WORK ACCOMPLISHED:
This week I focused on conducting tests of the physical capabilities of the skateboard to ensure it is able to survive whatever turmoil our users may put the board through. This includes traversing different terrains, applying different levels of force to the board while riding, and monitoring the overall wear and tear through expected usage such as the return to me.
Background: To provide some context, turning without a rider on board involved us spinning one wheel forward and the other backward to kind of skid the board into a new arrangement/ alignment. As a result, the board’s back wheels experience significant wear from this process to the point that we notice significant marking on the wheels after only a few weeks of testing. In the future, we would likely reimplement this project with harder grade wheels to ensure the wheels last longer.
Testing: I first tested with riders of varying weights and sizes from 110 pounds up to 220 pounds and a height of 5’3 up to 6’2. The board operated equally well on all and none of the tested riders reported anything under a 5 when asked to rate their comfort levels while riding. The board was able to move without any slow start or stalling and could maintain speed with every rider.
I next tested the terrain capabilities by riding over cement, grass, asphalt, and some areas of very high small pebble/ rock frequency. The skateboard performed very well on cement and asphalt, less well on grass, and the worst on the rocky area. The enclosure sustained some light scratches but otherwise stayed attached and showed no signs of bolts or nuts loosening.
I also did some work on the GPS soldering and beginning the setup of the advanced, more precise gps system.
Progress: We will be ready to demo all of our working features next week.
NEXT WEEK’S DELIVERABLES:
- RTK GPS data integration and a more accurate/succesful return to me