Significant Risks
- Motor controllers are functional but are not being enabled properly by Jetson GPIO
- The Jetson’s pins have extremely low drive strength and cannot drive high current/high capacitance loads
- This issue is being actively worked and a possible solution is being tested
- Since arms are currently not working, docking testing and docking iteration has been slowed.
- Additionally, as arms are not fully integrated, the maximum lift capacity is still not known. We may decide to get more powerful motors as
- Battery bank is not going to last the desired five hours of runtime, but we do not consider this a major risk, as it does not change the functionality of the Robot
Design Changes
- No longer using a read-facing camera due to distance inaccuracies when docking. We are instead going to use the LiDAR to do alignment for bin docking, and bin ID with the front camera
- Due to the GPIO drive strength issues, we’re testing a design that uses MOS’s for controlling input into the stepper drivers, as well as more current-limiting resistors
- Increased the gear ratio and cam distance for the bin lift for higher weight capacity and more stability
- Added wheels to the end of the lift arms for greater stability and more precise arm height
- Using Jetson Xavier NX for the final onboard computer as it provides a better development experience over ssh.
Schedule/PM
- Still behind on test/integration, will be making use of finals week.