Meeting Minutes

Meeting 1:

  • Time of Meeting: 01/11/2018, 11:10 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 224
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette
  • Topics Discussed: Underpinnings of the AEV project and next steps.
  • Upcoming Tasks: Make GroupMe, discuss times for meetings and outline rules for teamworking agreements, begin making the webpage. No specific roles have been assigned yet, so no one member is assigned to each task at this point.

Meeting 2:

  • Time of Meeting: 01/18/2018, 11:10 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 224
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette
  • Topics Discussed: Begin preliminary testings of motors and becoming familiar with the AEV kit. Begin programming for scenario 1 for Preliminary R&D Lab. There were issues when trying to run the program. When the code was attempted to be run, a message was received that said, “problem uploading to board”. The code was not being sent to the Arduino board properly. A new USB cable was received and the problem was not resolved. A new Arduino board was then provided and the program was properly uploaded and ran, however, the propellers would not move because there was too much resistance in the motors. More problems were encountered when the program was run a second time on the new board. The rest of the lab was spent troubleshooting the program and motors.
  • Upcoming Tasks: All team members will review and properly prepare for Lab 03. Alex will update website and request help from team members as needed. The team members will meet to complete exercise 1.

Meeting 3:

  • Time of Meeting: 01/25/2018, 11:10 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 224
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette
  • Topics Discussed: Team members worked to complete the first part of the lab. The Arduino program was still having issues running correctly. A TA was called over to assist, and a few settings were updated in the Arduino application. The application was reset again and the program ran successfully this time. The motors were set up and the program was run again and it worked fine. Next, the physical sample AEV was constructed. It was noticed that each screw and nut needed to be tightened down enough so that the jostling movement of the AEV would not affect the functionality of the AEV. After constructing the AEV, the black wire connected to the board was ripped so a part of the ire was stuck in the port. A new board was provided. The red wire now was having issues being connected to the AEV, so the Arduino was fixed again. The rest of lab was used to clean up the area and the
  • Upcoming Tasks: The team will work to keep the website updated. The team will each create an individual concept design and then meet to collaborate and decide which design to pursue.

Meeting 4:

  • Time of Meeting: 01/28/2018, 6:00 PM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall Basement Commons
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette
  • Topics Discussed: Initial Concept Designs and Next Steps for the design process
  • Upcoming Tasks: Each team member will upload a photo of their initial concept design and put reasons why that design was not used (if applicable). Team members will discuss which design to pursue next meeting.

Meeting 5:

  • Time of Meeting: 02/01/2018, 10:20 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 224
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette
  • Topics Discussed: Complete pR&D lab exercises 2, 4, and 5. AEV was constructed and Arduino was programmed. Exercise 2: Program ran successfully. Exercise 4: Max’s design was constructed by the team.
  • Upcoming Tasks: Each team member will assist in making the Progress Report, team members will communicate when to meet to complete pR&D.

Meeting 6:

  • Time of Meeting: 02/05/2018, 5:20 PM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 224
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Justin Beachy
  • Topics Discussed: Completion of AEV model as well as pR&D lab exercises 4 and 5. During exercise 4, the code only ran for the first half of the exercise. The propellers would not reverse. The code was rewritten and loaded onto the Arduino. The design was tested on the test track and the data was downloaded onto into the AEV Analysis application.
  • Upcoming Tasks: Team members will communicate when to meet to complete progress report as well as prepare for Thursday’s advanced R&D lab. Alex will bring the lab kit Thursday. Max will review the team meeting minutes to ensure everything is looking good. Brian will upload his codes as well as the comments. Justin will get the updated plot from MATLAB uploaded into the website.

Meeting 7:

  • Time of Meeting: 02/08/2018, 11:10 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 224
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Justin Beachy. Max Doucette, Brian Glowacki
  • Topics Discussed: Advanced R&D exercise 1 was begun. The team was assigned wind tunnel and propeller configuration. Propeller configuration was started with. The team decided to go with 1 2510 and 1 3130 propeller pushing. This configuration did not move the AEV very far.
  • Upcoming Tasks: Alex will prepare the slides for Grant Proposal and print materials for committee meetings. Team members will meet to decide who will say what in the presentation in grant proposal as well as who will meet for what position in the committee meetings.

