This week the group gave the proposal presentation to introduce the project idea and solution approach. As a result of the feedback from the presentation, the group focused on correcting what was subject to critique in our proposal. We decided to move away from including LIDAR as a form of image sensing for our devices and opt for the use of cameras and odometer of perception and localization. The decision to drop LIDAR was mainly due to concerns about the fidelity of the LIDAR capture at the price point that we could afford for the project as well as the difficulty that may arise in processing the raw data for use in the autonomous vehicle system.
We opted to replace LIDAR for depth sensing with a stereoscopic camera device, namely the PS4 camera. Research from this week has shown us that this camera may serve our purposes adequately at an affordable price point. We were also able to make strides in the vehicle mechanics as we now have a CAD model going with a growing parts list that we hope the finalize by the end of next week. Finally, we have started looking into creating a more explicit set of requirements, goals and testing for our project. We anticipate the we will have progressed far enough by the end of the week to have a rich set of requirements and goals backed by our decision choices in the hardware and software space.
Goals for this coming week include experimenting with the PS4 camera to verify its usability, finalizing CAD model and RC car parts list, developing and documenting more specific goals and requirements which connect qualitative and quantitative measures, and finalizing the design review presentation.