The date is: Fri Jan 29 16:40:57 MST 1999 This week we worked on the following: wall sensor(s), PWM in Altera, testing for the best frequency of the motor, and ordering parts we need. The GP1U52 wall sensor is now working, we could not get it to work because our detector was not close enough to the emitter and because our op-amp follower was not working properly. PWM is now working in Altera, I was able to program this to work at any frequency. The PWM frequency we will use is dependent on the motor tests, these tests gave us a frequency of 650Hz for one motor and 950Hz for the other motor. We have also ordered sample H-bridges. The date is: Fri Jan 29 16:46:03 MST 1999 This week we worked on the following: wall sensor(s), PWM in Altera, testing for the best frequency of the motor, and ordering parts we need. The GP1U52 wall sensor is now working, we could not get it to work because our detector was not close enough to the emitter and because our op-amp follower was not working properly. PWM is now working in Altera, I was able to program this to work at any frequency. The PWM frequency we will use is dependent on the motor tests, these tests gave us a frequency of 650Hz for one motor and 950Hz for the other motor. We have also ordered sample H-bridges. Next week, we plan on ordering various parts we need, dividing up the various parts of the project among us, working on an amplifier for our wall sensor, and on integrating the H-bridges with PWM and the HC11. Our goal is to be able to write to a specific register of the HC11 and be able to have the motor spin at a corresponding velocity. The date is: Fri Feb 5 17:01:53 MST 1999 This week our team and I worked on testing PWM on the oscilloscope and figuring out which parts to buy. The PWM worked well, we were able to use dip switches to control the output. I have also started working on closed-loop control in Altera, and been talking to various instructors about which parts we need. We have also worked with the wall sensors, battery connections, and A/D converting. Next week, I hope to be able to use the HC11 to control the H-bridges and motors. We should also start building the wheel base and designing the rest of the chasis. Also, we need to start preparing for the preliminary review presentation to be held on 2/18. The date is: Fri Feb 19 17:06:23 MST 1999 This week we finished the preliminary design review presentations and are now ready to concentrate on building our robot. I added bidirectional control to the open loop PWM, so that the HC11 can read what it wrote (useful for debugging). We now have most of our parts, and have begun building most subsystems. Next week, we plan to test the H-bridge circuit with an oscilloscope; then test it with the motors and HC11/Altera pwm signal to see if we can turn motors at different speeds. Once we have this working we can test our wall following scheme. I also plan on working to finish closed-loop pwm and start experimenting with the flame sensors. The date is: Sat Feb 27 19:44:18 MST 1999 This week, I have started experimenting with the flame sensor and the optoisolators. We have, after much consideration, decided to use the HC11 as our closed-loop controller. The reason why is that we do not want to have to re-program the Altera chip over and over to change the constants in the closed loop part of the PWM. The flame sensor I have been experimenting with is a PN168 phototransistor and filter. The sensor is currently finding the candle, but does not have much range or sensitivity, (yet, I hope). I have been playing with the gain of the amplifier to improve this. I have also been working on the optoisolators. I think I have a working design for these, but I burned out the diode while trying previous configurations. More optoisolators are on their way and I can try the design when they arrive. Next week, we plan on building boards for the above components, and trying to get the robot moving in a straight line via closed loop PWM. We are waiting on some connectors for our motors to be able to try our robot. We also need to finish testing individual modules, such as H-bridges, optoisolators, frequency to voltage chips and the power switch. The date is: Sun Mar 7 18:02:05 MST 1999 The date is: Sun Mar 7 18:19:46 MST 1999 This week, I worked on the improving the flame sensor and on preparing the batteries for testing our closed loop. The flame sensor works well and senses a candle to at least five feet. The flame sensor was greatly improved when I used a specific shape to enclose the sensor. The only improvement that the sensor needs is that it has too wide of a seeing angle, I am going to try to narrow this angle down. To one of the batteries, I added a fuse and built a switch. The switch works, the fuse I assume works. Also, our 64 logic cell Altera chip came in; I have added and successfully tested the right pwm using these extra logic cells. Now we have both right and left pwm and their respective directions controlled by this chip. Next week, we plan on finally moving the robot and trying to get it going in a straight line (i.e. closed loop control). We hope to work on mounting all the components onto the robot base and trying to interface them together. Right now, they each work individually but when we try to interface them there will probably be problems. Our plan is to get two components working together then add more and more components one at a time, testing after each addition. The date is: Sat Apr 3 20:57:05 MST 1999 This week, I worked on helping Khanh with the wall algorithm and I also worked on various hardware. Our robot now consistely goes very straight and can turn 90 degrees pretty well. I was able to adjust the frequency to voltage conveters to accurately measure a specific frequency with respect to each other. We also placed a second caster in the back because the robot was tipping over. Also, Monica has finished both line sensors, and one has been mounted. Next week, we hope to finish preparing a 3.5kHz tone decoder, optoisolators, and fire extinguishing system (board&fan). We also plan on mounting the GP2D12s onto the chasis using L-brackets. Once this is complete, we can concentrate on software and hopefully finish our wall algorithm. If time permits, it would be nice to solder some extra H-bridges onto sockets and prepare other backup parts. The date is: Sun Apr 25 11:44:10 MDT 1999 This week, we arrived back from Nationals. We needed a break from working on Sparky, instead we worked on other classes' homework. Next week, we plan on working on the tone decoder and getting ready for the final presentations and the NMT competition. We still need to work out a few more things in our programming of Sparky.