Meeting 8:

  • Time of Meeting: 02/14/2018, 9:30 PM
  • Location of Meeting: Thompson Library
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Justin Beachy. Max Doucette, Brian Glowacki
  • Topics Discussed: Grant Proposal, Committee Meetings, Schedule, Team Working Agreement
  • Upcoming Tasks: All team members will plan to dress business casual in Thursday’s lab and present Grant Proposal for AEV. Alex will handle Public Relations for Committee meeting. Max and Justin will handle Research and Development. Brian will handle human resources.

Meeting 9:

  • Time of Meeting: 02/15/2018, 11:30 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Thompson Library
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette, Brian Glowacki
  • Topics Discussed: Grant proposal was given to the class to propose a cover for the front of AEV. Committee meetings for HR, PR, and R&D were completed. AEV Advanced R&D 1, Propeller Configuration was next. It was noticed that the weight distribution was not the greatest for the AEV, with a lot of weight in the back. It was decided not to change this until all 4 propeller configurations are done so that the variable of weight is not altered. The 2 push with 1 3130 and 1 2510 worked pretty well, which was the first configuration. However, the graphs for distance were not coming out right because of the reflectance sensors. Sensors were then fixed.
  • Upcoming Tasks: Team members will plan to come to lab next week prepared to complete the Advanced R&D Lab 1.

Meeting 10:

  • Time of Meeting: 02/22/2018, 11:10 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 224
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette, Brian Glowacki
  • Topics Discussed: Team completed Advance R&D topic 1. It was found that the propeller configuration containing two 3130 propellers, one pushing and one pulling the AEV, was best for the project. The graphs for these are found under Advanced R&D. The team moved on to topic 2, which was wind tunnel testing.
  • Upcoming Tasks: The team will complete the wind tunnel testing in the next lab. Alex will finish the website update after the team meets to analyze the wind tunnel data. The team will meet outside of class to complete the preparation for the Oral presentation. Since Alex will be out of town for the scheduled presentation, the team will meet with the instructional staff at a scheduled time the following week of the class scheduled presentation.

Meeting 11:

  • Time of Meeting: 03/04/2018, 11:10 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Thompson Library
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette, Brian Glowacki
  • Topics Discussed: Team prepared for rescheduled oral presentation. The team also delegated work for the second progress report.
  • Upcoming Tasks: The team will complete the oral presentation for the instructional staff. The team will complete Progress Report 2, with Justin doing weeks 9-11 of the forward-looking summary, Max doing the situation and schedule for the forward-looking summary as well as weeks 12-13. Alex is doing the meeting minutes appendix as well as the weeks 7-8 for the backward-looking summary and backward-looking takeaways. Brian will do the backward-looking summary for weeks 5-8 as well as weeks 5 and 6.

Meeting 12:

  • Time of Meeting: 03/08/2018
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 224
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette, Brian Glowacki
  • Topics Discussed: The team performed the first performance test. A propeller was broken pre-lab, so Justin Beachy repaired the AEV. Brian Glowacki wrote the code for the performance test. The code was to have the AEV go to the middle of the track, pause for 7 seconds, and then go again once the stop sign opened. The team had to reverse the direction of the wheels so that the AEV would work properly on the track they were to test on. One design tested was the original vertical design by Max Doucette. The other design that was tested was a similar design, but the wires were secured to avoid drag, as well as the battery and Arduino, moved to ensure a balanced axis parallel to the track.
  • Upcoming Tasks: Team members will take a short break for a week and enjoy their time off. In the meantime, the members will prepare for various design ideas to test for the performance test and complete the tests by the end of lab 9c.

Meeting 13:

  • Time of Meeting: 03/19/2018, 10:20 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 308
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette
  • Topics Discussed: The team continued with Performance Test 1. It was noted during performance test one that the timing had to be perfect for the power braking.
  • Upcoming Tasks: Brian will fix the program in order to complete the performance test. The team will brainstorm possible configurations to use for the other design in the performance test.

