Driving up the mountain - test 2

By Lin, Darshan, Jayesh, Omar, Max, Tycho, Evan

Task: Test how the condition of the mountain changes robot performance

After last week's fail we decided that we should change a couple of variables of the environment. The first and easiest to fix being the condition and cleanliness of the mountain ramp. Having dust on the ramp would severely lessen the friction holding the robot in place, so we wiped it down with glass cleaner and started up the robot.

Reflections

Since the chassis is still in design flux, we went up the ramp both ways. Both were able to get onto the low zone and held their place when motors turned off. This was already a success in comparison to last week's practice. However, when attempting the mid zone, the orientation of the robot made a difference. When we drove up heavy side first, the robot was unable to go up the first bar. When we put the heavy motor controllers and batteries at the back and went up, the robot made it past the bar, but lost its balance soon after. We can't rely on the balance as attachments will definitely change the weight and center of mass.

After watching the robot fail going up battery side first, we believed that the battery holder was getting caught on the bar. after a closer look we saw that the plates that the batteries were resting on were just low enough and stcking out enough to get caught. if given a push then the robot kept driving up without any problem. This also meant that going down was impossible after driving up in the other orientation. The battery mount would just catch in that direction The battery mount was temporary anyways and after the strategy meeting (Jayesh's post) a new controller setup was started.