Have you ever wanted to augment your reality? Today our team went to the Queen’s University Integrated Learning Center to see a demo of Augmented Reality Pool.
This is a project being worked on by one of our mentors who helped with programming and vision code this past season. He wanted to show us that some of the same techniques that our team used are being used by researchers in computer vision in other areas too.
We had a brief tour of the ILC, and learned about what goes on in the building. Many of us have been there before for Science Quest, or for our FLL practice tournament a few years ago. There is usually NOT a big tent set up in the computer area though. This is a special demo set up for A.R. Pool.
It needs to be under a tent to control the lighting on the pool table. There are cameras and a projector involved in the game, so lighting is very important. The cameras are supposed to detect where the balls are, and where the cue is, and the projector will then trace lines showing where the balls will travel after they are hit at a specific angle.
Unfortunately, when we arrived for our tour and demo, there were a few technical issues. The camera settings were off….
…so those got changed….
…and then the lengthy calibration process had to happen.
We know all about calibration. It is such an important step in making any system function well. We had days of calibration in the warehouse before our robot was shooting well.
Although we didn’t see any A.R. Pool today, we have been invited to come back tomorrow to try again. We definitely got a better appreciation of the calibration process though!
Our programming/drive team is optimistic about how well we can perform in St. Louis. We’ll be playing in the Archimedes division with our friends 1114, 2056 and 781. We’re looking forward to a strong Canadian presence in the division.
While all of this is going on, there’s a small group of purple enthusiasts who are choosing the colour to paint our robot cart. We’re thinking that “Victory Purple” would be a great choice…because it would match M.E.L.
While at robotics we have been experimenting with different hair styles…today Sam wore a hairband!
We shared snacks….
…and had a fantastic BBQ chicken dinner! Thanks parents for feeding us so well.
Later in the evening we welcomed more people into our big purple family!
…eating snacks…
…and having fun…
…watching blue flashing LEDs
In between times while programming was happening, we played some games…
It’s nice to have tall ceilings and big open spaces to pass the ball around.
We even take a crack at shooting baskets from time to time. The robot is much more consistent at scoring than we are though!
We’re spending our time trouble-shooting and checking for leaks and making sure that everything is connected properly. 
It’s not always fun and games though–there’s always homework of one kind or another that needs to get done.
…it’s so nice to lay down and relax….it’s almost like having a beach vacation!
We applied reflective tape to our third target, and our programmers got right to work implementing the changes to the vision algorithm…
…while our mechanical crew attached the shooter to the platform.
Spring is in the air….and pool noodles have hit the store shelves. We’re stocking up for spare bumper parts for St. Louis….but in the mean time, they’re pretty fun to play with. 
Tomorrow we’ll be doing a robot demo for parent-teacher interviews (K-Bots, please show up at 6PM to prepare). Friday we’ll be back at the warehouse 5PM-8PMish working on calibrating the shooter.
Today a reporter came to take a few pictures for EMC. A few of us got interviewed for next week’s paper.
The shooter needed a few adjustments for our upcoming competition in Waterloo. But for the shooter repairs we were missing a few tools so some of us walked to Lowe’s, twice. It’s looking pretty good so far.
Later on Sam and Mike decided to play some 21…
The final score was Sam 21 and Mike 16…. can you guess why? Look at the shots!
After the game they were both pretty exhausted….but thankfully still friends. They just needed a hug.
K-Bots: we’re meeting at the Transformix Plant 2 Warehouse from 5:30PM-8:00 PM tomorrow evening. See you there!
Programming is happening so we can test our shooter tomorrow in the warehouse.
Knitting is happening so everyone has a team hat for competition. We’ve got only a few more to go!
Today’s major project involved a lot of vacuuming! We have spent the last few meetings working on creating a vacuum former to create our chain guards. Today we put the finishing touches on, and gave it a try.
We needed to make a mold for our chain guard, which included some creative measurements through the bag. We’re really glad the bags are clear! After our measuring we used styrofoam, cardboard and duct tape to create a 3-D shape that melted plastic would form to.
Since thin Lexan is about $80 a sheet, we had the brilliant idea of using crazy carpets instead. They are on sale now–we’ve not had much snow this winter! We were lucky to find some in our team colours at Canadian Tire.
The crazy carpet was cut out to fit on our frame.
We used a staple gun to attach it. It’s important to put the staples close together. We used a hammer to make sure the staples were secure.
Next came the vacuum contest….which vacuum sucked the most! Our vacuum from our workroom had holes in the tube and a clogged filter. The custodian’s vacuum was not much better. Thankfully one mentor lives really close to the school–her vacuum sucked the best!
We put the plastic into the oven which had been set to broil. We watched as the plastic went wavy, then flat. When it is flat, it is ready to go.
The vacuum was turned on, the mold was placed on the vacuum box, and the plastic sheet overturned on top of it all. Using oven mitts and a heat gun we massaged the plastic in place around the mold. There’s a bit of a learning curve with this process. Sometimes there are holes. After our 4th try we got a really good one!
We chilled it in the fridge to cool it down a bit.
Then we removed the plastic from the frame and took the mold out and cut around our shape to reveal the coolest chain guard ever!
We’re taking our vacuum forming supplies and our robot shooter to Transformix tomorrow to keep working.
…and pre-competition scouting is being started. It’s hard to believe that some teams are already headed to their first competitions. We’ll be doing the same thing in a week!
We’re working on mounting our ball launcher on a robot height platform so we can continue to work on our programming this weekend. 
Programmers are hard at work. 
Today we learned how to revive a corrupt cRIO! If you’re dealing with a similar issue, please check out our 
We have been trying hard to get an accurate weight for our robot so we know what leeway we have to add more appendages. We weighed the bagged robot, and then the bag….did you know that the bag weighs 2.5 pounds?! 
We’re working away, enjoying our lovely new work tables. Thanks so much to 
Today we continued to cut holes in our robot…
….and we are optimistic about reaching the 120 pound weight limit.
We’re filing down all of our parts to keep things smooth and to lose weight where we can.
As the mechanical team finished up their work, the programmers kept working hard writing code….
….while wires were run between all of the robot’s electrical components.
Our human players took to the field to try their long distance shots.
We had two really great meals which kept us working hard all day.
We’re realizing the importance of washing hands before we eat. Look at all of the dirt!
After getting the mechanical and electrical and pneumatic systems all rigged up, we ran into some issues with our victors…
…and our jags…
We’re working hard to resolve these issues, so we can make our robot fully operational!
