Significant risks and risk management:
Risk: Inverted double pendulum simulation wouldn’t converge
Definition: Since we are still working on building a simulation for the inverted double pendulum, we do not know whether or not problems like numerical instability or truncation error of the integrator would cause the simulation to not converge, i.e. incapable of settling on a solution.
Severity: If the inverted double pendulum simulation wouldn’t converge, the progress of the whole project would be severely jeopardized, because the simulation is a critical part of Prototype 1, that is swinging up the double pendulum with NMPC in simulation.
Resolution: A step we can take right now is to accelerate our progress towards a testable MVP of the simulation, whose convergence can be validated. Another measure is to study the properties of common numerical integrators and select those with superior convergence properties and are available in our library.
Risk: The analog circuit can’t meet the required tolerances
Definition: This risk has been brought to our attention by our assigned in instructor Thomas Sullivan (Thanks!). It is currently unclear to us what tolerance the analog components will need to have in order to satisfy the 10% solution accuracy required by the accuracy requirement (NR3). This is nontrivial to determine as the accuracy of the whole circuit can’t be easily associated with the accuracy of individual components.
Severity: If the analog circuit can’t meet the required tolerances, the progress of the whole project would be severely jeopardized, because the accuracy requirement (NR3) would not be satisfied.
Resolution: A solution is to use Sergey’s work [1] as a reference. If our components are more accurate than Sergey’s components in every relevant measure, it is likely that the whole circuit wouldn’t be significantly worse in accuracy compared to his circuit. This is possible because more accurate components are available since his work was published.
Changes to the existing design:
There are no significant changes to the existing design because this is the week in which our proposal was presented, and our initial design was just finalized.
Changes to the project schedule:
Similarly, there are no significant changes to the project schedule compared to what was presented in the proposal presentation.
References:
[1] https://escholarship.org/content/qt01q7h2ng/qt01q7h2ng_noSplash_2892dd43015926698bb02bdb85d7b62f.pdf