c) yet another config. would be to split the second battery on the outer legs but this would be really hard to implement and also dangerous (according to Jason) - so I'm not working on this config.
Monday - 3. 30 pm to 5.5 pm
Tuesday - 2 pm to 4 pm
Friday - 1 . 5 hours (meetings)
1. More testing with code
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It seems that one cannot balance the relevant mass properties without adding to the inertia of the outer leg (we want to keep this at a minimum, since it is already large, and considerably greater than the inertia of the inner leg). Another constraint is that we want the second battery to be added, and preferably all 600 gm of this second battery (i.e 2 pieces of 300 gms each) should be at the same place - this is from the point of view of ease of addition of masses.
Am currently trying to work out which of the following configurations will be better with respect to minimization of outer leg inertia -
a) adding the second battery to the inner leg in the motor box (~ 13cm to 16 cm from the hip)
b) adding the to the inner leg somewhere lower down (between 25 cm to 45 cm)
I think it is a) but not sure yet - am working on a piece of code
c) yet another config. would be to split the second battery on the outer legs but this would be really hard to implement and also dangerous (according to Jason) - so I'm not working on this config.
November 15, 2007
11/15/07 Yingyi Tan
4.30-5.30pm
1. Soldered wires and resistors onto the new surf board for LED
----------------------------
1. The new surf boards came in. I soldered a ribbon cable to the surf board and soldered 300 ohm resistors to the board for the LED on the satellite boxes. The green and blue light required 300 ohm resistance but the red light required approximately 500 ohms. Hence a pair of resistors were soldered in parallel which together with a 3rd 300 ohm resistor in series created the necessary resistance for the red light.
1. Soldered wires and resistors onto the new surf board for LED
----------------------------
1. The new surf boards came in. I soldered a ribbon cable to the surf board and soldered 300 ohm resistors to the board for the LED on the satellite boxes. The green and blue light required 300 ohm resistance but the red light required approximately 500 ohms. Hence a pair of resistors were soldered in parallel which together with a 3rd 300 ohm resistor in series created the necessary resistance for the red light.
11/15/07 Gregory Falco
1:30-4:00PM
1. E-mailed lab ~15 min
2. Checked and repackaged Monitor (30 min)
3. Debugged website (1 hr 45 min)
---------------------------
1. I e-mailed the lab regarding the GANTT information needed for the blog. Another friendly reminder.
2. Monitor has an internal scratch on it. We repackaged it up and I sent an e-mail inquiring about a refund for the product.
3. I debugged the website, there were many dead links--- I am still not sure why. I am currently working on one link to a sound clip that will not work.
1. E-mailed lab ~15 min
2. Checked and repackaged Monitor (30 min)
3. Debugged website (1 hr 45 min)
---------------------------
1. I e-mailed the lab regarding the GANTT information needed for the blog. Another friendly reminder.
2. Monitor has an internal scratch on it. We repackaged it up and I sent an e-mail inquiring about a refund for the product.
3. I debugged the website, there were many dead links--- I am still not sure why. I am currently working on one link to a sound clip that will not work.
Carlos Arango, 11/15/07
Projects:
Ankle Sensors- Test and Calibrate
Satellite Processor Daughter Board-Connect IMU
Dependencies:
My first project (Test and calibrate ankle sensors) depends on lines 27 and 35
Also, the expected time for this project is 1 day not 2
Ankle Sensors- Test and Calibrate
Satellite Processor Daughter Board-Connect IMU
Dependencies:
My first project (Test and calibrate ankle sensors) depends on lines 27 and 35
Also, the expected time for this project is 1 day not 2
November 14, 2007
11/14/07 Hajime Furukawa
2:15 - 4:45, 6:00 - 7:30
1) Removed old connectors and added new connectors on the plug a pods (4h)
----------------------------------------------------------------
1) De-soldered old connectors from the plug a pods and soldered in ribbon cables in place of them. Then added connectors to the other end of the ribbon cables so that they could be accessed from outside the plug a pod boxes. Had to be very careful throughout the whole process.
