Mission Concept & Research

Columbus’ quest for a new smart city brings the need for a new vehicle. This vehicle needs to be an AEV (Advanced Energy Vehicle). This will ensure the vehicle is helping out the environment. It also needs to run on a monorail system, and it needs to be able to transport people from place to place. This is where we come in we are making a prototype. The prototype for this design is going to be a small replica (<500 grams). It is going to simulate people with a magnet and needs to be able to transport them accurately.

Initial Approach

Our initial approach is to create the AEV with some sort of braking mechanism for accuracy. Because the AEV is going to be light it should not need a ton of power to brake. Our plan is to attach the Servo to a rotatable arm. At the end of this arm we could glue part of a rubber band to the end. Then, when the AEV gets to a certain amount of rotations, we will rotate the arm to press against the track acting as a braking mechanism. We also plan to position the propellers facing the opposite direction of the magnets position. This way the AEV will have the most available power when it has an increased load.