What are the most significant risks that could jeopardize the success of the project? How are these risks being managed? What contingency plans are ready?
Currently, the most significant risk to the success of the project is the end-effector design. It has to be able to adapt to a wide range of surfaces, and there is a decent change that our current design might not be enough to achieve that. We recently decided that we would be adding a vacuum pump to the end-effector in order to create a better suction for items that are porous, have irregular surfaces, and/or heavy. If this doesn’t work, we will pivot to a claw-like end effector.
Another risk to our design is our current depth estimator. Right now, we plan to use a stereo camera in order to obtain the height of the objects so that the end-effector knows how far down it should travel. If there are problems with the resolution or the reliability of the depth reading that we get from this camera, it would prevent the gantry from moving to the correct location. The current contingency plan is to add a pressure sensor onto the end-effector if the readings end up being too coarse or unreliable.
Were any changes made to the existing design of the system (requirements, block diagram, system spec, etc)? Why was this change necessary, what costs does the change incur, and how will these costs be mitigated going forward?
We’ve added a vacuum pump to the end effector, as from some initial testing the suction cup end effector is not of adequate consistency when it comes to picking up some basic trash items. This does not incur any costs, except to our budget.
Provide an updated schedule if changes have occurred.
No schedule changes have been made.