The date is: Sat Jan 30 11:54:53 MST 1999

Dr. Wedeward, sorry this is late, I forgot to submit a 
report yesterday, because I was working all afternoon.  
This past week I worked on collecting some parts for our 
robot, testing the motors, and researching the H-Bridges.  
I was able, with the rest of my group, to collect a couple 
casters and a few other miscellanious items for the robot.  
I tested the motors for the correct PWM frequency, and 
discoverd it to about 950hz.  Also I was looking into the H-
Bridges for testing.
Next week I hope to work some more on the H-Bridges, maybe 
actually hooking them up to the motors.  Hopefully I will 
be able to test them out.  I also would like to look into a 
digital/analog combination design for the motor control, 
possibly using a digital on/off switch and analog speed 
control.  



The date is: Tue Feb  9 16:04:54 MST 1999

I'm waiting for some parts to come in on the H-Bridges so I 
can make them removable, hopefully the should come in 
next(well this) week sometime.  I've designed the circuit 
for the bridge after analyzing past designs and other 
designs I found on the web.  I also ruled out using the L293 
chip, it had too little of a peak current (3 amps).  
Next week I plan to work some on the chassis and suspension 
and the H-Bridges if the parts come in.  Hopefully I'll get 
through all that.  



The date is: Sat Feb 13 17:36:16 MST 1999

This past week I've done a bunch of work on the chassis.  I 
was able to drill a few holes in it and successfully attach 
the casters, by the way obviously we chosen to go with a 
differential drive.  The casters seem to work.   Also I've 
drilled holes for wires from the batteries, etc. to go 
through.   I worked on the H-Bridges and came up with a 
final design for testing purposes.  
Next week I plan to work some more on the chassis, maybe 
putting in the supports for another level and attaching 
it.  Hopefully I will implement the H-Bridges too.




The date is: Thu Feb 25 13:37:26 MST 1999

This is for the week before this one.  
Last week I made the board for an h-bridge, and soldered it 
all up.  I also tried soldering an h-bridge to the pin 
connector, so that it could be removable.  Mostly though, I 
was working on the first presentation.  
This week I hope to finish up the h-bridges, test them, and 
then attach them to the first level of the chasis.  I also 
want to get started on making the optoisolators.  




The date is: Thu Feb 25 17:42:09 MST 1999

This week, I was able to used the board I built last week to 
test out the H-Bridges.  The tests so far were a success.  
This weekend, we plan on doing our final tests of the 
h-bridges by testing them with our motors.  Today I actually 
etched and soldered the final boards.  
Next week I plan on drilling holes in the h-bridge boards 
and connecting them to the base of the chassis.  I also plan 
on doing more work on the chassis, building it up as well as 
attaching the motors, wheels, and casters for good.



The date is: Fri Mar 12 13:36:16 MST 1999

This week was a pretty bad week.  On Monday I remembered 
that I had to do my weekly report, but got busy at work and 
forgot.  Then on Tuesday I realized what I had forgotten to 
do.  Anyways, Last week I designed a board for all four 
optoisolaters, so on Tuesday I tried to etch it.  
Unfortunately the ironing didn't work so well and the 
etching solution ate away all my touchups, so I ended up 
wasting a day.   Thursday we put the base of the chasis 
together (we bought a new base last week), and I was able 
to etch that optoisolater board.  All week long my H-
Bridges wouldn't work though, they seem to be drawing a lot 
of current and no voltage, so it looks like they're 
shorting out somewhere.  I haven't changed the H-Bridge 
boards since I got them working 2 weeks  ago though.




The date is: Thu Apr  1 16:42:03 MST 1999

This week Monica and I got the tone decoders circuit 
working. It succesfully detects a tone between 3.4khz and 
3.7khz.  I also redid the optoisolator boards.  I had 
mirrored them before.  By next week I will have them 
connected to the robot.  
Next week I plan on connecting the optoisolators and 
finishing the tone decoder.  We're almost done.




The date is: Sun Apr 25 11:40:10 MDT 1999

This week was not very eventful, as my group/robot was not 
here Tuesday.  I found on later though that the tone decoder 
that I thought I had working was not working, so Thursday 
and Saturday I went through and reworked it with Khanh and 
Ben.  We were able to get a good design that works well, 
except I think we should put a schmitt trigger on it, so 
that it will work with a digital port.  I designed and 
started etching the board for it, and will have it done on 
Monday.
Next week we plan to work on our presentation, finish the 
tone decoder, and of course make sure our robot works for 
the competition.  


The date is: Fri Apr 30 17:45:32 MDT 1999

Seeing as the tone decoder STILL doesn't work, I've been 
working on that all week.  Everything else seems to be going 
fine, but I'm not sure.  We've also been chopping away at 
the presentation.  Other then that not much.
Next Week: FINAL REVIEW!!!
Then I'm out of here, well I guess I'll still be here 
working, whatever this *&$%s!



The date is: Thu May  6 20:19:13 MDT 1999

This is my final weekly report.
I did absolutely nothing this week.  I don't think anyone 
in our group did.  (Well besides the competition on 
Saturday and staying up all night Friday to work on Sparky 
and finally getting the tone decoder to work at 1am).  Oh 
yeah I did work on the paper. 
Next week I take finals.