Activity 3.2– Automation through Programming

 

Purpose

 

Congratulations! You have just landed your dream job. All of those hours you spent building and programming robots and gadgets when you were younger are about to pay off. Not many people are paid to play all day. The only problem is the manager told you the projects are a little behind. Boy, is that an understatement! The good thing is you are being allowed to put together a team of three people to help you get the work done, and you will have access to all the materials in the lab.

 

Looking around, you realize it’s time to get started.

 

Equipment

·        Problem sheets

·        Fischertechnik parts

 

Procedure

 

1.      Choose two other people to work with you on your team. Check with your teacher and make sure your team is okay.

2.      Read over the problems and discuss who will assume the primary responsibility for the engineering jobs. The duties are specified on each problem sheet. Everyone on the team will take part in all the phases of the design process, but one person will be primarily responsible to see that the job gets done. Each team member is expected to have on his/her data sheet and in his/her engineering notebook a hand sketch of the design, program, and answers for each problem.

·        Mechanical Engineer

·        Electrical Engineer

·        Computer Engineer

  

3.      Begin working on the problems. Make sure you document your design process in your engineering notebook and on the sheets provided by your teacher. Keep up with your progress on the problem check-off sheet.

 

 

 

 

 

Mission :

 

You and your friends have decided to drive to a movie. Before you can leave home, you need to prove to your parents that you really know how to drive a car. Your mission is to prove how responsible you are by simulating your trip to the movies using the fischertechnik parts.

 

Here is your Itinerary:

 

1.      Turn the headlights on.

2.      Put the motor in reverse (CCW) to back out of the driveway for 10 seconds.

3.      Stop the motor for at least 2 seconds before going forward.

4.      Put the motor in forward (CW) to drive down the road toward a friend’s house for 15 seconds.

5.      Upon arrival at the friend’s house, turn the motor and headlights off.

6.      After 11 seconds, the friend gets in the car and it’s time to go.

7.      Turn the headlights on and put the motor in drive (CW).

8.      Drive down the road until reaching the theatre (a 9 second drive).

9.      Once the theater is reached, park the car by turning the motor and headlights off. Watch the world’s shortest movie and 7 seconds later get back in the car.

10.  Turn the headlights on and put the motor in reverse (CCW) to back out of the parking spot (3 seconds).

11.  Stop the motor for 2 seconds before going forward.

12.  Put the motor in drive (CW) and drive back to your friend’s house to drop him/her off (a 9-second drive).

13.  Upon reaching the friend’s house, stop the motor for 5 seconds as you say goodnight to your friend and he/she gets out of the car.

14.  Put the motor in drive and drive home (a 15 second drive).

15.  Pull into the driveway and shut off the motor and lights.

16.  You are home again (make sure you end your program).

 

Duties:

 

Mechanical Engineer: Fasten one motor and one light to the base.

 

Electrical Engineer: Wire the motor and light to the interface. Don’t forget that output devices must be connected to M1, M2, M3, or M4.

 

Computer Engineer: Write a program that will simulate your night out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mission :

 

Silly Suzy consulted a marketing firm about ways to increase the number of customers visiting her Super Sandwich Shop. She has decided that a spinning “Silly Suzy’s Super Sandwich Shop” sign outside her shop will increase her business. You have been contracted by Silly Suzy to design and build the sign. For safety reasons, you must install an emergency stop switch for the sign.

 

Duties:

 

Mechanical Engineer: You must design a mechanism that will rotate the sign at a slow speed. Don’t forget that the purpose of the sign is for people to read it. If the sign rotates too quickly, it would be quite difficult for potential customers to read it. The mechanism must be completely automated (absolutely no human interaction).

 

Electrical Engineer: You should assist the mechanical engineer in the placement of the motor and emergency stop switch. Once these components are placed, you should connect the motor and switch to the interface using wires.

 

Computer Engineer: While the other engineers are busy working, you have to write a program that will control the sign. The program should cause the sign to rotate when the program is started and stop the rotation whenever the emergency switch is pressed.

 

 

 

 

Mission :

 

Many seismologists (people who study earthquakes) are concerned about the possibility of an earthquake shaking the daylights out of New York City . Eager Eddie, a world-renowned seismologist has contracted with you to build an excellent earthquake machine. This machine will test the durability of models of New York City skyscrapers in the event of an earthquake.

 

Duties:

 

Mechanical Engineer: Using a rack and pinion mechanism, simulate the motion of an earthquake. Consider the following:

 

1.      The pinion gear must be driven back and forth at least one inch.

2.      Sensors must be installed to alert the program when to change the direction of the pinion gear.

3.      The mechanism should be designed to continue its motion until the program is stopped.

 

Electrical Engineer: Work with the mechanical engineer to place the motor and sensors. Once placed, you connect the devices to the wire terminal using wires.

 

Computer Engineer: Create a program that will control Eager Eddie’s Earthquake Machine. The program should meet the following requirements:

 

1.      When a sensor is activated, the motor should reverse its direction immediately.

2.      The motor should maintain this direction until a second sensor is activated.

3.      When this second sensor is activated, the motor should again reverse directions and so on and so forth.

4.      The program should repeat this process until the program is manually stopped.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mission :

 

From your traffic control center, you see on a video monitor that a busy intersection is backing up in one direction. Your mission is to install a traffic light control system in the traffic control center that will enable you to keep traffic moving smoothly.

Duties:

 

Mechanical Engineer: You must design a light with green, yellow, and red lights. When Terry presses a switch, the signal should change from green to yellow to red. After the congestion has been eased, Terry should be able to press the switch again to turn the signal from red to green.

