Math, Programming, and Controllers by Ian Chow-Miller

Author:Ian Chow-Miller [Chow-Miller, Ian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC

Which of the sets of claws on page 65 looks cooler? Which set picks up objects better? I know the answer to the first question hands down: the grey ones on the right. I have proof of this in that I just ran into the kids’ “LEGO Room” and found them attached together on one of their creations. The second question is much harder to answer. I would begin by asking, “What object?” “What is its shape and size?” “What about material? Will there be lots of friction or is it Teflon coated?” Then I would want to look at my existing robot to see which set of claws will fit together with the motors I have. Will I have to attach a new motor or move an existing one? After all of these considerations have been pondered, there still is only one way to answer for sure, and that is to try both. You really don’t know until you try.

You may not have to build the entire robot with both sets of claws, though. You can more easily just take your controller, wire in one motor and build each attachment, testing them one at a time. For this reason, it is nice to have a spare controller (though obviously this is expensive and not within everyone’s reach). But you can always prototype. Let’s say you are building a robot for the VEX Robotics Competition. The pieces you are using are going to be from the VEX EDR system and will be controlled by the VEX Cortex. To build two gripper systems and try them out on your robot is time consuming. It also will frustrate the people who are working on the drivetrain of the robot, the programmers who are trying to test the robot for its autonomous capabilities, and the programmers who are testing its responsiveness during the driver-controlled part of the competition.

Instead of all fighting over one robot, find another controller. You may not have another Cortex, but you may have an EV3 or old NXT, and LEGO is often plentiful in robotics classrooms. You can simply prototype your arm out of whatever material you have available. It doesn’t have to be fancy, and even if you don’t have a motor to move your gripper, you can manually turn the gears. The idea is that there are other ways to test parts of your robot than just building a final version of everything and adding it to the robot to test.

Test, Don’t Assume

I have digressed from the main topic of this section, and that is placement of controllers and wiring. But the two topics follow the same guidelines I have just laid down: form follows function. Prototype and test, and don’t assume you know what will work. Compare different ideas.

When applying these rules to our controller, we need to keep a few considerations in mind. First and foremost is to protect the controller. The Prizm has a polycarbonate case which is nice, but it can still crack if hit with enough force.

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