Author: ajdietri

I started this week by working on the design presentation slides, updating the requirements and solution slides after I helped the team make some major design changes to the wheels (by removing them). Later in the week, I received most of the parts necessary to start work on controlling the motors. To that end I got the Raspberry Pi working and started wiring the stepper motors and the Arduino/CNC shield. I also ordered a few more parts from our BOM that would continue to help me get this all set up.

This puts me a bit behind schedule, but I remain confident that I’ll be able to fairly easily catch back up, as there is some leeway in getting the motor control to work.

Next week, I will work on the design document to help fully flesh out our plan. I also hope to finish setting up and evaluating the motors to make sure we can control them well using the Pi and Arduino.

This week I focused mainly on the design of our robot. I researched parts to help Ethan with his CAD design and helped make decisions on the form of our project. I worked with the BOM to fit everything we could within budget constraints. I also ordered  some of the preliminary parts, like the motors, Pi, and necessary pieces to make them work. I started the setup of the Pi, but due to the lack of an SD card, it couldn’t be completed. Finally, I helped work on the design slides for our presentation next week.

This is slightly behind schedule, as I had planned on gaining access to motors this week, but I worked ahead a little on other parts, so I should get back on track easily. Next week I should have a full setup to begin working with the motors. I plan on setting up the motor control software suite we planned on using, and verifying that everything is functional.