 

Electrical Engineer: You must work with the mechanical engineer and computer engineer to wire the three lights and switch.

 

Computer Engineer: While the other engineers are busy working, you have to write a program that will control the signal light. The program should be written so that the green light turns on when the program is started. When a switch is pressed, the yellow to red light sequence should begin. The yellow caution light should turn on for two seconds. When the same switch is pressed again, the light should change from red to green. The EDGE function block will come in handy in the program you develop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mission :

 

Traffic doesn’t run smoothly at an expressway off ramp. A traffic signal light needs to be installed to correct the problem. This signal light should automatically turn green when vehicles exiting the expressway pass over a sensor embedded in the road. The sensor will detect electromagnetic forces in the vehicle’s electrical systems.

Duties:

 

Mechanical Engineer: You must design and build a signal light with green, yellow, and red lights. When a vehicle passes over the sensor, the signal should change from red to green. After the vehicle has passed through the intersection, the signal should turn from green to yellow to red.

 

Electrical Engineer: You must work with the mechanical engineer and computer engineer to wire the three lights and switch.

 

Computer Engineer: While the other engineers are busy working, you have to write a program that will control the signal light. The program should be written so the red light turns on when the program is started. When a reed switch senses a magnetic field (the vehicle), the signal light should change from red to green, then back to red. The program should allow seven seconds for one vehicle to exit and more time if more than one vehicle is exiting. In the yellow to red light sequence, the yellow light will stay on for two seconds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mission :

 

Grandma is too old to get up and down stairs on her own. Your task is to design an elevator that Grandma can sit on to ride up and down the stairs.

 

Duties:

 

Mechanical Engineer: You must design an elevator that Grandma starts and will automatically travel from the first or second floor. The angle of the stairs is 30°.

 

Electrical Engineer: You must work with the mechanical engineer and computer engineer when wiring the limit switches, Grandma’s start/stop switch, and the elevator motor.

 

Computer Engineer: While the other engineers are busy working, you have to write a program that will run the elevator up and down the stairs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mission :

 

You are a robotics engineering team at Got’em Little Manufacturing Company. At the end of the manufacturing process, the robot picks up the manufactured parts and places them in containers for shipping. Your job is to build and test the automated system. To begin the task, your team needs to decide how many sensors the robot will use. The system should use at least one analog sensor.

 

Duties:

 

Mechanical Engineer: You must design a robot that picks up and places parts. At one end of its travel, the arm will pick up a little manufactured part. At the other end, it will drop the little part into a bin then return to the starting point to pick up another little part and so on.

 

Electrical Engineer: You must work with the mechanical engineer and computer engineer to wire the appropriate input and output devices to the interface.

 

Computer Engineer: While the other engineers are busy working, you have to write a program that will control the robot. Once the program has been started, the robot will move to the pick-up point. A sensor will signal the robot to stop and pick up the part with its electromagnet. The robot will then move to the opposite end of its travel where it will drop the part in the bin. The robot will repeat this process.

 

 

 

 

  

 

Mission :

 

You are an employee at a fischertechnik factory. Your job requires you to deliver parts to various floors of the factory. Since a lifetime of climbing up and down stairs doesn’t sound attractive to you, you seek an alternative. Luckily, you have found a solution to this problem. Before a full size freight elevator can be built, a fully functioning scaled model must be built.

 

Duties:

 

Mechanical Engineer: The fischertechnik factory has three floors so the elevator must have three stops: ground level, floor one, and floor two. The scale model must meet the following requirements:

 

1.      The ground floor should be no more than 1/2 inch from the base.

2.      The first floor must be exactly three inches above the base.

3.      The second floor must be exactly six inches above the base.

4.      The elevator floor must be large enough to fit two lights side by side.

5.      A section of each floor must be built for an elevator landing to stop at and must be large enough for two lights to fit side by side.

 

Electrical Engineer: While the mechanical engineer is busy building the elevator, you should be busy designing the wiring for this elevator. Each floor needs a sensor at every floor to detect the approaching elevator. The sensors should be installed so that when one is activated, the elevator will be level with the corresponding floor. Additional sensors must be installed on each floor for people to call the elevators. All sensors must be connected to inputs E1 through E8 using wires. You are responsible for connecting all the wires.

 

Computer Engineer: While the mechanical and electrical engineers are busy working, create a program that will control the elevator. Be extremely cautious with your design; you don’t want to trap people in the elevator. The program must meet the following requirements.

 

1.      When a button is pressed on any of the floors, the elevator should rise or descend to that floor level, unless the elevator is already at that floor.

2.      Using input from installed sensors, you must program the elevator to stop at the selected floor.

3.      The elevator must be ready for use at all times, so your program must be repeatable.

Problem Check-off Sheet

 

Problem	Hand sketch of device (student initials)	Hand sketch of problem (student initials)	Problem questions (student initials)	Problem completion (teacher signature)
(1) Road Trip
(2) Silly Suzy’s Sign
(3) Eager Eddie’s Machine
(4) Terry Traffic Tamer
(5) You Get Off Here
(6) Grandma’s Getting Old
(7) Pick and Place
Elevator Challenge
Portfolio Completion

 

 

 

Name _____________________________________   Section __________

Design Brief #1: Problem # _____

Task Analysis:

Describe what must be done to satisfy the design requirements of this problem.

 

 

 

Mechanical Engineering:

 

Draw an isometric sketch or two view orthographic sketch of the model. Label all electrical devices.

 

 

 

 

Electrical Engineering:

Show the connections between the interface and electrical device(s) in the sketch on the other side of this paper.

Note: If the sketch is an orthographic, show the connections in the front view only.

 

Computer Programming:

Draw a program flow chart of the solution to this problem.