Week (23)
Description
I am still having trouble affording travel to University so I have had to do a lot of work from home over these past couple of weeks. Although I did manage to make it in for last Thursday with a cheap day return ticket when I got into Uni I had major issues with my robot. The servo that powers the up and down neck movement blew up. I think It may have been knocked on the train when i was transporting it to Uni. It was pretty frustrating as I felt I had missed an opportunity to get on with the build with the help of my tutor. I ended up spending my time at uni changing out the servo for another one Luckily I had a spare Futaba servo with me however this is not a metal gear servo it is a plastic gear servo and did not have enough torque to power the neck mechanism. I decided that this servo may be more suited for the up and down jaw servo. So i took the (Mg996r) out of the jaw mechanism and replaced it with the Futaba servo and used the (Mg996r) for the neck mechanism. This was actually a good move because the Futaba servo is more reactive than the metal gear servo and is more suited for the jaw movement because of its high speed ratio, however the (Mg996r) is not powerful enough to move the head up and down via the neck mechanism. I will save up and get a servo with a higher torque ratio of this mechanism.
I have installed a small speaker into the top jaw of the robot, the speaker faces down into the mouth with the idea being that when the robots jaw opens and closes the sound reacts with this movement. The speaker is 3w but is pretty loud it is rechargeable and as an 8 hour battery life (although i have not tested this out) I also purchased a long speaker lead that I can connect to the laptops audio output. I had to get a lead with a right angle connector because a straight connector stuck out and the lead interfered with the eye mechanics. I used milliput to secure the speaker in place it also gave the sound direction because it stop sound escaping from the sides of the upper jaw piece. (1.1)
In addition I have also been working on getting all the co-ordinates for all the motors I have so I know exactly what co-ordinates I have to work between here is a list of those points.
JAW
Bottom Servo
up - 130°
down - 90°
Top Servo
left - 76°
right - 86°
mid - 80°
BOTTOM LIP
out - 65°
in - 100°
EYES
Top servo
up - 173°
down - 0°
Bottom servo
left - 0°
right - 180°
TOP LIP
Left Servo
up - 65°
down - 110°
Right Servo
up - 70°
down - 20°
HEAD
Mid Point - 85°
(1.2)
Feelings
I am feeling great about the project but not being able to attend uni regularly is really taking its tole on me, I am constantly on the phone with student finance trying to get them to pay me what they owe me then I get promised it will be sorted out in 7 days and It never is I just get more letters demanding information they already have.
Evaluation
This session was a good experience the link between the computing side and physical construction is now a lot strong thanks to the audio out-put.
Analysis
The current situation is frustrating all I want to do is get on with this project but without the funding I need progress is slowing coupled with malfunctioning servos. I hope that this gets sorted soon and I can get back on track.
Conclusion
I do not think there is much else I could have done for this session, I have also started another project which is my special study into A.I so at least I can carry on with that while I'm waiting for student finance to pull there heads out of their asses.
Action Plan
I am going to look at putting a solid base together maybe using thick metal to add weight to it because the robot moves around a lot when the servos are in function, I will research this for next session.
1.1
1.2
Additional:
I have been thinking about how I can transport the project safely around without damaging any parts of it. What I have come up with is a way of connecting the bottom lip brass connector under the edge of the second base ring by. this would make it easier to transport via reducing the size of the rig and also put less strain on the neck motor. This then will fit into a cardboard box and into a padded holdall.
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