Results

This page displays the results of this project, which include a video deminstration, hours of completion, and encounted problems with solutions. 

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION


Hours Completed and Projected Hours to Complete












Hours Left 39 35.5 30 27.5 0
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5
Task Responsible Party Status 1 2 3 4 5
Ordering Parts Earle/Michael Finished 1 1 0 0 0
Overall Design Earle/Michael Finished 7.5 2.5 0 0 0
Servo Test Earle Finished 1 1 1 0 0
Motors Assembly Michael Finished 2 2 2 1.5 0
Gyro/Accelerometer testing Earle Finished 1 1 1 1 0
Circuit contruction on soulderless board Earle Finished 3 3 3 3 0
Platform Base Construction Earle Finished 1.5 1 1 0 0
Handle Bars Construction Michael Finished 1 1 1 1 0
Soldering Earle Finished 6 6 6 6 0
Frame Construction Michael Finished 6 6 6 6 0
Written Code Earle Finished 8 8 8 8 0
Completed Project Testing Earle/Michael Finished 1 1 1 1 0
We spent about 40 hours completing this project, however many of those hours were spent making mistakes and fixing them. Here is the breakdown of hours it should take someone who follows the website's instructions on how to build this project:

Ordering Parts: This took us about 1 hour. It should also take another person about 30 minutes since we have listed the parts
    1 hour - 0.5 hour = 0.5 hour saved
Overall Design: This took us 7.5 hours. It should take another person maybe 1 hour, since we explain how to build it and this person might come up with a better design.
    7.5 hours - 1 hours = 6.5 hours saved
Servo Test: This took us about 1 hour. It should take another person 30 minutes, because this person might not have a bad motor, and it shouldn't take long to test
    1 hour0.5 hour = 0.5 hours saved
Motors Assembly: It took us about 2 hours. It should take another person 30 minutes to correctly assemble the motors if they follow our instructions.
    2 hours - 1 hour = 1 hour saved
 Gyro Testing: This took us 1 hours. It should take someone 1 hour, since there is code online to test the MPU-9150 board
    1 hours - 1 hour = 0 hours saved
Breadboard Circuit Construction: It took us 3 hours. It should take someone 1 hour, since we displayed the schematic
    3 hours - 1 hour = 2 hours saved
Platform Base Construction: It took us 1.5 hours. It should take someone only 30 minutes, since they only need to cut the wood in a square shape
    1.5 hours - 0.5 hours = 1 hour saved
Handle Bars Construction: It took us 1 hour. It should also take someone 1 hour to construct the handle piece
    1 hour - 1 hour = 0 hours saved
Soldering: It took us 6 hours. Although the schematic is displayed on this website, soldering is not the easiest task, so it should take someone about 3 hours to correctly solder everything on a protoboard
    6 hours - 3 hours = 3 hours saved
Frame Construction: It took us 6 hours. It should take someone use to build the frame in about 2 hours, since there are step-by-step instructions
    6 hours - 2 hours = 4 hours saved
Coding: It took us 8 hours. It should take someone less than 30 minutes, since the source code can be downloaded on this website, but for simplicity, we'll just say 30 minutes!
    8 hours - 0.5 hours = 7.5 hours saved
Testing: It took us 1 hour. It should take someone else 30 minutes if everything is working correctly
    1 hour - 0.5 hours = 0.5 hours saved

Adding the saved hours:
0.5 + 6.5 + 0.5 + 1 + 0 + 2 + 1 + 0 + 3 + 4 + 7.5 + 0.5 = 26.5 hours saved

Someone could save 26.5 hours from following our instructions. In other words, it will take only 12.5 hours for this person to complete it.



Problems and Solutions
As mentioned earlier, many of the hours we spent on this project  were used solving problems we faced.


While building the project we ran into problems where the epoxy would not hold onto the vinyl tubing, causing the motors to turn without moving the axis. To fix this, we ended up buying some battery charging clamps and clamping down on both the servo head and the screw head. While this allowed the motors to function correctly, it also reduced the range of motion, as the clamps would hit the wood securing the motors and prevent motion past that angle.


There was another problem with the 9V battery and the 6V battery pack being too heavy to sit on top of the platform. The result of this was an uneven distribution of weight and one motor axis had trouble turning the platform. To fix this, we made the power and ground wires of the battery holder and battery pack longer so that they can be positioned on the handles, creating more weight distribution.

 We also ran into the problem that the axial from the second frame was not accurately placed on the center of mass of the inner frame-platform-motor piece, causing far more strain on the motor than was intended. We fixed this by epoxying washers to the light end until both sides were balanced. Even after this was fixed, the motor was not strong enough to move the platform as effectively as desired, so we added a second motor to opposite side of the outer platform to double its torque, this coudl also have been solved by buying a stronger, more expensive motor.