Patent Search

Team 3 Patent Search

Weekly Progress Report 11/23 - 11/29

Progress

• The vast majority of this week's time was dedicated to the collection of patents relating to our project. We found interesting things such as lockheed martin and other major military corporations making most of the panel claims in these fields. It was also clear that a lot of the approaches that other people took weren't specific to commercial drones. They were more focused on military grade drones that could potentially carry payloads. This is evident because they were focusing mainly on doing one of two things; shooting down another missile, or using a net. However, all of this was very relevant and useful information that we found.. There are plenty of things which we found, such as descriptions of how to deal with the rapid aiming and launching quickly in order to intercept an object that. This past week has consisted of mainly the patent search, along with work on physics problems.

Problem

• Discovering that our project has become a proof of concept requires us to dramatically shift our focus and pick up the pace since all the time spent on designs and plans for a physical mechanism was a waste. The physics examples provided to us by Mr. Lin are quite complicated, and with our basic (albeit a bit rusty) physics knowledge, it is quite hard. However, once we are able to understand thoroughly how do get the answers and why the answers is correct, we will be knowledgeable enough to figure out which equations would be required in order to figure out the trajectory of the drone. Then once we have the equations set, we will know what information we will require of Adnan’s visual system.

Plan

• This coming week, we plan to finish the physics problems given to us by Mr. Lin, find others online, and do those in order to ensure that we have a strong understanding of the math behind projectile motion. The following week, we plan to look into adding “real-world” variables into our physics problems, such as air resistance and drag.

Weekly Progress Report 11/9 - 11/15

Progress:

-         This week we completed further research on both the launching mechanism and easyC V4. As for the launcher, we’ve completely ruled out any electromagnetic mechanism as all research indicates that currently there is no technology that allows for an electromagnet strong enough to pull something towards it from very far. Today, Mr. Lin purchased our previous materials list, shown in a prior blog post. As for easyC, we’re still working through reading and watching tutorials.

Problems:

-         Not long after purchasing the materials for the launching mechanism, we asked Mr. Lin if we would be able to bring in a power drill to work on building the launching mechanism. We then received a copy of the school code on what’s defined as a weapon, and we may have to scrap our launcher design again. We will meet with Mr. Lin ASAP to discuss this.

Plan:

-         For this week we plan to start work on the launcher, possibly the robot as well. We also plan to continue our easyC research. The launcher assembly will depend on what we discuss with Mr. Lin regarding the school’s rules.

Weekly Progress Report 3 11/2-11/8

Progress:

• We have investigated into the actual coding part of the project and have received some helpful links from Mr. Lin. However it seems that soon tutorial support for this program will terminate, so we will have to quickly assess the situation. Currently we are still looking into this program, which we think will serve our needs. EasyC V4 for the Cortex seems to be able to control up to 10 motors on a VEX robot in real-time which would work perfectly for what we need to do. We are in the process of learning this software. We are also working on a solution to an actual launching mechanism.

Problems:

• We are still struggling to come up with a plan to incorporate a latch mechanism into our projectile launcher which would allow us to quickly fire in repeated succession. We also face uncertainty on whether or not the EasyC V4 will be able to do what we need it to.

Plans:

• We will further discuss the possibilities of using the program Mr. Lin recommended to us and we will continue look for alternatives just in case the program doesn't fit our needs. Currently we are reading into all the supporting documents of this program to see if the program has the function of reading data files and thus acting upon them.  We also plan to test the software with a robot to see how the real time control works

RE: Weekly Progress Report

Just came across a post talking about how to control a Vex Cortex with a computer. It may not be exactly what you want, however, it provides a way to integrate the whole system together.

Our VEXnet system is built with the idea of controlling a robot with a combination of pre-loaded autonomous code and driver control with the use of a transmitter (joystick), not from a computer.
However if you use easyC V4 software to program the cortex, you will have an option available that will allow you to control your robot or motors directly from your PC. The function is called "On-Line Window" and it will allow you to control up to ten motors in different speeds, as you will be able to do all this from a computer without the need of applying input into the transmitter (robotics teams use this function to troubleshoot motor ports). Also it will be wireless.
Here is a link where you can download a free version for easyC V4: http://www.intelitekdownloads.com/easyCV4/
Also it doesn't matter if you use an old cortex, it will do the same function.

The system requirements for easyC V4 is:

• Windows x86 PC Vista/7/8
• 1024MB RAM, 512MB HDD, 1024x768 Display
• VEXnet 2.0 Support Requires Radio Version 1.46

Weekly Progress Report - 10/25-11/1

Progress:
This week we focused on figuring out how and in what format data would be transferred to the Cortex Micro controller that will be on our robot launching system. Since the data processing and conversion is really Team 2's project, we established that our plan is to have Team 2 convert the data they gather via their vision system to numbers (measurements on distance, angle, predicted location, etc.) and then have our RobotC code reference these numbers to influence how the robot will move to accurately fire a shot at the drone.
We also decided that at least initially, our robot's cortex micro controller will be connected to a laptop via a USB connection; worrying about a wireless connection is worrying too far ahead in our project.
Problem:
An immediate risk we realized is the compatibility of software between RobotC and whatever software Team 2 ends up using. Our initial thoughts were that the data processing software Team 2 uses will be able to export the numbers/measurements we need onto a .txt file and our RobotC would pull numbers from that file. Team 2 will ultimately have to plan to fit this requirement or come up with an alternate solution. Another possible risk is that the computer won't be able to process all the data and convert it and then send the information to the Robot quickly enough.
Plan:
This coming week, we plan to re-approach the problem of our actual launching method. Two weeks ago, Mr. Lin found fatal flaws in all our ideas and left us with a lot of problems to try and figure out. This week will conduct further research to try and find a feasible launching method. We will further research electromagnetism, and how gun's fire with a latch system. Our goal is to figure out a method and a materials list by next Sunday so we can keep this project moving.