Activity 3.1.7 Machine Control Design part 1

What? Why?

Create a Delivery Vehicle Control system that can travel in a straight line back and forth. The system needs to be able controlled by input from a potentiometer and it must include a safety shut off if it travels to far in either direction. This is useful to transport various items from point a to point b.

My team members included David, Tom, Rafe, and Henry.

David programmed the Robo Pro Software.

Tom built the hardware.

Rafe, Henry, and I took screenshots, trouble shooted, and sketched some images.

I personally would give team MVP to Tom for basically putting the machine together from scratch including figuring out what inputs are supposed to go in.

We chose to tackle problem 3 as you might have guessed.

Sketches

We decided on a rail system for the motor. Using a gear box, the motor is able to crawl along the rail at a constant speed. Using the above pictures, we found that using picture1 we did not have an emergency stop. Picture 2 incorporates two switches that stop the cart when it reaches the end of the rail. The programing, while crude exhibits how the potentiometer controls the motor and how the switches end the program. These were later incorporated to the final design.

This program uses a logic tool to guide the motor. If a switch is pressed or not pressed in the case of the other switch, the program will stop the motor. If not, the motor continues. The potentiometer is connected to the program near the start and it loops indefinitely.

Conclusion
1. What was the most difficult part of the problem?

I believe that the potentiometer gave us the most issues. Programming was difficult and to make matters worse, our pot began to burn out a little from over amperage.

2. List and describe two features that were not part of the design problem that could be added to improve your design.
A) If we increased the length of the wire, we could run the wire along the bottom and hide a part of it to make it look cleaner.
B) The front switch was very ghetto and we could have placed it elsewhere. For example, adding more to our base to allow room for a stand to put the switch instead of attaching it to the "car" would look better.