Martinrea Open House
Benzene Bots at 2018 Michigan States
Benzene Bots team performed great at the Michigan State Championship. As a result, our team moved up in the ranking and we’re now ranked 70th out of 500+ teams in Michigan. Our team made to the finals in our division. We were the eight seed alliance caption.
New Martinrea Building
Our new shop as of January 4th, 2018! Needless to say, lots to do in short order.
Shop Address: 2100 N Opdyke Rd, Auburn Hills, MI 48326
EKGAR – Bill of Materials
Parts List (Bill of Materials or BOM) for EKGAR
| Description | Name | Qty | Cost | Total | Ali Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main CPU | ESP32 Dev Board | 1 | $12.00 | $12.00 | $7.60 |
| Hub Axles | 1/4-20 Cap Head Bolt 3 1/2″ | 12 | $0.36 | $4.33 | |
| Hub Washer | 1/4″ SAE Zink Plated | 12 | $0.02 | $0.19 | |
| Motor Driver | L298N Dual H Bridge | 2 | $8.00 | $16.00 | $1.52 |
| Battery Holder | Six AA Battery Pack | 1 | $2.08 | $2.08 | $0.80 |
| Ultrasonic | Ultrasonic Range Sensor | 1 | $12.00 | $12.00 | $1.08 |
| Sensor Servo | SG90 Micro Servo Motor | 1 | $1.70 | $1.70 | $1.13 |
| Alum. Base | 6061 Aluminum 7.5″x12″ | 1 | $5.90 | $5.90 | |
| Small Screw | 4-40 Cap Head Screw x 1/2″ | 24 | $0.04 | $0.92 | |
| Small Nut | 4-40 Nut | 24 | $0.01 | $0.24 |
EKGAR – New CAD
EKGAR – Every Kid Gets A Robot
Just a quick pic of new CAD data. The front hub support has been reworked so that the bolt interference problem is gone. Plus, the track is now simulated using the “belt-drive” feature in SolidWorks. The new CAD data will soon be on GitHub.
About FIRST
Placeholder for all things FIRST
Sponsors
This page is all about sponsors.
Distance Measurement using VL6180X & ESP32
This post is just to document using a VL6180X Satellite module to measure distance to a range of 100mm (about 4 inches).
The VL6180X Datasheet can be found here and the VL6180X Satellite can be found here.
The VL6180X Satellites come in a little package from ST Micro. Inside are two identical VL6180X modules. Each module has a voltage regulator, a bunch of passive parts, and the VL6180X chip.
Here are a couple things to know about the chip:
- Communicates using i2c.
- Operates on 2.7V (hence the regulator).
- Has a range of 100mm (about 4 inches).
- Can output ambient light levels and distance at about 10Hz.
- There are ready made libraries available inside the Arduino IDE. Simply search for the libraries using the keyword “VL6180X”. Adafruit, among others, should pop right up. This post uses the library from Pololu that can be found here. Note, it is simpler to use the library manager inside the Arduino IDE to install this software, as compared to, installing using the provided link.
Continue reading “Distance Measurement using VL6180X & ESP32”
Useful Links
- FIRST Web Site: This is a link to the official FIRST web site. This is the place to go to setup your FIRST account. This is a requirement for every student.
https://my.firstinspires.org/Dashboard/
- OCCRA: “Oakland County Competitive Robotics Association” is a fall competition for just Oakland County schools. The competition is run in the fall and is kind of a mini FIRST.