Laser Cutting the Prototype Enclosure

We spent some time on Monday working with the TA to help us laser cut the layers of acrylic to make our prototype enclosure. You can see pictures of that below.

Here is the green acrylic being laser cut. 

Here is the blue acrylic being laser cut. 

The green acrylic came out beautifully. 

Here is the enclosure being held together with the #8-32 bolts. They are going to the wrong way then the design says but thats just to hold it together right now. This gives a picture of what the final product will look like. 

A close up of how the DB9 serial connectors will feed through the top part of the case. 

The ethernet cables will feed through the slots built in like this. They will be epoxied in place to make sure no water is let in. 

Next part is to epoxy the bottom layers together and find a gasket for it!

-WK

Figuring out the terminals on the battery

One problem that we were having was trying to figure out which terminal was which on the battery in terms of negative and positive. I wanted to hook up a LED to the battery because LEDs will only light up when hooked up one way. The problem was that we only had 5v LEDs which wont work with 12v without blowing them. I asked professor Sullivan and he said that I should take advantage of the voltage drop that happens with each LED when they are hooked up in series. Each LED has a 1.7v drop when hooked up in series so I hooked up 7 LEDs with a resistor just to be safe. The circuit that was made helped to figure out the battery terminals. You can see in the pictures below the circuit only lights up when hooked up one way.

-WK

Websites that were found today that will be used further down the road in the building process.

• http://www.techmonkeybusiness.com/ps2-controllers-on-arduinos.html
• http://www.lungstruck.com/projects/ps2-motor-controller/
• http://www.billporter.info/2010/06/05/playstation-2-controller-arduino-library-v1-0/

And so the coding begins...

This is the beginning to controlling the 4 motors of the ROV. I wrote this code so that the speed of a motor, using port M1 on the Adafruit MotorShield, is controlled via the position of the potentiometer. Its very rough but its gets the job done!

Team-Subzero
============
/*
William Kammerer
11/21/14
Adafruit Motorshield V2 Team SubZero
*/

#include <Wire.h>
#include <Adafruit_MotorShield.h>
#include "utility/Adafruit_PWMServoDriver.h"

//Create the motor shield object with the default I2C address
Adafruit_MotorShield AFMS = Adafruit_MotorShield();
//Try to designate the address of the shield as 0x1 or 0x61
//Adafruit_MotorShield AFMS = Adafruit_MotorShield (0x1)
//Adafruit_MotorShield AFMS = Adafruit_MotorShield (0x61)

//Select which port M1, M2, M3 or M4
//In this case we are using port M1
Adafruit_DCMotor *Motor1 = AFMS.getMotor(1);
//To select another motor on a port you can use 
//Adafruit_DCMotor *Motor# = AFMS.getMotor(2);

void setup()
{
  //Set up Serial library at 9600 bits per second
  Serial.begin(9600);
  //Print message to serial monitor
  Serial.println("SubZero Motor Controller");
  
  //Create AFMS with a default fequency 1.6KHz
  //Also can be created using a different frequency i.e. 1.0KHz
  //AFMS.begin(1000)
  AFMS.begin();
  
  //Turn motor on
  Motor1->run(FORWARD);
  Motor1->run(RELEASE);
}
  
void loop()
{
  
 int sensorValue = analogRead(A0);

 float dot = sensorValue * (255.0 / 1023.0); 
 
 delay(50);
  
 Serial.println(dot);
 
 //Set the speed of the motor, from the position of the pot
  Motor1->setSpeed(dot);
  
 Motor1->run(FORWARD);
 
}

-WK

Enclosure Design and 3D Modeling

This is the design for the enclosure that I have been playing around with. A way to bond the layers of acrylic is still needed to be found. 

The submersible ROV body that we put together was modeled in SolidWorks for the presentation that will be done on the December 4th, 2014.

-WK

Pictures of tonight's progress

Some pictures from tonight's work session.  
We also have a few logo ideas and those ideas are posted up with more progress on that to come.

Sleep is for the weak(end)

The team got together tonight and got a lot of things done.  A list minute Radio Shack trip was made right before they closed and a few things were picked up.  Much more still needs to be done as we work against the clock.  Tonight we have some special Vlogs as well as a video of another water test in the public bathroom tub.  Pictures will be posted soon.  We also have a creative logo being designed and that should be finalized soon.  Watch the Vlogs below to learn more about tonight's work.

DC Motor with plastic propeller underwater test:

Vlog 4.1:

Vlog 4.2:

- ZM

PS2 Controller and DC Propellers

I have been doing some continued research on the play station controller as well as different propellers for the DC motors.  Here are some of the links.

PS2:

http://www.lungstruck.com/projects/ps2-motor-controller/

http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=11299.90

http://tecnomente.altervista.org/2014/03/29/use-ps2-controller-on-pc-and-ps3-with-arduino/

DC Propeller:

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-astronautics/16-01-unified-engineering-i-ii-iii-iv-fall-2005-spring-2006/systems-labs-06/spl3.pdf

- ZM

Enclosure and Controller Work

Over the last few days I have been working on a prototype enclosure just to throw some ideas around.

I also worked on the controller. I had initially stripped the ends of a PS2 controller but the wires were too wide when soldered at the ends. I ended up resoldering the ends and using shrink wrap to seal the connections.

 We have power! The next step is figuring out how to interface the signals of the PS2 controller to the Arduino.

-WK

Last night's work

Last night we got a few things done and we started some others.  We finished with the pvc pipe frame and also salvaged some motors and connected them to the motor shield.  Last night we also tested a computer fan in the bathtub to see if it would work underwater. We also begat to take apart our playstation 2 controller to see how we could use it for the project. 

Here is also a video of our PC Fan water test.

- JB and ZM

Its Never Too Late for an Engineer

So earlier tonight we worked on finishing up the PVC Pipe design for the SubZero ROV, as well as modified a PS2 controller to hopefully work with an Arduino, and attached the DC Motors to an Adafruit motor shield.  We also tested a DC Cooling Fan under water.  Enjoy the Vlog.

- ZM

DC Cooling Fans

Here are a few links that I stumbled upon last night regarding the cooling fans we have.  How they work, wiring diagrams, and forums of other people talking are all represented.

Websites of company that creates the model we have:

http://www.jmcproducts.com/dc-fans/

http://www.jmcproducts.com/fan-selection/

How the fans work and diagrams:

http://pcbheaven.com/wikipages/How_PC_Fans_Work/

Forum of other people:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/325628-28-wiring-direct

http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=160353.0

- ZM

We had some extra time so....

Tonight we had some extra time and decided to cut some pieces for the structure of the ROV.  We also disassembled a few computer fans that we got and fiddled around with them.  

Sorry about the blurry pictures

- JB

Similar ROV projects and waterproofing ideas

The first link shows a website with guide on how to waterproof an enclosure.

http://www.homebuiltrovs.com/

The second and third links are similar projects to what we are building. 

http://www.instructables.com/id/Underwater-ROV/?ALLSTEPS

http://www.instructables.com/id/Seaperch/?ALLSTEPS

- WK

Similar Underwater ROV

Here is a video that I have found that uses the similar technologies and ideas.  This might be helpful to us.  Check it out!

- ZM

Pictures

Finally posting the pictures from the cardboard prototyping meeting.   We also included a picture of the materials from scavenging around the house.  Both of which we did on November 4th.  This afternoon we took a trip to Lowes to purchase some materials.   Included are some pictures from the trip.  

- JB