Motor Configuration

The different motor configurations that we tested were having one motor on each side, one motor of the back left, and one motor on the back right of the AEV. Having a single motor on either side decreased the stability of our AEV, causing it to tilt to the side.  This likely had an effect on the poor performance of the motors on only one side.  Having the one motor on the right side of the AEV performed better than the left.  This was likely also due to the balance of the AEV being off.  Therefore, we decided to have one motor on each side of the AEV is the best configuration.

Motor Quantity

Originally we thought that having one motor for the AEV might be a good idea because it would decrease weight and cost.  However, one motor, positioned on either side of the AEV was considerably weaker than using two motors.  First we tested the two motors on the back of the AEV at 40% power.  Then, we tested the one motor on either side of the AEV, also at 40% power.  However, this amount of power with only one motor was not enough to get the AEV to move.  So we had to increase the power to 60% get the AEV to move.  With this power level, the two motors together traveled a further distance forward, and backward, than a single motor.  The single motors hardly moved backward at all.  Also, using a single motor at a high power caused the motor to be under a lot of stress and make a really loud noise. In order for our AEV to be able to perform the course and meet the MCR, we will need to use two motors.