Administrative meeting 2008-12-16

Our first IRC meeting!

(19:30:52) andy753421: anyway, let's get started
(19:31:00) andy753421: i'll start off
(19:31:47) andy753421: For anyone who wasn't there, we had a presentation this past Saturday it seemed to go alright
(19:32:22) andy753421: we didn't get the robot actually moving for the demo besides some wheel twitching but we showed them videos and brought them up to the lab anyway
(19:32:48) TheBrickWahl left the room (quit: Read error: 60 (Operation timed out)).
(19:33:56) andy753421: After that we figured out what was going wrong with the motors. Turns out the motor controller was waiting for a firmware image or something, so we fixed that by putting a sleep 3.5 in the init part of the software after it initializes the serial port
(19:34:24) andy753421: Then we took the robot outside and drove it around for a while and it worked really well
(19:35:05) andy753421: We found out that it drives better backwards (casters in front) because of the way the wheels swivel
(19:36:04) andy753421: We actually drove it down to the IM fields, and then the drive shaft exploded, so we called Jay and he drove out and fixed it
(19:36:15) andy753421: Then we drove it back and it worked pretty well
(19:36:31) andy753421: I also crashed it off of the side of the sidewalk but it kept working
(19:36:47) andy753421: I think that's about all for Saturday
(19:36:53) andy753421: Software:
(19:37:26) andy753421: We got the computer working with wireless, python, and all the hardware. We upgraded to debian testing (lenny) so that the python libraries would work
(19:37:56) andy753421: (we used the regular computer via. ad-hoc networking during the saturday tests)
(19:38:49) andy753421: The compact flash card has some problems though, it gets corrupted all the time, so we should figure out if that's fixable
(19:39:41) andy753421: I think Ching Chen was the only one who showed up to work on Sunday for the software meeting, he was working on the Map Widget to input GPS waypoints, that seems to be coming along well
...
(19:39:59) andy753421: that's it for software, auchter Electroncs?
...
(19:40:08) andy753421: s/Electronics/Hardware
...
(19:41:13) jboticsource: the mechanical team is about a week behind schedule on the old robot due to accidentally miss-machining a pate. We will should have that tied up next meeting. We can fix the exploding bolt in the drive train that Andy referred to with some lock washwers we have next meeting.
(19:41:17) jboticsource: The drive train fix may happen a bit sooner even. The new robot, however, is about a 1 to 2 weeks ahead of schedule. Connector blocks are all almost done and the pillow blocks are ready to be machined.
(19:41:23) jboticsource: No reply back from Padgett yet, if he does not reply within a day or so i will poke him.
(19:41:44) jboticsource: As sort of a related side note, there is currently no scheduled next darpa grand challenge
(19:41:55) andy753421: is that it?
(19:42:00) jboticsource: yea
(19:42:08) andy753421: sounds good, auchter Electronics?
(19:42:13) auchter: the eagle library for the bloody SMD chips is almost done, i hope to have the board redesigned by sunday
(19:42:21) auchter: we've ordered parts for power distribution on the robot
(19:42:47) auchter: we still need to find a 3U 19" wide by 14" deep chassis for the electronics, i want to get that ordered before we come back from break
(19:43:08) auchter: then after break we can begin mounting the circuit breakers, fuse panels, and the vicor DC-DC converters in that enclosure
(19:43:34) auchter: unless jay objects, i'm going to be ordering 2 grayhill 63R encoders so we can begin working on control algorithms
(19:43:59) auchter: (by object, i mean, "tell me that they absolutely won't fit on the robot and suggests a better option")
(19:44:26) jboticsource: auchter: i object until padgett gets back to us
(19:44:34) auchter: due to costs, we'll likely only be able to have 2 on the new robot, so three controllers will share one encoder
(19:44:38) auchter: jboticsource: ok, let me know then
(19:44:49) jboticsource: auchter: noted
(19:45:13) auchter: the motor controllers absolutely need to be finalized by the end of break so we can get a test board manufactured. parts need to be ordered to populate one board before the end of break as well
(19:45:35) auchter: kleinjt: anything else?
(19:45:43) tommost: GPS?
(19:45:54) auchter: aaron is apparently still waiting to hear back from novatel
(19:46:12) kleinjt: kleinjt: I've got a cable made
(19:46:12) auchter: from what i've heard, only one of the three boards actually sends anything over the serial port
(19:46:39) andy753421: have we tested the cable yet?
(19:46:42) kleinjt: I also blew the fuse on the computer power supply, I'm looking into why now..
(19:46:53) auchter: heh, andy753421 did that saturday
(19:46:56) andy753421: kleinjt: the little blue one?
