Lab Summary and Takeaways
This week the group finally was able to test out their AEV on the circular track, as the past weeks the AEV was testing on the straight track. The amount of marks needed to go around half the bigger track was calculated using unit conversion from feet to inches to marks. The team also made sure to command the AEV to reverse the motors first because that was a problem from last week as it would go backwards. Once the code was written using code learned from the past labs, the team had trouble uploading the code to the AEV, as it was compiling but taking too much time to upload. The team learned from the TAs how to upload the code faster through different techniques. The team tested it on the straight track first to see if the reversed motors worked and then saw success when testing it on the curved track. The AEV’s information was then downloaded to a MATLAB program where the data of distance, power, and time from each run were extrapolated into a graph.
The group ultimately improved from last week regarding efficiency. Members were able to point out flaws that was eating the most time and able to solve them, like figuring out compiling and uploading errors. From figure 1 in the appendix, members were able to understand that a 30-35% power is most efficient and able to carry the AEV without flying off. Also, the timing of each command was understood as members analyzed the data and found that braking earlier is more beneficial than commanding the brake later because it was easier to see the exact time it takes for the AEV to come to a full stop as well as how much power and how many marks it takes the AEV to run before starting the brake command.
Weekly Schedule:
| Task | Team Member | Start Date | Due Date | |
| Weekly Progress Report 4 | Emily | 2-9-17 | 2-16-17 | 1 hour |
| Upload progress report | Emily | 2-9-17 | 2-16-17 | 30 min |
| Weekly Progress Report 5 | Megan | 2-16-17 | 2-23-17 | 1 hour |
| Meeting notes from post-lab | Patrick | 2-9-17 | 2-16-17 | 1 hour |
| Understand Creative Design | Everyone | 2-9-17 | 2-16-17 | 1 hour |
| Individual component of Progress Report 4 | Everyone | 2-9-17 | 2-16-17 | 1 hour |
| Find more solutions to time-consuming problems | Justin | 2-9-17 | 2-16-17 | 1 hour |
Team Meeting Notes:
Date: 09 – Feb – 2017
Time: 3:40 (face to face)
Members Present: Emily Song, Megan Denk, Justin Cook, Patrick Henry
Topics Discussed: Lab 4 Post-Lab
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Objective:
Today’s main focus was meeting as a team to discuss the goals for the week, the previous lab just conducted and the upcoming lab. Another objective was to decide the roles for writing the progress report.
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To Do / Action Items:
- Progress report – due lab 5
- Upload progress report to u.osu.edu website
- Talk to GTA about data points of graphs
- Assign different points for individual calculations
- Talk about individual roles within team
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Decision:
- The group decided to use time and speed to code the AEV, not marks.
- Decided to test on straight away until final design due to time constraints
- Decided to use MATLAB application to analyze data
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Reflections:
- We should not be waiting till the last minute to write the progress report. The progress report will be better if written right after lab.
- Chris said it was ok to only use MATLAB to analyze the data, but said to choose logical data points when doing sample calulations.