Geez Louise it’s been a full week.  Since last Thursday we’ve scored our solutions as component ideas, gave a presentation on our project progress, started to test the previous team’s motor, and work on the code/wiring combination.

Last Friday we went through and scored all our ideas, ending up with 5 distinct component ideas. We thought that having component ideas would be best, as we are not working from scratch, but targeting solutions for another team’s project. Our solutions involved: adding an alarm system through LEDs and a noisemaker, changing the motor to a Stepper motor, adding a computer fan for a cooling system, adding a cover on top of the device, and changing the gearing tread.

The last prototype didn’t have an alarm system, so what we are doing is adding one from scratch. We haven’t decided on if we should blink or pulse or keep the lights/noise solid yet, but we have decided that if we make the basic code clear, that’s the next team’s problem.  As for motors, we’re actually stuck between a DC brushless motor and a Stepper motor, but as the DC motor that we ordered hasn’t come in yet we’re working with the Stepper motor :'(

As the motor overheats, we want to add a cooling system to make sure that the next motor has no possibility to. So we’re adding a cheap ($4) computer fan into the case to help promote air flow. For the cover on top of the device, we are planning to place a box on top of each arm, with a side of the box cut open so that the arms can move towards each other. This hole will be covered by a strong flexible plastic, allowing the arms to compress freely while covering the system from liquids and dust.

The last change will be a fun one, as it is changing the gearing tread. We’re going from the common ‘Spur’ gear to a ‘Herringbone’ gear. Even sounds fancier. Basically the spur gear is more common and cheaper, but loses in efficiency, durability, smoothness, and quietness compared to a herringbone gear.  We’re hoping that the additional costs from buying a herringbone gear will be offset by just the efficiency, as we will be able to buy a cheaper motor to do the same job, not calculating in durability or any other factors.

So after we had decided all of that it was the weekend, and I had a relaxing one going to the pool.  I also dropped by the gym and dyed my hair, things I haven’t done in far to long.  I came out of the weekend extremely happy, only to realize WE HAVE A PRESENTATION ON TUESDAY!!!

I was one of the presenters, and we spend all of Monday and then all of Tuesday morning preparing for the presentation, as Dr Hunter mentioned that it would be a serious one. One in which clients, professors, outside teams, and even OEDK sponsors would be there.  I believe our presentation went over well, and our effort in practicing was well rewarded!…then after presentations we went back to work in the afternoon.  A little rain on that parade, followed by actual rain as soon as we got out of the OEDK. No joke. I was walking home when BOOM I’m soaking wet. Luckily a fellow intern was driving by, so I got a nice ride home and an interesting conversation.

Today, Wednesday, I worked all day on reading the previous team’s code, wiring our stepper motors, and writing my own code. I was definitely met with many problems with this.  The previous team saved their entire code as images, such that I had to re-type their entire code by hand before trying to understand or troubleshoot it. I was able to write my own code for the Arduino that controlled a small stepper motor, but quickly realized that it wouldn’t be up to the task simply because of the motor itself. So I moved to our bigger stepper motor, the one we might use in our final design…then realized that we didn’t have a motor controller for it, as it was a bipolar stepper motor and we only had the controller for a unidirectional motor. So I built my own motor controller out of a breadboard and a microcontroller:

It looks like a mess, but I think it works. I’ll spend until 7 tonight adding in the buttons and LEDs needed, and work on our code for it.

Out of the project, I’m not just staying at the OEDK until 7 to work on it, but to go with my fellow interns to the Houston Dynamos game! They’re facing the NY Red Bulls, a good team, so we all got seats together to watch it. Unfortunately, we had a little mishap. To confuse Dr Wettergreen, we all decided to have everyone wear blue on the first day he was back, and see how long it takes him to notice. This went over sorta well, and it was fun seeing us all in the same colour. Unfortunately this is also the colour of the opposing team’s away jersey tonight, and I don’t have enough time to go back and change. So I’ll be going to the game in the wrong colour.

All in all this was a restful and tiring week, but I’ve really enjoyed it. I got to pay attention again to how fun it is to just go about everyday, learning how to wire electronics or teaching someone to swim or matching your hair to your suit for a presentation.  And while engineers try and make everything calculated and practical, at the end we’re wild human beings living our lives, making stuff for other wild human beings to live their lives. Whatever we want to do we make possible, whether it is going to the moon or navigating the globe or communicating instantly anywhere in the globe. “There should be a place where only the things you want to happen, happen” (Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are). Since the youngest age we’ve learned that we’re animals too, and what makes us humans is our ability to create. As engineers, are we not fulfilling not just all the requirements to be alive, but to be human too? We’re wild things who create our own world to enjoy, so we should enjoy it to the fullest.