Lab 1:
Basic Function Calls Glossary:
1. celerate(m, p1, p2, t); – Accelerates or decelerates motor(s) m from start speed (%) p1 to end speed (%) p2 over a duration of t seconds
2. motorSpeed(m,p); – Initializes motor(s) m at percent power p
3. goFor(t); – Runs the motor(s) at their initialized state for t second
4. brake(m); – Brakes motor(s) m. Note: This does NOT brake the AEV, just stops the motors from spinning
5. reverse(m); – Reverses the polarity of motor(s) m
6. goToRelativePosition(n); – Continues the previous command for n marks from the vehicle’s current position. n can be positive or negative, with positive meaning the vehicle is moving forward, negative meaning the vehicle is moving backward
7. goToAbsolutePosition(n); – Continues the previous command for n marks relative to the overall starting position of the AEV
Progress Report Questions
1. During the lab, the motors performed mostly as expected. They began to rotate as per the code we wrote, and there was little resistance observed in the motors at any speed of the propellers. There was however, slight delays between when the brake command executed and when the propellers actually came to a full stop
Lab 2:
1. The external sensors attached correctly to the arm of the AEV:
2. The reflectance sensors are used to register every time the reflectant tape passes by the sensors; which is then show how many inches the AEV has moved based upon the marks recorded passing. This will help achieve our MCR because it will help in the programming. By knowing how far the AEV traveled and how far it must go before stopping at a sensor we can program the AEV to stop so that we stop exactly on target every time. This will help deliver accuracy in the final testing of our AEV.
Progress Report Questions
Lab 1: The motors appeared to work perfectly fine at high speeds. However, on low speeds the motors were observed to have trouble spinning the fan blades due to high resistance.
Lab 2: The command that brakes the AEV actually only stops the motor from running. Then, the friction between the bearings on the wheels and the actual wheels is what causes the AEV to stop. As a result, the time to stop the motor and stop the AEV are not the same. This could cause difficulty in locating the correct time or location to stop the motors and could cause fluctuation between trials.