LHS Robotics

LHS Robotics
This is the blog detailing the everyday and not-so-everyday escapades of the Lincoln High School Robotics Team, also known as the New Victorians. We compete in the FIRST FRC competition and the MATE ROV Challenge. Our meetings are in room 223 during afternoon FLEX.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Getting Started with CAD

Hi there,
To get Autodesk Inventor working on you computer, you will need to complete the following steps

first, register with Autodesk Firstbase by following steps 1-7 in this pdf: http://images.dcheetahimages.com/students.autodesk.com/ama/orig/FIRST/FIRST_step_by_step102809.pdf

(The following steps are for people who are going to download the software. If you have a slow internet connection or other reason for not downloading the installer, you can borrow a disk from me. If you borrow a disk from me, skip ahead to where it says INSTALLATION)

Next, login to firstbase.autodesk.com using your newly created account. Click the Software Downloads link on the upper navbar, then select the appropriate version of Autodesk Inventor for your machine from the drop-down box. (if you don't know what 32-bit or 64-bit mean, then you probably have a 32 bit OS).

Click the download button. It will take a while to download. When it is done downloading, open the file. It will extract the installer onto your hard drive, then open the setup program.

INSTALLATION.
If you are using my dvd to install, open the dvd and open setup.exe. if you are installing from the web, you should already see the setup.exe window. it should be asking you if you want to install, or view documentation. you want to install. click install, follow all the prompts, don't worry about changing any settings, and ask me if you have any problems with the install. when the installer asks for your serial number, go to the web page where you downloaded it from and click "get serial".

When you are done, you should have a working install of autodesk inventor. You can access tutorials and other tools for getting started learning CAD through the "getting started" menu which is available when you open Inventor.

Cheers,
-Quinn

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

CHECKLIST FOR REGIONAL

Checklist for FRC Regional - March 4-6 at the Memorial Coliseum
Who should come: EVERYONE!!! The regional is what we've been working up to for 6 weeks. It is part rock concert, part sporting event, part nerd con, and 100% awesome. Come and cheer for your team!

What you need to do:
  1. ROSTER - You need to have completed both the team roster and FIRST roster forms
  2. FIRST roster - Sign up at https://my.usfirst.org/frc/goteams/site.lasso. If you chose not to have a parent complete the release form electronically, please print page three of http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedfiles/community/frc/events/2010/2010_OR_SiteInfo.pdf.
  3. Team Roster - If you haven't already done so, fill out https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dGZHRUtlN1NJMTZ0OWVoX0IyMXVNblE6MA
  4. Safety Goggles - If you have a pair of safety goggles at your house (and you probably do) BRING THEM
  5. Please continue to check this post for updates - I will post information here as it becomes available.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Updates on schedule

Driving Base (original due date 1/25) - We are a full week behind schedule in our construction of the driving base. We have made considerable progress (the chassis, transmissions, electronics, and most of the track mounting mechanism are done), but we still need to focus on getting this done. Hopefully we will have it ready tomorrow (the omni wheels just got here), but we have some very serious time to make up. I am setting a revised goal of this Friday (2/5) for a fully functional driving base.
PROGRAMMERS PLEASE NOTE - WE WILL NEED BASIC DRIVE CODE READY BY FRIDAY

Lifting Mechanism (goal due date 2/5) - We have a clear design for the lifting arm and we have the winch and cylinders necessary to complete it. A successful prototype was made using 1010 style 80-20, but we are still waiting on the full order of 8020 to come in before fabricating the final arm. In light of this, I am setting the revised goal for 4 days after the arrival of our 80-20 order.

Scoring Mechanism (goal due date 2/5) - Can Tyler (or whoever is currently heading the manipulator team) please send the group an update of your progress ASAP, and when we can expect the scoring mechanism to be completed by?

Other stuff - A goal date for completing the roll-cage is TBD, but the latest it can be is next Friday, 2/13.

REMEMBER PEOPLE, WE HAVE 20 DAYS BEFORE WE SHIP

EDIT: Construction of a prototype manipulator is currently underway. Cylinders from Bimba should be here fairly soon, so the manipulator team's goal is to have the finished manipulator mechanism constructed by next Tuesday, ready for the pneumatics to be mounted.