1) Removed old connectors and added new connectors on the plug a pods (4h)
----------------------------------------------------------------
1) De-soldered old connectors from the plug a pods and soldered in ribbon cables in place of them. Then added connectors to the other end of the ribbon cables so that they could be accessed from outside the plug a pod boxes. Had to be very careful throughout the whole process.
11/14/07 Kevin Ullmann
4:00 - 5:30 PM (1 hr at home)
1. Continued researching/working with arrow key problem
1. Stephane emailed me that a possible solution to this problem is using a uicontrol instead of ginput. I need to find out from him how he implemented uicontrol because the hour and a half that worked was spent on trying to create and implement a uicontrol with a keypressfcn whose callback would control all the key events that we so far handle in the graphs function. Unfortunately I was unable to replace ginput, although I was able to create and manipulate (to a certain extent) the uicontrol object.
1. Continued researching/working with arrow key problem
1. Stephane emailed me that a possible solution to this problem is using a uicontrol instead of ginput. I need to find out from him how he implemented uicontrol because the hour and a half that worked was spent on trying to create and implement a uicontrol with a keypressfcn whose callback would control all the key events that we so far handle in the graphs function. Unfortunately I was unable to replace ginput, although I was able to create and manipulate (to a certain extent) the uicontrol object.
Hajime Furukawa 11/14/07
24: Test board functions - Voltage regulator test complete. Jason has taken over rest of testing.
32, 33: Cut and drill boxes for boards and wiring; Install, adusting as needed - Are correct.
32, 33: Cut and drill boxes for boards and wiring; Install, adusting as needed - Are correct.
November 13, 2007
11/13/07 Kevin Ullmann
8:30 - 9:45 PM (1.25 hrs, at home)
1. Researched/experimented with solutions to dynamic cursor movement
1. I looked online and within Matlab for possible ways to get and use the mouse location. I first tried to look into the way the function mplay works to find a solution but I can't find the right m-files. I then succesfully changed the WindowButtonMotionFunction (which is called whenever the user moves the mouse) to read the pointer's location in the current axis. Unfortunately there seems to be no way to use this information, only display it. I was looking into mouse motion as an alternative solution to the 'machine gun key' problem (the window cannot handle rapid key presses.)
1. Researched/experimented with solutions to dynamic cursor movement
1. I looked online and within Matlab for possible ways to get and use the mouse location. I first tried to look into the way the function mplay works to find a solution but I can't find the right m-files. I then succesfully changed the WindowButtonMotionFunction (which is called whenever the user moves the mouse) to read the pointer's location in the current axis. Unfortunately there seems to be no way to use this information, only display it. I was looking into mouse motion as an alternative solution to the 'machine gun key' problem (the window cannot handle rapid key presses.)
11/13/07 Gregory Falco
12:30-5:00
1.Lab Publicity (2.5 hrs)
2. Accounts (.5 hrs)
3. MSDS website (1.5 hrs)
-------------
1. Included all media files into the lab publicity website. It's ready to get onto the server!
2. Spoke to Ms. Smiley about why my accounts disappeared. Seems like i was deauthorized by management... whatever that means. They told me that after speaking to Andy Ruina they may reinstate my privileges.
3. Created a description and instructions for the MSDS website. I created one for the lab and one for the Machine Shop. They are all ready to go too!
1.Lab Publicity (2.5 hrs)
2. Accounts (.5 hrs)
3. MSDS website (1.5 hrs)
-------------
1. Included all media files into the lab publicity website. It's ready to get onto the server!
2. Spoke to Ms. Smiley about why my accounts disappeared. Seems like i was deauthorized by management... whatever that means. They told me that after speaking to Andy Ruina they may reinstate my privileges.
3. Created a description and instructions for the MSDS website. I created one for the lab and one for the Machine Shop. They are all ready to go too!
11/13/07 John Buzzi
1:45pm-5:00pm
1) Made holes in the processor boxes for wires to enter (1 hr 30 min)
2) Made a hole in the body for wires to pass through (1hr 30 min)
--------------------------
1) In order for the appropriate wires to pass into the satellite processor boxes many holes need to be made in various locations in the box. I made 2 holes in each of the boxes using a drill, dremmel tool, and files.
