Mechanical Design
To make speedy taco dunks, we utilized both a flywheel and gravity. The electronics and duron were secured using 3D printed standoffs, t-slots, and #4-40
hardware for clean and easy disassembly and reassembly. The taco stuffing/ electronics are mounted between the two duron taco shells. Duron is great for rapid prototyping and is less brittle than acrylic. It's a whole wheat tortilla.
hardware for clean and easy disassembly and reassembly. The taco stuffing/ electronics are mounted between the two duron taco shells. Duron is great for rapid prototyping and is less brittle than acrylic. It's a whole wheat tortilla.
Using the grid of holes on the top plate, the game status indicator taco servo is simply zip tied to a secure fit. When the game is in play, the taco flips right-side up cause it's always the right time for taco time.
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The LED strip illuminates the shooter in purple when the game is started and then acts as the team status indicator by shining either red or blue.
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The phototransistor is stuffed in the narrow slit of the 3D printed taco. The slit restricts the horizontal and angular window of infrared light coming from arcade basket beacons, allowing TacoBot to use infrared light detection as an alignment indicator.
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The magnetic encoder consists of two parts and requires a custom 3D printed mount in order to both secure it to the DC motors as well as create a small physical gap between the spinning magnet and board.
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Game restrictions limit us to reloading with three balls each time and most servos have a maximum range of 270 degrees, so we dedicated 90 degrees to each ball and set the starting position such that the first ball was barely restrained from falling with gravity down towards the flywheel.
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Inside the shooter, there are two inner railings to help increase positional precision with three-point contact when the ball gets slightly compressed between the railings and the flywheel motor.
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Secret Sauce
Now not so secret and available for download
leading PIC32 |
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Full State Machine to control driving DC motors using Proportional Derivative Control
Full State Machine to control driving DC motors using Proportional Integral Control
Simple service module that changes whether the channels on the N channel MOSFETS are pulled open or not, allowing either or both red and blue lines on the LED strip to shine
Service in the Events and Services Framework to control Serial Peripheral Interface sending and receiving between the two PIC32 microcontrollers
Full State Machine to detect the IR light frequency from the beacon above each goal basket. Team status is determined by the frequency.
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following PIC32 |
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Full State Machine to control driving the flywheel motor and ball feeder servo
Service module to receive commands from the leading microcontroller and send completed remarks
Module that changes the position of the small servo with the game-in-play indicator taco
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We like cheap tacos.
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But hey it's bay area pricing
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Toppings of Wisdom
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Thank you to Ed for staying up with us until 1am and midnight snacks of Chuck's Donuts and Madeleines throughout the last week.
It wasn't tacos, but we ate them as such.
It wasn't tacos, but we ate them as such.
TacoBot Ⓒ2022 |