Category Archives: Uncategorised

We have progress to report on the Tidy Up the Toys challenge. To begin with we thought we would adapt our Eco Disaster barrel lifter (shown below) for the tidy up the toys challenge. However, this has a few shortcomings: We ended up designing a new lift system; see below: The new design addresses theContinue reading “The Tidy Up the Toys Challenge”

It was soon clear that our existing Nerf gun design was not well suited to the new shooting game, “Feed the Fish”.  The gun is designed to hit a target using a projectile trajectory which is as flat as possible; but the new game needs the projectiles to drop into the opening in the topContinue reading “Progress on Feed the Fish”

So, what about all these new challenges then?  The new challenges for PiWars at Home were announced at the start of September 2020.  As in previous competitions, there are several ways to perform each challenge with differing amounts of points available for each approach.  We will make every effort to gain maximum points for eachContinue reading “Getting ready for PiWars@Home”

The finish line is in sight for the hardware now. We have hopefully gone through the last major redesign (number 7!) for this year’s robot.  The new design incorporates all the lessons from the test chassis and last year’s robot.  All that remains is to settle on mounting holes in the lid for the NerfContinue reading “Hardware Almost Finished.”

Last year we didn’t do very well in Pi Noon as we were knocked out in the second round.  We decided to try to improve that this year. To that end we have developed a “Pi Noon Simulator”.  The cylinder at the top bends when pressed and makes a connection.  This lights an LED viaContinue reading “Pi Noon Practice”

Since our last blog there’s been lots of progress. We have drilled out the centres of the mecanum wheels and printed some new hubs.  This allows the gap between the motor and the wheel rim to be reduced so that the robot remains within the maximum width specification.  It also allows a common attachment methodContinue reading “Mecanum Wheel Trial”

We built some electronics.  This is an Arduino Beetle driving four Pololu motor drivers (which are based on MAX14870 chips).  The lower board (which you can’t really see) holds a couple of DC-DC converters which convert our 4S LiPo voltage down to a nice smooth 5.2v for the Pi and the other electronic bits.  TheContinue reading “Hmm. One step forward, two back.”

Since our last blog post our test chassis has transitioned from the CAD world into the real world.  This chassis incorporates loads of experimental features: It is all 3D printed.  Last year’s robot (“P19”) was mainly laser cut acrylic which turns out to be quite brittle.  So we’ll see if PLA can stand Nathan (whoContinue reading “Test chassis takes shape”

Mecanum wheels are tricky in Fusion360. Got there in the end though.