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Project Overview

Key

Red = Lisa

Blue = Jon

Major Challenges

I had difficulties with the distance sensors and having the robot keep away from the wall while going after the ball. In the end, the robot was ultimately unable to distinguish between the two. The random motion was also difficult to make, since I had not used the random function before.

The main problem i faced was coming up with a method of ball capturing. Initially, i had decided to close a box around the ball, however, i found it very hard to get the ball to the goal. As always, troubleshooting and debugging always take longer than expected.

Coordination Successes/Problems

We were able to get together several times after school and on weekends to work on the project. There was a lack of communication, though. We did communicate the code through E-mail, sending our parts of code to each other for integration and editing.

Another problem i faced was coordinating with lisa. My method of capturing required the robot to be 10 inches from the wall, however, this wasn't met. The method of finding an egg didn't work with my method of shooting the egg.

Procrastination and Other Problems

Well, I admit I experienced a fair amount of procrastination. There were a lot of little things I left until the last minute, although I did start coding around two weeks before the project was due. I had difficulty with the coding, but found that I had trouble asking questions that would help me. Another problem is that I did not linearize the outputs of the distance sensors, which caused problems when detecting the eggs. Also, I had a problem with the cricket display. It flickered so badly that I could not read any of the values it was getting. I tried changing the display and the connecter, but I couldn't figure out what exactly the problem was. Finally, on the day of the demo, I forgot to charge the battery of the robot, which caused it to turn itself off during the demos. Afterwards, I changed the battery, and it did work better.

I definitely procrastinated on this, because i didnt start this project until a week after vacation. When i did start though, i worked my butt off. I had gone in about 5-10 times over the two weeks before the project is due, spending about 20-30 extra curricular hours at umass lowell.

What We Would Do Differently (Management)

We probably should have met more times, if not at the university then at other, more relaxed places to discuss our code. Also, as mentioned above, the whole project was not well coordinated. I probably should have also made a more detailed time chart for myself about what work I should do each night, even if it's only an hour a night or so.

If i were to do this project over, i would definitely have communicated more, initially. I wish that we could have put our heads together to create two halves of the project that matched up. If we had brainstormed together, our method of finding eggs would have probably been better. I guess as the old saying goes, "you live and you learn."

Were the Tasks Evenly Divided?

Well, I think Jon did do more work than I did, but I tried really hard for my part, even if it didn't work. Disregarding the fact that it didn't work as expected, I think the tasks were fairly evenly divided...

Results

Well, the robot did manage to shoot two balls into the goal. Unfortunately, they were of the wrong color, so we lost points. Also, I noticed that during the demonstration we forgot to turn on the motor. Of course, I only noticed it after class was over. And the random motion program did work; it was very difficut to actually predict where it would move. The table was too small to actually observe the random motion to its full potential, though. And the arm kept getting stuck on the wall. It was rather amusing to watch the robot push itself along the wall using the arm, though, when the arm got stuck as it tried to rotate.

Lessons Learned

DON'T PROCRASTINATE! DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR HELP!!! Those are basically what I got from the lab. I also learned a little about servo motors, and more about how exactly the distance sensors actually measure the sensors.