Accomplishments this week

I finished the PCB and submitted the order for printing as well as the order for the necessary parts. I went through many iterations of the PCB with lots of help from Professor Fedder and Omkar. I was able to learn how to choose different parts for the PCB and check on Digikey for those parts in the specified packaging and requirements. I worked with Amelia to design the PCB to fit into the laser cut patterns she is making to hold each motor system. The length of the board takes up the length of the two motors while allowing a minimal width of the PCB.  Finally, I submitted the PCB fabrication design on JLCPCB and the parts list on Digikey. I also met with Amelia and Bethel Friday and Saturday to discuss and begin implementing our individual contributions. 

Schedule Update

I am on schedule. The PCB hadn’t fully incorporated itself into the schedule so I did free some time up by delaying when I will upgrade my motor control algorithm. The current mindset for last week and next week has been on creating everything semi-functional for the interim demo. The current motor control is a bit clunky code-wise but the outcome is sufficient to show a working demo. I was able to work on control more today and plan to continue to refine it in between the critical tasks would keep the project from moving

Deliverables for next week

I hope the PCB board and parts will come in early next week so that I have time to solder and test them. This way we are able to produce strong vibration feedback for the interim demo. If the PCB comes in later in the week I will have time to work on my code and integration with Bethel and Amelia to prepare for the demo. 

 

Figure 1: The PCB wiring diagram

Figure 2: The PCB part layout

Figure 3: The PCB 3D rendering

Figure 4: PCB fabrication design