Robot arm tests

[Angelo Vermeulen]

Ileana,

Here's some things we can work on for the robot arm:
*The base moves very fast and it's real hard to rotate it subtly with
the sliders. We should look into slowing down this movement.
*We should work on better visibility. A black robot arm hovering over a
black spiral is darn hard to navigate in lowres video. I suggest we put
colorful tape on the spiral and numbers or letters to help orientate the
remote operator. Or anything else that helps to visually asses location
and movement (a square black and white grid, etc.) Please feel free to
experiment.
*We could run a test where we have a 'nursery' in one part of the farm
filled with baskets with seedlings, and then use the arm to distribute
all plants in the spiral. Timing theses procedures could give us a first
insight in efficiency.
*A second test is to try and use the webcam on the gripper as an
inspection tool for the plants.

Let's see what we can pull off tomorrow/Wednesday.

Cheers,
Angelo

PS: How's the Growtronix system doing? I saw temperatures of over 200
degrees? I guess things need to be calibrated still ;-)

[Ileana Argyris]

I remember reading somewhere that we can control the velocity of the servos using the software. 

I will look into making the spiral more colorful. I was thinking of making a degree system using the spiral so we know where 0, 90, 180, 270 and 360 are.

I can make the nursery, but it won't be complete by today. Would it be better if we test tomorrow so I can get the nursery up and running and work on the visibility?

The ec is calibrated for the Growtronix system. The water temperature is built into the ec sensor, and I haven't a clue how to calibrate that sensor to read the correct water temperature. I calibrated the pH sensor according to the instructions provided by Growtronix, but it reads the pH as a box. It worked before when I calibrated the pH with just a pH 7.0 solution. 

Best,

Ileana

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HI-SEAS space farm" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hi-seas-space-farm+unsub...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to hi-seas-space-farm@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

[Angelo Vermeulen]

Hi Ileana,

Yes, lets postpone the test till tomorrow. In the mean time these are suggestions:
*A degree system could work. And creating clear labels for each hole in the spiral. But also black & white checkerboard patterns, for example for the nursery area. Please test for yourself using ONLY the webcams to look at the farm.
*Don't worry too much about the nursery area: it doesn't have to be functional right now. Simply a flat surface with a tray with filled baskets could do the job (and not even the tray is needed). If you do have time to work on it, of course, by all means.
*We need to contact Growtronix about that temperature sensor (will send you the email address or cc you). It shouldn't have to be calibrated in the first place. What do you mean with "it reads pH as a box"?

Cheers,
Angelo

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hi-seas-space-f...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to hi-seas-s...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HI-SEAS space farm" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hi-seas-space-f...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to hi-seas-s...@googlegroups.com.

[Angelo Vermeulen]

Forgot to add to my previous message: Simon said he would look into adjusting the settings of the velocity of the base.

Cheers,
Angelo

[Ileana Argyris]

Hi Angelo,

I made a zero point, but I have yet to put the other degrees. Is the black and white checkerboard pattern just for the nursery area?

I tested four different colors of tape around the edges of the holes. The best color was white, but blue and red also worked well. Green was too dark. I attached a picture  Perhaps we could color code different sections for different ages (e.g. seedlings, 1 mo., 2 mo., 3 mo.) using the different tape colors to define the holes. Defining the holes with tape made it easier to move the plants around. I think the most important thing is still practice. ;) 

I started sectioning off the spiral using the corners of the platform as guides. That makes four sections. 

When I used the arm today, I noticed that it was pretty difficult to reach the plants nearest to the arm. It's not impossible, but the arm is straight up and down when reaching for the plants. 

I am going to make the nursery area tomorrow morning in time for the arm test which means making more baskets.

I've attached a screenshot of how the Growtronix system reads the pH of the water. I am going to recalibrate the pH sensor using only the 7.0 pH and see if that fixes it.

Best,

Ileana

[Angelo Vermeulen]

Hi Ileana,

Thanks for your message. I checked your photos and I have a few more suggestions/remarks.

I don't think that at this point we need color codes that indicate different ages. We simply need clear labels next to each hole. Simply sticking big letters next to each hole could help. The tape that you used now is still inadequate I'm afraid. We receive a low resolution image and then a strip of colored tape easily gets lost in the noise. You might want to use wider tape, or simply stick multiple pieces next to each other.