2) Those same wires mentioned above also need to pass through the body of the robot. therefor material needed to be removed in order for them to fit appropriately. A dremmel tool was used for this job. a file was also used to clean things up a bit.
1) Made holes in the processor boxes for wires to enter (1 hr 30 min)
2) Made a hole in the body for wires to pass through (1hr 30 min)
--------------------------
1) In order for the appropriate wires to pass into the satellite processor boxes many holes need to be made in various locations in the box. I made 2 holes in each of the boxes using a drill, dremmel tool, and files.
2) Those same wires mentioned above also need to pass through the body of the robot. therefor material needed to be removed in order for them to fit appropriately. A dremmel tool was used for this job. a file was also used to clean things up a bit.
11/12/07 John Buzzi
5:00pm-6:30pm
1) drilled and tapped the right leg for the processor box (1hr 15 min)
------------------------------
1) In order to fit some of the electrical components in the right leg (when viewed from the front) it was necessary to have the screws that mounted the sattelite processor box thread into the body of the robot. I first spotted the holes carefully and then drilled the holes slowly so that when i made it through i did not contact any of the components inside. After the holes were drilled i carefully tapped them.
1) drilled and tapped the right leg for the processor box (1hr 15 min)
------------------------------
1) In order to fit some of the electrical components in the right leg (when viewed from the front) it was necessary to have the screws that mounted the sattelite processor box thread into the body of the robot. I first spotted the holes carefully and then drilled the holes slowly so that when i made it through i did not contact any of the components inside. After the holes were drilled i carefully tapped them.
11/12 Stephane Constantin
7 to 9 pm (at home)
We were having trouble to efficiently read keyboard instructions from the user because the function that we use for that task "ginput" is a blocking function, meaning that the program is stuck in that function until the user pressed a key or cliked. This is not good for displaying video frame by frame as the user presses the arrow key. I believe that this problem can be solved by replacing "ginput" with a GUI control "uicontrol" which is not a blocking function. I modified the video part of the program with that function and I got good results. This function will allow an easier and clearer merging of the graphs part and the video part.
We were having trouble to efficiently read keyboard instructions from the user because the function that we use for that task "ginput" is a blocking function, meaning that the program is stuck in that function until the user pressed a key or cliked. This is not good for displaying video frame by frame as the user presses the arrow key. I believe that this problem can be solved by replacing "ginput" with a GUI control "uicontrol" which is not a blocking function. I modified the video part of the program with that function and I got good results. This function will allow an easier and clearer merging of the graphs part and the video part.
11/9 Stephane Constantin
4:00 t0 5:30 pm
Showed Kevin my progress on the video part of the project, so that he could start to get involved in that part of the project. Discussed issues such as controlling frame rate, memory issue, and brainstormed possibilites towards solutions. Also showed him the matlab mplay application that could be useful and we explored how we could modify it for our purposes.
Showed Kevin my progress on the video part of the project, so that he could start to get involved in that part of the project. Discussed issues such as controlling frame rate, memory issue, and brainstormed possibilites towards solutions. Also showed him the matlab mplay application that could be useful and we explored how we could modify it for our purposes.
11/12/07 Lee Sam
Time in 9:30am
Time out 3pm
1)Managed to get the Direct Memory Access (DMA) for LPC3180 to work for receiving data from the MAC7111.
Time out 3pm
1)Managed to get the Direct Memory Access (DMA) for LPC3180 to work for receiving data from the MAC7111.
- First issue: the Data Register for the SPI on the LPC3180 when receiving will send the clock signal to the slave when the register is both written or read. this would cause the slave to send data to LPC3180. the code has to take this into account.
