User:Klcooper11/weeklyupdate3

Project Preference
1. Power Wheel 2. Hallway Robot 3. Bio-engineering

Problem Statement
Design the electro-mechanical systems and software required to control a Power Wheel. The autonomous vehicle should be able to travel outdoor on specified paths while avoiding obstacles.

Week 1 Narrative
This first thing I needed to do was to familiarize myself with the Power Wheel. As a group with decided to separate to work on different parts of the project.

So specifically my goal this week was to review previous information on the pedal of the power wheel. I need to figure out how to get the pedal and steering wheel to coexist to operate the power wheel.

I will need to get a mock up of pedal and apply a power source to the mock up for demonstration. Hopefully this will give me a better vision on how much power will I need to operate the pedal and how it can be controlled.

Week 2 Narrative
My goal this week was to verify the part was operational with a 12V battery. After going through several battery what was not charge I had to use the monitor that was able to give me a source of power. This was just to get the part to operate.

I was able to connect the pedal to the voltage monitor. The pedal was successful operating on 5 amps. With this particular monitor I could not give the power that was needed which was 12.5 V to get the consistent speed I need for the pedal to perform properly for the power wheel.

Power by 5 amps

After verifying that the pedal was at least operational I still needed to get pedal to operate at a faster speed and higher voltage. I then found another voltage monitor to give me a source of 15 volts. I again was able to hook up the pedal to the voltage monitor and Arduino with the code of constant speed program downloaded with the shield attached to the Arduino. The Arduino code was successful in the download and was able to give the pedal different speed by changing the code to your specified values. There was a code that was given to me by Samantha but I two not properly load onto Arduino for testing. I also discovered the more voltage I gave the pedal the more it would speed up.

Pedal Power by 12.6 V

Next's week plan is to correct the code and connect the part to a stationary battery that is charge to 12.5V or better. Also I would like to create the Pedal Pusher part with the correct dimensions for the pedal. The hold in diameter needs to be wider to properly fit the part. The design was created by the previous team that worked on the power wheel. The design is solid in our opinion just need to make a few adjustments for a proper fit. We will need to work together to re-size the part with Solid Edge before creating the design.

team Previous team came up with the following design:

Week 3 Narrative
My goal this week was to design a mock up version of the setup that the pedal will be attached to while operating the power wheel. Also to work with Natacha to design and create the pedal pusher with the makebot.

Natacha and I were able to connect the motor to the pedal pusher to see if it was designed correctly. The pedal pusher had a snug fit on the screw but the nut was not able to fit into the cabin on the side. It was measure out at .5 mm. We decided in the redesigned to increase it size to .7 mm so the nut will be able to fit properly. During the video below you can see the pedal pusher move outward and inward when force was applied.

Pedal Push Outward - Operated by Motor

This is being operated at 12.5 V with voltage machine provided in the classroom. It was at constant speed. If you applied force you notice the pedal would move outward.

Inward - Operated by Pedal Pusher

Again this is being operated by the Pedal Pusher at 12 V. When force is applied you can see the part move inward.

The design of the setup for the pedal pusher was not able to complete due to lack of resources that was available to me. I was able to get the parts cut but not fitted. The drawing below is to give an ideal of what the design will look like from the right side view. I will be using push a cut out of 2x4 and medal brackets to attached and hold the pedal pusher in place while being operated.



The next step is for have a final design for the pedal pusher station. Then as a team setup both pedal pusher and actuator to perform together using one Arduino and 12 V. The code will be the same for both parts. Hopefully both parts will coexist successfully.

Week 4 Narrative
My goal this week was to operate both the actuator and pedal pusher with the Arduino. As a team were were able to hook up all components properly. We were successful with getting both the actuator and pedal pusher to work with the voltage machine in the lab. After that success we wanted to test to see if the pedal pusher could pusher at least 5 lbs forward. We used the cone and modified it slight on the top by cutting the tip for a flat surface. With our hands we held the weight on the cone and turn the pedal pusher on. We were able to see that he pedal pusher was able to pusher at least 5 bls up and and own.

Pedal Pusher move 5 lbs

We also modified the pedal pusher to use less material. This way it could print faster and look more sleek in its appearance. It looks more like a football goal field. But unfortunately I was unable to get the part printed due to some MakerBot issues.