Key priorities are are the most important tasks for the AEV and what plans will be used moving forward.
1)Developing the final placement of the motors.
Through research, the position of the blades and motors were found to be best set up on either side of the mold. This was best because it allowed a more consistent speed and power use. Finding the right position is still in development because of having to move one motor for an attachment point for the caboose.
2) Developing organization plan for free wires
When doing multiple test runs and through the building of the AEV, the wires have become an annoyance and a mess. In order to clean up the way the AEV looks and to make the wires are organized like a wiring harness. Attaching wires together will allow the AEV to be easier to work on with out having wires all over the place. Instead they will be organized together, but still able to be manipulated for movement and the plugging and unplugging.
3) Find a way to transition more weight to the front of the AEV
Testing the vehicle showed that the front wheel was not always on the track which caused consistency issues for the movement of the AEV. With only one wheel fully contacting the track at all times, it did not move smoothly. In order to make the mass more evenly distributed, the battery was moved to the front of the AEV to have the mass of the battery pull down more on the front to achieve the even distribution of weight.
4) Code Development
The code to get the AEV to the caboose is being developed and is close to completion. Finding a way to make the code consistent on each track has proved to be difficult with testing. A braking code was implemented to bring the AEV to a stock in the required area. Making sure the code allows the vehicle to move over the hump on the track is where the issue is. Through testing we will continue to improve the code to allow a consistent movement.