The goals of performance test 1 were twofold; successfully program the AEV to stop at and travel through the first gate and determine which of two AEV designs is the most efficient. The different codes and designs that were used to perform this test as presented below.
Code 1 for Performance Test 1
reverse(4); //reverses all motors
motorSpeed(4,32); //sets motors to 32% power
goToAbsolutePosition(212); //commands vehicle to go to 212 marks from start
reverse(4);
motorSpeed(4,20);
goFor(3); //power brakes vehicle at 20% power for 3 seconds
brake(4);
goFor(12); //brakes vehicle for 12 seconds
reverse(4); //reverses motors
motorSpeed(4,30);
goToAbsolutePosition(510); //commands vehicle to travel to 510 marks from the start
Code 2 for Performance Test 1
reverse(4); //reverses all motors
motorSpeed(4,32); //sets motors to 32% power
goToAbsolutePosition(245); //vehicle travels to 245 marks from start
brake(4);
goFor(12); //brakes vehicle for 12 seconds
motorSpeed(4,30);
goToAbsolutePosition(510); vehicle travels to 510 marks from start at 30% power
Energy Graph for Both Designs
Inverted Wing Design
Design B
The performance of the first design (Design B) is compared with the performance of the second design (Inverted Wing Design) in terms of power used over time. The data beyond 10.22 seconds should be disregarded because it includes energy data from the AEV passing through the gate for the inverted wing design but not for Design B. Also, the output of energy from Design B between approximately 6 and 9 seconds was due to a reverse command that was not used for the inverted wing design.
The biggest takeaway from the first performance test was the decision to utilize the first design for future testing. Because it was clearly more energy efficient than the other design, it was an easy decision to choose this design for the remainder of the AEV project. Another takeaway was a foundational code that would help in future testing. Being able to complete the requirements for Performance Test 1 is necessary to complete Performance Test 2 and the final performance test. Therefore, Performance Test 1 provided a code to build off of and prepared the team to test the AEV’s abilities to perform more complicated tasks.