- Second issue: the MAC7111 runs at a much slower frequency than the LPC3180. Hence without the DMA on the LPC3180 implemented, it is unable to handle the rate in which the LPC3180 is able to receive data and it polls for the data. THe lpc3180 dma receiving also assumes that data is always received when it requests for the data. the register for the lpc3180 spi data also does not clear the last remaining data in the FIFO queue and it will result in erronous data being recorded as received from the slave. this problem could potentially go away when DMA is implemented on the MAC7111
2) Coding and Testing the DMA for MAC7111
November 12, 2007
11/12/07 Yingyi Tan
5.30pm - 9.15pm
1. Drilled holes and soldered resistors to "surf" board for LED light.
-------------
1. Drilled holes in two small "surf" boards for the LED lights that would be fixed on the outside of the satellite boxes. In order for the right current to be delivered to the LED lights, I soldered small 330 ohm resistors onto the board. Each board had a total of 5 resistors. Some had to be in parallel to each other. I also soldered a ribbon cable to the "surf" boards.
1. Drilled holes and soldered resistors to "surf" board for LED light.
-------------
1. Drilled holes in two small "surf" boards for the LED lights that would be fixed on the outside of the satellite boxes. In order for the right current to be delivered to the LED lights, I soldered small 330 ohm resistors onto the board. Each board had a total of 5 resistors. Some had to be in parallel to each other. I also soldered a ribbon cable to the "surf" boards.
11/12/07 Gregory Falco
12:45-4:15 PM
1. Bought Monitor (1 hr)
2. Worked On MSDS Website (.5 hrs)
3. Added Extra Publicity to Publicity Site (2 hrs)
-----------------
1. Purchased Acer Computer Monitor for $100 on Ebay- was shipped today and will arrive by midweek
2. Finished labeling MSDS Website, i still have to add a title and directions section to the site
3. Added video and radio lab publicity to site. I have 10 more PDFs to attach and then it can be uploaded to the server.
1. Bought Monitor (1 hr)
2. Worked On MSDS Website (.5 hrs)
3. Added Extra Publicity to Publicity Site (2 hrs)
-----------------
1. Purchased Acer Computer Monitor for $100 on Ebay- was shipped today and will arrive by midweek
2. Finished labeling MSDS Website, i still have to add a title and directions section to the site
3. Added video and radio lab publicity to site. I have 10 more PDFs to attach and then it can be uploaded to the server.
11/12/'07
For 11/5- 11/11
---------------
Tuesday 11/6 - 1.30 pm to 4 pm (2.5 hours)
Wednesday 11/7 - 10.30 am to 1pm (2.5 hours)
Sunday 11/11 - 8 pm to 11pm (3 hours, from home)
Monday - 11 am to 12.30 am (1.5 hours, from home)
1. Further testing on MATLAB code
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. We decided sometime during the middle of the week where the 'computer boxes' will go on the robot. Also decided was that another battery had to be placed somewhere on the robot. We first tried adding the battery (a 600 gm unit) inside the box that contained the motor and the electronics.
The MATLAB program that we had been using -which outputs masses to be added, given the locations of the masses, while making all the relevant mass properties equal - isn't too useful in this case. I tried solving by-hand and tried 4 or 5 different 'types' of solutions to the above problem and I feel that a practically realizable solution was not possible in this case.
So I tried to solve for the problem by keeping the location of the battery variable, and have arrived at a practical solution which still requires some tuning.
---------------
Tuesday 11/6 - 1.30 pm to 4 pm (2.5 hours)
Wednesday 11/7 - 10.30 am to 1pm (2.5 hours)
Sunday 11/11 - 8 pm to 11pm (3 hours, from home)
Monday - 11 am to 12.30 am (1.5 hours, from home)
1. Further testing on MATLAB code
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. We decided sometime during the middle of the week where the 'computer boxes' will go on the robot. Also decided was that another battery had to be placed somewhere on the robot. We first tried adding the battery (a 600 gm unit) inside the box that contained the motor and the electronics.
The MATLAB program that we had been using -which outputs masses to be added, given the locations of the masses, while making all the relevant mass properties equal - isn't too useful in this case. I tried solving by-hand and tried 4 or 5 different 'types' of solutions to the above problem and I feel that a practically realizable solution was not possible in this case.
So I tried to solve for the problem by keeping the location of the battery variable, and have arrived at a practical solution which still requires some tuning.
