It's a Wrap! A Reflection of A Successful Prototype

Today we will present our project alongside every other team in Professor Sullivan's Design Lab I class.  As a team, we are eager to display our crane as well as see what other groups have created.  We decided as a group that this project was worthy of a reflection.

We have learned many things from this project, such as valuable teamwork and problem-solving skills.  Although it was not noted in our blog posts, every time the group met, all members were in attendance.  We made it a point to schedule our meetings around each other's schedule.  Our most popular meeting time was Monday's at 1PM in Lydon Library. This time worked out well in the developmental stages, however as progress was made and parts were fabricated, we began meeting at shorter intervals to assemble our crane in Bourgeois Hall.  We did this so group members would not have to carry parts of the project around campus. We were fortunate to all have this time free between classes.  Our blog posts were created withing a day or two of each meeting, ensuring we kept our readers well informed of the progress.

In terms of the workload, we did not divide up different parts of the project to work on individually.  Each week we would set a task for us each to attempt to complete, and then meet the next week to compare designs and ideas.  For example, when designing the parts to be 3D Printed, each group member came up with his own designs and then at our next scheduled meeting we would compare and come to a consensus on which design we liked best for each part.  The same can be said for the coding.

Towards the end of the project, where coding was focused upon the most, we ran into what appeared to be major issues at the time.  At first, we had separate codes for each motor.  When attempting to combine the code, we were prompted with many errors.  Neither Lucas, Billy, nor Jon had any previous coding experience, raising the level of difficulty in debugging the program.   Prior to fixing this coding issue and while assembling the crane itself, we encountered another issue.  The DC motor did not provide enough torque to raise our small weight.  As noted previously, we almost changed our project to a wrecking ball, as the servo provided enough torque to swing the boom as needed.  Coming down to the final days, with no time to fabricate a new reel for a second servo to be used, we improvised.  We used a second servo with a Popsicle stick extension that would rotate around the Z-axis.  The string to our crane would be attached to the Popsicle stick, thus raising and lowering the weight when rotated. 

Although our project is not exactly like our original idea in that it isn't autonomous, we believe we improved the design.  We have full control over our crane's actions and this project was a major accomplishment for our group!  This project was exciting to work on, as we were applying our knowledge from class to create a finished product. 

We guess one could say...Our Crane... is INSANE!

IT WORKS!

WE FINISHED! AND IT WORKS!

Despite our problems we managed to find solutions for them. Instead of using a DC motor to reel the line we used another servo motor the could also be controlled with another potentiometer using the same code as the other servo.

Here we are modifying the board to be able to use the other servo.

Once that was in place it was time to rewrite the code to include the next servo
This is what it ended up looking like.

And here is the finished crane in action,

I guess we won't become team Miley Cyrus Wrecking Ball after all.

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!!

It is done. Our servo can now be controlled by a potentiometer. This gives us so much freedom when trying the move the crane about the Z axis. It is now manually controlled rather than it moving based off of a timer.


THE FINAL CODE

#include <Servo.h>

Servo myservo;

int potpin = 0;
int val;  
void setup()
{
  myservo.attach(9);
}

void loop()
{
  val = analogRead(potpin);          
  val = map(val, 0, 1023, 0, 179);    
  myservo.write(val);                
  delay(15);                        
}

The Reveal!!!

Today we met to assemble the crane as a whole and run the code for the motors.  The assembly went well, as is evident in the pictures below

The problems ((DUN! DUN! DUNNNN!)
In assembling the crane, we came across two somewhat minor problems and also developed potential solutions for each problem.

1. When combining the code for both motors, the servo motor keeps running its code and also the DC Motor code.
1. The Solution:  We will use two arduinos and upload one code onto one of them, using an external power supply to power that motor.  This way there is no code interference.
2.  The DC motor does not provide enough torque to lift the tiny fishing weight we are using for the crane.  
1. The Solution:  We ordered a stepper motor, so we will pick that up from the lab and see if it provides the necessary torque required to lift the weight. 

 The Code for The DC Motor
void setup() {
 

  pinMode(12, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(9, OUTPUT);
 
}

void loop(){
 

  digitalWrite(12, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(9, LOW);  
  analogWrite(3, 100);  
 
  delay(1000);
 
  digitalWrite(9, HIGH);

  delay(1000);
 

  digitalWrite(12, LOW);
  digitalWrite(9, LOW);  
  analogWrite(3, 100);  
 
  delay(1000);
 
  digitalWrite(9, HIGH);
 
  delay(1000);
 
}  The Code for the Servo Motor
#include <Servo.h>

Servo myservo; 

int pos = 0;

void setup()
{
  myservo.attach(9); 
}


void loop()
{
  for(pos = 0; pos < 90; pos += 1) 
  {                            
    myservo.write(pos);            
    delay(15);                     
  }
  for(pos = 90; pos>=1; pos-=0)    
  {                              
    myservo.write(pos);             
    delay(1000);
  for(pos = 90; pos>=1; pos-=1)   
  {                              
    myservo.write(pos);           
    delay(15);                    
  }
  for(pos = 0; pos<90; pos-=0)  
  {                              
    myservo.write(pos);             
    delay(1000);                      
  }
  }
} 

The Next Meet-up
We will meet on Thursday at 1:00PM to attempt to use the Stepper Motor as well as put the finishing touches on our crane.  If the stepper does not provide the necessary torque, we official change our name to TEAM MILEY CYRUS WRECKING BALL 

Putting the Pieces Together

Today we met to begin assembling our crane.  We made some progress on coding, however it needs to be refined.  The assembly is coming along well, we plan on gluing the cab to the crane down as wells as the DC motor mount.  You can find pictures of our individual 3-D Parts, Laser Cut Board, as well as the boom and cab to our crane.

 Above:  Picture of Our Crane Cab Made From MegaBlocks

 Above:  Picture of Our Boom Made out of a Wooden Dowel and Eye-Hooks

Above:  Picture of our Base Board with Servo Motor and Boom Mount Attached

Above:  Video of Our DC and Servo Motors Running with Current Code

Future Work:  Revise the code to allow the weight to be lifted, moved, and then dropped.  Possibly make button commands for each movement.

Link to our parts

for whoever wants them for whatever reason.

https://grabcad.com/library/team-insane-crane-1

The parts have arrived!

We received our 3D parts and board from the 3D printer and the laser cutter. They look great too, hopefully everything will go smoothly.

The camera quality is pretty bad, but here they are!