User:Jyouri/project2

Project Preference
Autonomous Power Wheel

Week1 Narrative
''Describe in detail what you did for your team during the week (and weekend). Compare your task (from CDIO discuss page) with what you actually did.''

Week 2 Narrative
My task this week was to update the code for the pedal pusher and to print the bracket.

For the arduino code, I modified the code so that our proof of concept on the mock platform works without us having to hold any wires back and forth to get exact timings. I changed the timings of the code to 1.5 seconds.

Week 3 Narrative
This week for my tasks I had to work on the code and the bracket. I was able to print the bracket that we are going to use, and I also worked on the coding for both the pedal and the steering actuator for our mockup.

For the steering wheel actuator,to find out the timing, we used a stop watch and connected the pins to the battery. After several trials of extending and retracting, we concluded that it takes about 14 seconds for the steering wheel actuator to fully retract or extend from one end to another. Also at 7 seconds its at the midway point.

Here is the video test I did on our mockup using the code (below): This simulates the APW: The descriptions of each command are commented out in the code.
 * going forward
 * turning right
 * turning left
 * retuning straight
 * and stopping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJlSSU-BT94

Week 4 Narrative
This week my tasks consisted of figuring out the timing and the programming of the arduino for both linear and pedal actuator. The linear and pedal actuator were both implemented to power wheel. From our past timing test we figured out that it takes 7 seconds for the linear actuator to extend or retract form its midway point. Those timings were consistent when I tested the linear actuator in on the power wheel outside, on concrete. For the Pedal actuator, it takes 1.35s for it to fully press the pedal. The ideal space between the pedal and the piston is about .5 cm. I programmed basic tests on the arduino to see how the power wheel would perform on concrete: One of the test runs we did: http://youtu.be/Htn-tUl13as. The turns radius is about 50 degrees, which means we needed space for very wide turns. I also figured out that we need to implement codes that return the actuators to neutral positions and also a kill switch. If there was a way for the arduino to know where the actuators are in real time, that would increase our accuracy.