Using the Disk Feeder
Teacher Toolbox
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Activity Outline
In this activity, students will be introduced to using the Disk Feeder with conveyor systems. Students will build a project to move two green disks through the Conveyor System using sensor feedback from the Optical Sensor and VEX Infrared Line Trackers.
Students will program the first green disk to be picked up and dropped off to a known location using the arm mounted on the VEX V5 Workcell. The second green disk will be diverted off of the Exit Conveyor.
Students will be introduced to using Boolean variables in their VEXcode V5 project to track if a green disk has already been picked up and placed. This allows any other green disks introduced via the Disk Feeder to be diverted off of the Exit Conveyor.
Students will begin the activity by opening the ‘Arm Workcell - With Sensors’ example project.
| Quantity | Materials Needed |
|---|---|
| 1 |
VEX V5 Workcell |
| 1 | |
| 1 |
Engineering Notebook |
| 1 |
Device to run VEXcode V5 |
| 1 |
Micro-USB cable |
| 2 |
Colored Disks (2x green) |
Teacher Tips
- Ensure the V5 Battery is charged before beginning.
- Ensure the V5 Brain is connected to a device before beginning.
- Point students to the VEX Robotics Knowledge Base if they have further questions about VEXcode V5 or the hardware.
- Ensure students have their mastering values readily available from Lab 1.
- Students may need to adjust the value of the [Wait] blocks when testing the conveyors to ensure they spin long enough to transfer the disk.
- Ensure the blocks from the ‘Motion’ category have the correct motor name. If not, the conveyors may not spin properly.
- Before testing multiple iterations of this project, ensure the Diverter is in the proper location before starting. If not, manually move the Diverter to the proper starting location.
- If the Disk Feeder dispenses too many disks at once or does not dispense them cleanly, try changing the velocity of the Entry Motor or reducing the number of seconds in the [Wait] block that the Entry Conveyor spins.
- If the project is not working as intended, review the threshold values of the Line Trackers. These values may change and the <Greater than> blocks parameter in the project may need to be adjusted.
In this section, you will be introduced to using the Disk Feeder with conveyor systems. You will build a project to move two green disks through the Conveyor System using sensor feedback from the Optical Sensor and VEX Infrared Line Trackers.
You will program the first green disk to be picked up and dropped off to a known location using the VEX V5 Workcell. The second green disk will be diverted off of the Exit Conveyor.
You will be introduced to using Boolean variables in their VEXcode V5 project to track if a green disk has already been picked up and placed. This allows any other green disks introduced via the Disk Feeder to be diverted off of the Exit Conveyor.
You will begin the activity by opening the ‘Arm Workcell - With Sensors’ example project.