RoBOP-a-Mole - helix

WHAT WE LEARNED
In this project, the team became accustomed to applied robotics, mainly learning to
autonomously extract geometric information from the camera’s image and use that
information to perform a particular task. The team members acquainted themselves with the
provided equipment and learned that it is important to work within the parameters of the
equipment; for example, the pause function stopped the Matlab script from advancing ahead
of the arm’s movements. It was found there were many ways to approach a problem, as was
the case with the vision system. As with the vision system and the predetermined robot arm
orientations, the best solution was usually the simplest and the quickest. Considering the
equipment itself, it was found that the camera had a slow refresh rate and had difficulties
handling glare. Fortunately, the problem of glare was easily solved by lowering the threshold
percent. The robot arm, although difficult to calibrate, proved to be fast and simple to
control, perfect for the whacking motion needed to simulate a person swinging a hammer.
Finally, the group learned how to integrate multiple hardware and software components to
create a functional robotic system.
IMPROVEMENTS
Although the system was completely functional, there are several possibilities of
improving the overall performance. For instance, instead of hitting the moles in a numerical
order, the robot could have hit them in a time-optimized order, thereby decreasing the amount
of time needed to whack all the moles on the board. Also, instead of returning to its initial
position after one pass, the robot could have continuously whack moles. In order to do this,
the camera would’ve needed to ignore the robot arm while it was moving. In addition, a timer
could have been utilized instead of having a person end the program. This could have been
done in a while loop that kept track of time. Finally, a score system could have been
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