(19:46:58) kleinjt: yep
(19:47:08) auchter: polarity matters on these things, surprisingly
(19:47:12) andy753421: i think I used the last one of those, we should probably order more
(19:47:22) tommost: Yes, like 10 more. ;)
(19:47:28) kleinjt: ok. I'm also not sure of the behavior of the black box under load
(19:47:39) auchter: oh, that thing.
(19:47:42) kleinjt: helpful hint: it is on even if the fan isn't running and it is switched off
(19:48:04) andy753421: i'm not sure what you're talking about
(19:48:11) andy753421: what black box?
(19:48:19) tommost: The big power supply thing.
(19:48:19) auchter: andy753421: the power supply used for the pulnix cameras
(19:48:31) tommost: It has a gold box attached to it.
(19:48:40) andy753421: ok, what are we using that for?
(19:48:51) tommost: Running the computer off of, apparently.
(19:48:57) andy753421: alright
(19:49:37) andy753421: is that it for electronics?
(19:49:43) auchter: should be
(19:49:53) andy753421: alright, anyone have anything else?
(19:49:56) jboticsource: i am also going to get us on teh SGA meeting agenda so we can re allocate teh GPS fund to the electronics team
(19:50:16) andy753421: do we want to make sure we have a working GPS first?
(19:50:43) jboticsource: motor controlers i think are more critical
(19:50:56) auchter: we could allocate ~$400 to electronics and $100 for a normal GPS (it should only cost $60 for one)
(19:50:56) jboticsource: but i thought we had a working GPS
(19:51:04) tommost: If worst comes to worse we can simply not do the navigation challenge.
(19:51:19) tommost: Also, Trac is evil. It just swallowed my minutes.
(19:51:34) jboticsource: btw, if you want to interface to my garmin u can. but no taking it apart or sodering
(19:51:44) jboticsource: :)
(19:51:52) tommost: jboticsource: Your Garmin doesn't support that; we tried at the competition.
(19:51:56) auchter: it won't do much good for the navigation challenge
(19:52:18) jboticsource: ok, just throwing that in there. I had forgotten that we had tried that
(19:52:48) andy753421: how about we get an appointment with SGA and then try to get the existing GPS's working before the meeting
(19:53:14) andy753421: then if we get them working we'll reallocate all of it, and if we don't we'll keep enough in the GPS budget for a cheap one
(19:53:26) kleinjt: the cause of the fuse blowing was reversed polarity, I assumed that pin two was ground like it was on the pelican cas.
(19:53:27) auchter: or we could just wait to schedule the meeting
(19:53:39) auchter: 00:49 < auchter> polarity matters on these things, surprisingly
(19:53:56) kleinjt: auchter: yes, < auchter> polarity matters on these things, surprisingly
(19:54:04) andy753421: waiting might be better
(19:54:15) tommost: How long will it take for this meeting to actually happen?
(19:54:25) auchter: yes, there's no pressing need for them to reallocate anything
(19:54:27) tommost: The software timeline has us needing an operational GPS pretty soon.
(19:54:27) andy753421: it won't be till after break
(19:54:30) jboticsource: it would be when we get back from break
(19:54:34) auchter: we can do it after we purchase things even
(19:54:50) kleinjt: tommost: I've got the test gps for you.
(19:54:59) tommost: Ah, yes, I forgot about that.
(19:55:01) andy753421: we have a test GPS?
(19:55:22) tommost: Is it secure in any way? I won't have to worry about it falling to it's death or pulling apart when the robot moves?
(19:55:51) kleinjt: tommost: it is on a breadboard with an arduino taped to it. it should be easy to add velcro too
(19:56:08) kleinjt: I've got to a meeting at 8:00, I'll read the logs when it's over
(19:56:11) jboticsource: velcro ++
(19:56:18) andy753421: where did we get this GPS from?
(19:57:08) tommost: It's kleinjt's.
(19:57:14) andy753421: alright
(19:57:26) andy753421: does anyone have anything else to talk about?
(19:57:39) auchter: nope.
(19:57:49) andy753421: oh, TheBrickWahl1 sent me a draft email for that one school
(19:57:53) auchter: tommost: you want to send out a link to the log to everyone?
(19:58:27) tommost: Yeah. I'm just going to paste the log into Trac, since it was mean to me earlier.
(19:59:37) andy753421:  http://rafb.net/p/VJTPVL28.html
(20:01:16) andy753421: any comments on that? I though it looked good
(20:01:49) jboticsource: defiantly solid imo
(20:02:55) andy753421: alright
(20:02:59) andy753421: i think that's it then
(20:03:18) andy753421: "Meeting Adjourned"
(20:03:41) ***auchter bangs a gavel