11/10/07 John Buzzi
7:15pm-9:30pm
1) prepared the microprocessor boxes for mounting (1 hr)
2) helped Haji with connecting and taping ribon cables to legs (15 min)
3) began creating slot for new electrical connector location (1 hr)
--------------------------------------------------------------
1) In order to mount the microprocessor boxes to the bottom of the robot a few tasks still needed to be completed. First, the holes where the screws go through the box to attach it to the robot itself needed to be countersunk so that the top of the screw heads will sit flush against the inside of the box. This is so that they will not be protruding into the area where the microprocessor will be installed. I accomplished this task on the milling machine. I then cut the screws to the appropriate length for mounting using the screw cutting device.
2) I helped haji install the ribon cables that run from the ankle sensors up the back of the robots legs and into the robot itself. The cables were secured to the leg using electrical tape and it was necessary to make it look neat because this is a very visible part of the robot.
3) In order to mount the satellite processor boxes in the mannor we have decided on, it was necessary to move many components that protruded from the bottom of the robot to new locations. One such component is an electrical connector that we decided to move to the back of the robot. I used a drill, a dremmel tool, and a file to begin creating the slot. Some more work still remains before this task is fully completed.
1) prepared the microprocessor boxes for mounting (1 hr)
2) helped Haji with connecting and taping ribon cables to legs (15 min)
3) began creating slot for new electrical connector location (1 hr)
--------------------------------------------------------------
1) In order to mount the microprocessor boxes to the bottom of the robot a few tasks still needed to be completed. First, the holes where the screws go through the box to attach it to the robot itself needed to be countersunk so that the top of the screw heads will sit flush against the inside of the box. This is so that they will not be protruding into the area where the microprocessor will be installed. I accomplished this task on the milling machine. I then cut the screws to the appropriate length for mounting using the screw cutting device.
2) I helped haji install the ribon cables that run from the ankle sensors up the back of the robots legs and into the robot itself. The cables were secured to the leg using electrical tape and it was necessary to make it look neat because this is a very visible part of the robot.
3) In order to mount the satellite processor boxes in the mannor we have decided on, it was necessary to move many components that protruded from the bottom of the robot to new locations. One such component is an electrical connector that we decided to move to the back of the robot. I used a drill, a dremmel tool, and a file to begin creating the slot. Some more work still remains before this task is fully completed.
November 11, 2007
Rohit Hippalgaonkar, 11/11
Inner / Outer leg symmetry Project
------------------------------------
* Currently working on tasks 62 and 65 together, as on GANTT chart.
* The way our project has proceeded, we have had to consult with James and John, who have each had their parts being added / modified.
- Usually we keep track of changes by measuring the relevant mass properties of the robot every time something is modified on the robot.
- So we then recommend a new mass distribution for symmetry every time someone added a mass on to the robot - except now, with the computer boxes being added, getting symmetry seems a harder problem and is taking more time.
Don't know how you will make changes onto the GANTT chart because this is about the third time we are going in the 62-63-65 cycle of tasks.
Battery Mounting project
--------------------------
* have not started work on this yet.
------------------------------------
* Currently working on tasks 62 and 65 together, as on GANTT chart.
* The way our project has proceeded, we have had to consult with James and John, who have each had their parts being added / modified.
- Usually we keep track of changes by measuring the relevant mass properties of the robot every time something is modified on the robot.
- So we then recommend a new mass distribution for symmetry every time someone added a mass on to the robot - except now, with the computer boxes being added, getting symmetry seems a harder problem and is taking more time.
Don't know how you will make changes onto the GANTT chart because this is about the third time we are going in the 62-63-65 cycle of tasks.
Battery Mounting project
--------------------------
* have not started work on this yet.
11/10/07 Hajime Furukawa
5:45 - 8:45
1) Worked on putting the Robot back together (3h)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Added a slot in each of the boxes that will hold the plug a pod satellite processor so that a connector can be accessed on the outside of the box. Smoothed the metal part by the ankle sensor, drilled a larger whole in said metal part, and routed some ribbon wire up the legs.
1) Worked on putting the Robot back together (3h)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Added a slot in each of the boxes that will hold the plug a pod satellite processor so that a connector can be accessed on the outside of the box. Smoothed the metal part by the ankle sensor, drilled a larger whole in said metal part, and routed some ribbon wire up the legs.
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