Could you please contact sa...@growtronix.com (or even better, call them?) to get all sensors properly working?

See you at 3pm!

Cheers,
Angelo

On 8/7/2013 9:56 PM, Ileana Argyris wrote:

[Ileana Argyris]

Hi Angelo,

 

The checkerboard nursery is up and ready for use. I placed wider tape around the holes, however I haven't labeled them yet. I'll contact Growtronix later today.

 

Thanks,

Ileana

[Ileana Argyris]

Hi Simon,

We were working with the arm today, but the arm got stuck in a hole in the spiral. The claw wasn't working (which was a simple fix and now it works), but now the arm's shoulder doesn't work.

Everything but the shoulder works fine. I powered the arm down and then powered it up again and it didn't work. I also rebooted the computer, but the arm's shoulder was still malfunctioning. At one point the shoulder would only move down but wouldn't go back up again.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Ileana 

[Simon Engler]

Okay, Let's try to connect online tomorrow to trouble shoot.

I would try powering off and gently manually move the arm through its range of motion.

Another possibility is that it fell out of calibration after you moved the arm down, it thought it was already all the way up. Is there a 'default' setting in the software?

I will dig a little into the info I have. I imagine there should be some kind of calibration routine for the arm.

When do you expect to be back at the ranch?

[Ileana Argyris]

Hi Simon,

I expect to be back at the ranch sometime tomorrow after 7 am. What is a good time for you?

Thanks,
Ileana

[Simon Engler]

My wake time is 8am here, will try to get online as soon as I can after that.

[Ileana Argyris]

Hi Simon,

After eight then! Please don't rush.

Thanks,
Ileana

[Ileana Argyris]

Hi Simon,

I wanted to check if it was the circuit board so I unplugged everything and plugged only the set of wires for the shoulder into one of the other pins on the chip and it still didn't work. Any more suggestions?

Thanks,
Ileana

[Simon Engler]

Hey there,

Still no luck I see, is there anything in the documentation about uploading files to the circuit board?

Perhaps try switching back to the manual slider controller, and see if that works.

[Ileana Argyris]

Hey,

 

I switched to the manual controller and the shoulder still doesn't work. The wrist rotate doesn't work either now.... The gripper doesn't work as well, though when I had it plugged into the computer it worked.

 

I'm going to look in the box and see if there is a problem there. There's only so much we can do without voiding the warranty.

 

Thanks,

Ileana

[Simon Engler]

Okay, well sounds like the arm itself rather than the servo chip.

Collin, the arm is having issues being controlled from the servo controller and the manual controller. Could you help trouble shoot?

Simon

[Simon Engler]

Another thought, does it look like water is forming in the components?
Is there dew on the robot arm overnight?

I am wondering if the humidity is causing issues.

Simon

[Angelo Vermeulen]

Yes please, don't void the warranty! We might have to send it back.

Cheers,
Angelo

[Simon Engler]

Hi Ileana,

Any luck seeing what might be wrong with the arm today?

Simon

[Ileana Argyris]

Hi Simon,

I couldn't find anything. I'll try again when I go back to the ranch.

Thanks,
Ileana

[Simon Engler]

Okay, let us know.

Both me and Angelo are very impressed, so if this is the end of the experiment it has been more successful than we had hoped given all the delays in shipping etc.

So, from me you have done an amazing job,and don't feel bad if the arm is down for the count. We have enough information and data to tell a good story about it and push for the second version. 

However, do have a look and see if you can get it running again. If not, please don't fret over it.

Simon

[Angelo Vermeulen]

I second this!
A

[Ileana Argyris]

Hi everyone,

I hope you are ready for tomorrow!!

I went to the ranch today and the power went out over the weekend. The farm is back up and running now. I trouble shooted with Erik from invenscience and all of the servos work except for the shoulder. The shoulder servo burnt out. Not to worry though! All we have to do is return the linear actuator to them and they will send out a new one on Wednesday so we can have it by the weekend.

Thanks,
Ileana

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HI-SEAS space farm" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to hi-seas-space-farm+unsub...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to hi-seas-space-farm@googlegroups.com.