Meeting 14:

  • Time of Meeting: 03/21/2018, 10:20 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 308
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette
  • Topics Discussed: The team finished with Performance Test 1, design review concept, and discussed the CDR Draft. The amount of power as well as when this power was initiated was the main concern. Additionally, the team was required to rearrange some of the wiring components in order to accommodate to the second propeller configuration.
  • Upcoming Tasks: The CDR Draft is due the 24th. Alex will work on the discussion, appendix, and table of contents. Brian will take the Executive summary and the description of the two concepts. Justin will work on the introduction, AR&D, and references. Max will take the run observations, screening and scoring, and experimental methodology.

Meeting 15:

  • Time of Meeting: 03/22/2018, 11:10 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 242
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette
  • Topics Discussed: The team began with performance test 2. It was noticed that the code for the Arduino is not consistent with the test results. Sometimes, the AEV will hit the stop sign and other times it does not make it far enough. When picking up the load, it is also noticed that the AEV is coming in at too high of a velocity.
  • Upcoming Tasks: The team will update the website and complete their tasks for the CDR draft by Saturday at 5 PM.

Meeting 16:

  • Time of Meeting: 03/26/2018, 10:20 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 308
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette
  • Topics Discussed: Team R was tasked with completing another Performance Test in order to verify that the team’s work was on track with the mission of the AEV. The AEV had to travel to the gate, wait 7 seconds, and then travel through the gate. It then needed to pick up a load on the other side. This Performance Test 2 focuses on perfecting the code used once the design was optimized. The team used the design utilizing a one-push-one-pull propeller configuration. It was noted during performance test two that the AEV stopped 5 inches earlier than the last test, using the same control program. The team was unsure why this was happening but assumed it needed to be re-calibrated due to variables such as the battery changing since the last test. Brian rewrote the code for the AEV and the test was re-run. Zip ties were also added to the sensors to help with consistency.
  • Upcoming Tasks: Alex will update the website. The team will prepare for the second committee meeting and assign tasks when they are given by the instructional team.

Meeting 16:

  • Time of Meeting: 03/28/2018, 10:20 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 308
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette
  • Topics Discussed: Team R was tasked with completing another Performance Test in order to verify that the team’s work was on track with the mission of the AEV. The AEV had to travel to the gate, wait 7 seconds, and then travel through the gate. It then needed to pick up a load on the other side, wait 5 seconds, and then bring it back to the station. This Performance Test 2 focuses on perfecting the code used once the design was optimized. The team used the design utilizing a one-push-one-pull propeller configuration. It was noticed during the test that the AEV did work better than last time. Last time, the AEV seemed to stop early or late before the gate each time. When it was run this time, it worked fine. The problem now was that the AEV was coming into the loading station too quickly, so the AEV needed to be slowed down a bit. Once this was done, the AEV successfully was able to pick up the load and bring it back to the station. The rest of class was spent perfecting the code so that the AEV would stop in the right spot perfectly, and then the performance test was completed.
  • Upcoming Tasks: Committee meeting 2 is tomorrow during lab time. Brian will take HR, Alex will take PR, and Justin and Max will take R&D. The team will look at the rubric prior to the lab to know what needs to be done for the meeting. The team will also prepare for the 3rd progress report as well as the final R&D (Energy Optimization).

Meeting 17:

  • Time of Meeting: 03/29/2018, 11:10 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 308
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette
  • Topics Discussed: Team R was tasked with completing another Performance Test in order to verify that the team’s work was on track with the mission of the AEV. The AEV had to travel to the gate, wait 7 seconds, and then travel through the gate. It then needed to pick up a load on the other side, wait 5 seconds, and then bring it back to the station. This Performance Test 3 focuses on perfecting the energy used in the AEV’s run. The team used the design utilizing a one-push-one-pull propeller configuration. It was noticed during the test that the AEV did not work better than last time. Last time, the AEV was inconsistent, and again this occurred. With help from instructional staff, it was learned that a position function should be used for the code instead of using the goFor function.
  • Upcoming Tasks: The team will begin progress report 3 and prepare for performance test 3. Alex will take the team meetings appendix and forward-looking summary and schedule. Brian will take the Arduino code appendix and week 9 summary. Max and Justin will do weeks 10 and 11 on the report.

