Accomplishments
This past week, I became more familiar with grbl and G-Codes. I progressively tuned the firmware settings using UGS (Universal G-Code Sender) such that acceleration and feed rate (which is essentially max velocity) were safely maximized without stalling the stepper motors. If the velocity is too fast, the motors won’t be able to handle the strain and just stop rotating. I also created a gcode testfile that translates the cup from the origin to 10cm in the eight cardinal/diagonal directions and back again. This will be used for the demo this next week. Further details on validation are in the team report
Progress
I hope to purchase a different step of limit switches that are more physically compatible with the XY robot. I misunderstood how limit switches function: they have to be physically placed onto the ends of the “gantry” rails such that the levers depress when the cup reaches the end. This sends a signal to the firmware saying “stop moving! you’ve hit the end!” I mistakenly purchased a set of limit switches that are compatible with a 3D printer model, so I’ll get a different bunch to use and wire up. After that, homing should be enabled and we’ll be able to guarantee the location of the cup at all times, even after booting in.