Weekly Log Jan 31- Feb 6

We have been in contact with Matthew about receiving the design files and have so far gotten half of them. The graduate student is still working on the fabrication of the cart to fit the specifications. We meet with him last week to confirm that the motor mounts fit properly. In this meeting, we were told the drive wheels have arrived. The manufacturing group that is building the cart will have to use scrap metal to create the adapter from the wheel to the motor. This is an unforeseen error that we did not know about until this week.

When trying to test the motor controller, we ran into a problem because we did not have the correct things to properly connect to the motors and the batteries. We have decided to keep the black connector on the motors and buy the appropriate male connector so soldering will not be required. This will require us to go to Lowes and buy the right connectors and more cuts of wire to connect the batteries to the motor controller. Dr. Rios will try to find a 15 pin cord to help us connect the motor controller to the computer. This is needed for the mode we want to use to code for the motors and also the easiest. We are currently debating over a plan to recharge our 12V batteries. There is hope to attain a battery tender and wire it up so that to charge the robot, the user will only have to plug the charging device into an outlet and a spot on the robot base.

We have been working on the Pixy image sensor. We have designed a color code signature for the camera to identify. We will be using this color signature for the person following algorithm. We currently have the Pixy tracking moving objects while connected to the pan/tilt mount. The code will be using the x and y values from the Pixy block tracking to give the location of the color signature. If the identified block moves to far left or right in the x plane, then the robot will shift its direction accordingly. If the block moves too close or is too far away via the y plane, the robot will slow down to speed up, respectively.