week 10 goals

Today, we caught up on the blogs and then have learned to code for our own motors with the relays. now we have to multiply this process three more times to make the other three motors work simultaneously. once we get this done we should finish this long project.

week 9 accomplishments

We managed to get one relay to move a motor one direction with some help from Michael.  It's also coded to be remote controlled so it can easily be transferred from breadboard to prototank.  This week we also managed to get a motor to move forward and backward remotely using 2 relays as seen in the picture.

week 9 goals

This week we are getting motor relays to use since we accidentally burnt our motor shield.  We decided against trying the shield again because we think it can't handle the amount of amps we are trying to pull from it, while the relays should handle plenty.  We plan on using a total of 4 relays for all 4 motors to go back and forward since 2 motors are always moving the same direction (each relay tells a motor to move one direction, so we only need 2 relays for each side).

week 8 accomplishments

We figured out how to make it move. We had it about 5 minutes from working efficiently. All we had to do was wire it nicely. We turned it on and it worked perfectly for about 5 seconds then spontaneously combusted. It turns out we tried to put more power than the motor controllers can handle. go figure!

Week 8 Goals

Because there wasn't enough power to move all 4 motors in our H-bridge design, this week we are looking to either find a bigger battery or come up with a new method of motor control.  We have larger batteries than the 9-volt we've been using so we should be able to make that idea work.  If we go with a different design it will probably use a motor shield.

Week 7 Accomplishments

This week we managed to get the H-bridge to work.  With help from our friend Michael, we wired the H-bridge to run 2 motors pretty well.  We tried to duplicate the wiring on the other side so we could run all 4 motors and it sort of worked.  There wasn't enough power to run all 4 so they all moved extremely slowly.

Week 7 Goals

This week we will start programming the tank to run all 4 motors.  Right now it's set to just move forward and backward at timed intervals.  Eventually, hopefully this week, it will be remote controlled.

Week 6 Friday

Our friend who also works with arduino is helping us with the tank.  He has managed to get us a working code for the H-Bridge and now both of us have started work on wiring the H-Bridge to control a motor.

week 6 goals

we have just gotten back from spring break and now its time to get back to work. we are going to try to search other instructables for guidance and hope for the best. maybe we can get past step one of getting this robot to move.

weekly accomplishments week 4/5

okay so this week me and nick have looked all over for a way to make the motors move. since i have gotten back from colorado me and nick have tried many variations with wiring and codes and nothing has worked yet. hopefully we will have better luck after the break??!

weekly goals 4/5

well for half this week i will be away in Colorado. i will be away on family vacation. when i get back ill maintain the blogs and try to wrap my brain around making the robot go!

weekly accomplishments 3

this weeks accomplishments have been putting the tank together, and trying to learn how to code and wire the motors.

weekly goals 3

my goals for this week is to put all the motors on the tank and try to wire it ad get it just running. this will be hard to accomplish do to balancing of the project with time.this is what ive accomplished today.

weekly accomplishments 2

ok, so far i have learned to but i am not 100 percent on making motors run. mr.martin has showed me the link to the intructables and has told me to make a list and a box for the next up coming week.

weekly goals 2

I am working toward wiring a motor and making it work without problems. These motors will end up moving tank treads allowing the tank to move.

weekly accomplishments

This week i have learned to navigate myself around this program called circuits.io .
This website is a virtual arduino to practice. I learned how to successfully do the blink wired and coded. I also learned how to do them in an array of lights.

my goals this week 3/6

My over all goal is to be able to control this proto-tank. The goal for this week is to learn the basics of arduino and how to do blink. I intend to able to find how to code and wire what ever i need.