Week 10
Situation
This week the team continued working on the initial code that would coast to a stop . The code was very energy efficient but unreliable and the team decided that moving on to the next code that reversed the motors to stop would be more productive than trying to perfect an inconsistent code. The new code was much more reliable and the team was able to consistently make it to the caboose and make it back to the gate. The only portion of the code remaining is taking the caboose past the gate and to the start. The team also began collecting data on the second code once it was reliably getting to the gate with the caboose and discussed whether trying to perfect the code on the 3rd floor track was worth the team’s time. The team decided that it even though the final run is planned on being run on the 2nd floor track, it would be a good idea to have a code for the 3rd floor in case anything went wrong. Lastly, the team created a draft for the CDR presentation and discussed creating a video for extra credit.
Results and analysis
Although with our current code the AEV was extremely unreliable, for this reason the team focused primarily on making the AEV more reliable at the cost of efficiency. To make the AEV more reliable the team decided to use a continuous power to the motor all the way around the track. This is more beneficial to using quick bursts of energy which can be less reliable. In addition to this the team also made the decision to begin reversing the motor at the gate to more reliably stop it. Finally after making these two changes and having the AEV still be inconsistent at times the team decided to increase the motor power. The team believed increasing the power would have the effect of making forces that cause inconsistency, for example friction and bumps from tape, be less influential on each run. By the end of the lab the team was able to get the AEV to run as coded about 90-95% of the time which is a huge improvement. The AEV even ran consistently when the batteries were changed which before had a huge impact on the AEV’s performance. All of these increases had the effect of making the AEV considerably less efficient. This being said the AEV is still only using 180 joules to get to the gate with the cargo which is about double as before changes to the code. Despite this large increase in energy consumption the team believes that the AEVs ability to complete the run correctly is more important than its efficiency.
Before the team can successfully complete the full run of the AEV around the track It will be necessary for the team to finish the last leg of the code(from the gate to the starting point). To make the AEV as efficient as possible a lightweight bottle was used and only one motor was used. This reduced the weight of the bottle making the AEV more efficient. The use of a bottle also makes the AEV cheaper and easier to create then with the plastic pieces provided in the kit. Even though the team is focused on reliability the AEV code is still as efficient as possible. This is because although the power is higher than before the team kept it as low as possible to have the AEV run consistently.
Takeaways
- The team still needs to finish the last leg of the run by tuesday
- The efficiency of the AEV was decreased as a result of the teams need to increase reliability of the AEV
Week 11
Situation
With the reverse method in use now, and the code for the first two legs down, the code to get the AEV from the gate to the finish needs to be constructed and perfected. Once the last last leg is completed, our final code will be done. This is very important because we need a reliable code. The group has sacrificed efficiency to achieve reliability because at the end of the day, it’s about whether or not the task was completed, not by what means.
Weekly goals
- Complete Final Run of the AEV.
- Complete the CDR script.
- Finish new code using reverse.
- Keep optimize efficiency of code.
Weekly schedule
Table 1: Weekly Schedule
| Task | Teammate(s) | Start Date | Due Date | Time Needed |
| Regular group meeting | All | 4/9/17 | 4/9/17 | 1.5hrs. |
| Final Test Run | All | 4/12/17 | 4/12/17 | 2.5 min max |
| Finish last piece of Code for AEV | All | 4/11/17 | 4/11/17 | 55 min. |
| Create CDR presentation script for everyone | All | 4/09/17 | 4/09/17 | 1 hr. |
| Begin Practicing Parts for CDR presentation | All | 4/08/17 | 4/14/17 | 1.5 hrs. |
| Begin Work on CDR | All | 4/08/17 | 4/19/17 | 1 hrs. |
Appendix
Team meeting notes 5:30pm-6:30pm Thursday, Thompson Library, all members
Purpose of meeting: Complete this progress report, begin working on the PDR, work on thinking of changes that can be made to the design to make it easier to access components
- Tasks completed from last meeting
- The team made a much more reliable code
- The team began work on the CDR presentation
- Tasks to be completed for next meeting
- Create code for the AEV to run the last leg of the track
- Do final test of AEV
- Begin work on CDR
- Decisions made by the group
- We will use a more reliable code even if it uses more energy
- Reflections from last assignment
- Last week there were no roadblocks during the lab everything went smooth and the team was able to test the AEV and record data
- No deadlines were missed in previous week
- No work was substandard, or differing expectations, or other conflict
- This week we feel like we have gotten more done just by brainstorming and fixing the problems we see in the AEV. It seems the project would be more effective if there was more time like this. Especially since the team already knew what AEV they wanted to create before performance test 1.
Arduino Source Code:
- motorSpeed(4,36); // motor starts
- goToAbsolutePosition(222); // AEV travels to near gate
- brake(4); // AEV brakes close to the gate and then reverse motor and uses it to brake bringing the AEV to a stop
- reverse(4); // reverse all motors
- motorSpeed(4,60); // set motor speed to 60
- goFor(1); // run 1 second
- brake(4); // brake all motor
- goFor(10); //AEV waits for 10 seconds
- motorSpeed(4,36); //motor returns to its original power and continues forwards
- goToRelativePosition(180); // Motor goes to this position before rotating the servo and then stopping the motor.
- rotateServo(189); //rotate AEV to opposite direction
- motorSpeed(4,0); //set motor speed 0
- goFor(1); //AEV waits briefly to ensure it is connected to cargo before returning to the gate
- motorSpeed(4,60); // set motor speed 60
- goToRelativePosition(-222); // run AEV go back to gate
- motorSpeed(4,0); // set motor speed 0
- brake(4); // brake all motors
- reverse(4); // reverse all motors
- motorSpeed(4,60); // set motor speed 60
- goFor(1); //run for 1 second
- brake(4); // break all motors