Meeting 18:

  • Time of Meeting: 04/02/2018, 10:20 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 308
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki, Justin Beachy, Max Doucette
  • Topics Discussed: Team R continued to work the Performance Test 3. Brian worked to transform thew code into the absolute position functions instead of the goFor functions. The team started from the beginning and attempted to make a code that would go to the stop sign and wait 7 seconds like the first performance test. It was noted that the AEV was going too far and was hitting the stop sign. Another team suggested we fix the reflectance sensors, because they could be causing the issue. After this was done, the AEV would not go far enough, but the team at least knew to fix the code now that the sensors were running correctly. The team spent the rest of the time allotted perfecting the code to stop at the stop sign for 7 seconds and then continue through the gate. The team would continue with the code to complete PT 3 in the next lab.
  • Upcoming Tasks: The team will finish progress report 3 and prepare for the Final Oral Presentation Draft. Brian will put the graphs onto the website, Alex will update the website, Max and Justin will complete the progress report. The team also discussed the final oral presentation draft and who would accomplish what for the presentation.

Meeting 19:

  • Time of Meeting: 04/04/2018, 10:20 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 308
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki, Max Doucette
  • Topics Discussed: The team first discussed how to fix the code in order for it to properly get to the gate and get through to get the load. This all would need to be accomplished in order to complete Performance Test 3. The team successfully got the AEV to clear the gate with the new code.  Next, the team worked to get the AEV to pick up the load successfully and bring it back through the gate to the loading station. After the team picked up the load, they worked to perfect the AEV’s stopping at the gate on the return trip.
  • Upcoming Tasks: The team will work on the final presentation. Alex will do the introductory and closing content, Max will do Design Process, Brian will do Final Design, and Justin will do Final Performance. The team will plan to have this done by the end of this upcoming weekend.

Meeting 20:

  • Time of Meeting: 04/09/2018, 10:20 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 308
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki
  • Topics Discussed: The team began by perfecting the code for the third performance test. Brain fixed some of the code parts in order for the AEV to stop at the right times to avoid extra points being taken off. The team then calculated the cost of the AEV in order to know what the final costs would be for the final performance tests. The team concluded by repeated final tests to make sure the AEV was able to run successfully for the final performance test.
  • Upcoming Tasks: Alex will continue to work on the website in order for the final website to be complete with all needed information. All team members will work on the final CDR and final oral presentation to put their results into writing and a presentation.

Meeting 21:

  • Time of Meeting: 04/11/2018, 10:20 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 308
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki, Max Doucette, Justin Beachy
  • Topics Discussed: The team worked to finalize the final performance test to ensure the AEV was in good working condition for the test. The team was finding that the AEV was not stopping at the right time at the end of the run and was going past the tape line. Brian perfected the code and Max and Justin completed the test again and the team tested it again.
  • Upcoming Tasks: The team will come to lab tomorrow prepared to complete the performance test. Following this, the team will complete their final oral presentation as well as the final CDR. Alex will also finalize the website.

Meeting 22:

  • Time of Meeting: 04/12/2018, 11:10 AM
  • Location of Meeting: Hitchcock Hall 224
  • Members Present: Alex Short, Brian Glowacki, Max Doucette, Justin Beachy
  • Topics Discussed: The team completed their final performance test and discussed the final presentation, website, and CDR. The performance test went well, and the team calculated their final costs.
  • Upcoming Tasks: The team will look over the Oral Presentation to ensure it is complete. Alex will update the website and finalize all items on it. For the CDR final, the team will take what they worked on for the draft and expand on it, adding new information from the final performance test as well adding any extra needed information.