Summary
During this week’s lab, the team worked on two main tasks, setting up the propellers on the motors and using basic Arduino function calls to control the propellers. Setting up and understand the propellers is important as they will propel the AEV around the track. The Arduino function calls are equally as important as they are used to control the motors on the AEV and will represent the bulk of the program designed to control the AEV.
Important takeaways from the lab are that the motors do not follow the “celerate” function exactly and have trouble accelerating slowly from rest. Another important takeaway is that the motor speed does not necessarily determine the AEV speed due to inertia. The AEV not slow down or brake at the same time as the motors and may need a few seconds before matching the velocity the motors are generating.
During the weekly meeting, the team decided on a way to collaborate on documents and created a schedule for the week.