Pictures, Videos, and Scores

[cubes]

I am using a servo from an rc car for the steering of my EV but it seems that just 1 degree in my Arduino program is enough to change the car from swerving to the left to the right. Are there any tips for controlling the direction of the EV using rc steering servos?

This is what I did during invites. from my experience you have 2 options (I'm assuming you're doing the bonus if you're trying to steer):

1. travel straight towards the cans and change the servo angle during the run to turn back towards the track (I did this and would not recommend, it is hard to do accurately).

2. If your servo isn't geared down already, gear it way down so you can utilize more of the servo's range of motion for accuracy and torque (a 90 degree change on the servo might be a 5 degree angle change actually, for example)

What exactly is gearing down the servo and how would i do that? Thanks for the reply.

[4Head]

I am using a servo from an rc car for the steering of my EV but it seems that just 1 degree in my Arduino program is enough to change the car from swerving to the left to the right. Are there any tips for controlling the direction of the EV using rc steering servos?

This is what I did during invites. from my experience you have 2 options (I'm assuming you're doing the bonus if you're trying to steer):

1. travel straight towards the cans and change the servo angle during the run to turn back towards the track (I did this and would not recommend, it is hard to do accurately).

2. If your servo isn't geared down already, gear it way down so you can utilize more of the servo's range of motion for accuracy and torque (a 90 degree change on the servo might be a 5 degree angle change actually, for example)

What exactly is gearing down the servo and how would i do that? Thanks for the reply.

You need a gear servo horn that meshes with a larger gear. The larger gear, when attached with the servo gear, will turn a lot less compared to the servo. This will amplify the accuracy and torque output of the larger gear compared to the servo.

[mnoga]

At the Silicon Valley Regional yesterday the supervisor set the distance at 10.0m, but somehow make a mistake and placed the midpoint at 5.5m and set the actual distance at 10.5. We caught their mistake regarding the midpoint, but the supervisor would not change the midpoint to 5.0m, and we were forced to run through cans at 5.5m. We did manage to score approximately zero on the 2nd run as we were approx 8cm from the target with a speed of 3 seconds and bonus of 11. We did finish 1st.

We did not realize that the actual distance was off by 0.5m until later when we starting assessing why we were 0.45m short on the 1st run and observing that another quality team running straight (without cans) was 0.6m short on their first run. Embarrassing that this event could be run so badly.

Wow, that's terrible. I hope it's run better at states! Congrats on doing as well as you did, though

We (Mtn View) did manage to win the NorCal State Championship with a score of approximately -6.5. The event was run professionally with target point set at 11.3 meters. We were so happy we had no hassles like at our Regional. Our two runs were completed in 5 minutes, 30 seconds. Mira Loma (who won EV at Golden Gate) placed 2nd in the event.

[DoctaDave]

At the Silicon Valley Regional yesterday the supervisor set the distance at 10.0m, but somehow make a mistake and placed the midpoint at 5.5m and set the actual distance at 10.5. We caught their mistake regarding the midpoint, but the supervisor would not change the midpoint to 5.0m, and we were forced to run through cans at 5.5m. We did manage to score approximately zero on the 2nd run as we were approx 8cm from the target with a speed of 3 seconds and bonus of 11. We did finish 1st.

We did not realize that the actual distance was off by 0.5m until later when we starting assessing why we were 0.45m short on the 1st run and observing that another quality team running straight (without cans) was 0.6m short on their first run. Embarrassing that this event could be run so badly.

Wow, that's terrible. I hope it's run better at states! Congrats on doing as well as you did, though

We (Mtn View) did manage to win the NorCal State Championship with a score of approximately -6.5. The event was run professionally with target point set at 11.3 meters. We were so happy we had no hassles like at our Regional. Our two runs were completed in 5 minutes, 30 seconds. Mira Loma (who won EV at Golden Gate) placed 2nd in the event.

That's odd. My distance was 2.5 cm, with a can separation of less than 20 cm. (I didn't have time to measure it but it was definitely less than 20cm.) I also had a time score of around 3.5 seconds. By that I should have a score of at least -10...

I'll post a video of my run when my friend sends it to me.

[DoctaDave]

Wow, that's terrible. I hope it's run better at states! Congrats on doing as well as you did, though

We (Mtn View) did manage to win the NorCal State Championship with a score of approximately -6.5. The event was run professionally with target point set at 11.3 meters. We were so happy we had no hassles like at our Regional. Our two runs were completed in 5 minutes, 30 seconds. Mira Loma (who won EV at Golden Gate) placed 2nd in the event.

That's odd. My distance was 2.5 cm, with a can separation of less than 20 cm. (I didn't have time to measure it but it was definitely less than 20cm.) I also had a time score of around 3.5 seconds. By that I should have a score of at least -10...

I'll post a video of my run when my friend sends it to me.

Here's a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQcBCKK ... e=youtu.be

You can see the cans are pretty close, and it's really close to the target as well.

[mnoga]

We (Mtn View) did manage to win the NorCal State Championship with a score of approximately -6.5. The event was run professionally with target point set at 11.3 meters. We were so happy we had no hassles like at our Regional. Our two runs were completed in 5 minutes, 30 seconds. Mira Loma (who won EV at Golden Gate) placed 2nd in the event.

That's odd. My distance was 2.5 cm, with a can separation of less than 20 cm. (I didn't have time to measure it but it was definitely less than 20cm.) I also had a time score of around 3.5 seconds. By that I should have a score of at least -10...

I'll post a video of my run when my friend sends it to me.

Here's a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQcBCKK ... e=youtu.be

You can see the cans are pretty close, and it's really close to the target as well.

Sorry, I misstated our score, it was actually lower, but I'm not sure of the exact total, but somewhere around -10. I used a number reported by someone who estimated the score, but who didn't actually calculate the value accurately.

[fn2187]

Here is my vehicle from this year which is able to consistently score around -14 to -15:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKC8MYR ... e=youtu.be

Did you use the bearing blocks from the BaneBot website?

[Bazinga+]

Here is my vehicle from this year which is able to consistently score around -14 to -15:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKC8MYR ... e=youtu.be

Did you use the bearing blocks from the BaneBot website?

No, i believe that those are tetrix pillow bearing blocks.

[fn2187]

Here is my vehicle from this year which is able to consistently score around -14 to -15:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKC8MYR ... e=youtu.be

Did you use the bearing blocks from the BaneBot website?

No, i believe that those are tetrix pillow bearing blocks.

Where would you recommend we should buy bearings from?

[4Head]

Did you use the bearing blocks from the BaneBot website?

No, i believe that those are tetrix pillow bearing blocks.

Where would you recommend we should buy bearings from?

Not Bazinga, but ServoCity bearings are cheap and really good for their price, as are sparkfun bearings.