Project Management
Engineering Seamen
Today, I had my first meeting with the engineers who are involved in the overreaching robotboat project. I was very impressed with their work to date, and especially with the model boat.
They have sensibly and authoritively divided the larger Roboboat project into roles, where each student has a clearly defined goal and they are focusing consistantly on integration and information sharing. I know from my own previous experience with autonomous vehicles that this is an emminently sensible approach.
Following the meeting, I was very kindly allowed the opportunity to observe the yacht sail under remote control and to even attempt (with some interference from UCD’s swans) to sail it myself. This experience has very much allowed me to properly appreciate the dynamics of the boat. The electronic engineers have done a very good job of installing the servos to control the main sheet and and rudder. In fact, that alone has solved some issues for me:
- The mainsheet is controlled by a servo motor. It has accurate stepping, and you can be sure of the length of the mainsheet once you’ve set it.
- The rudder is controlled, as expected, by a servo. It too can be set accurately, and the servo is more than strong enough to hold it in place.
The most important outcome of this meeting, and subsequent discussions with the very helpful engineers (No, I haven’t backtracked on my stance on engineers, but they may have their uses after all!) is that it became clear that there is a another student, Caoimhín O’Briain, who has been working on very similar elements to those that I was. We even had independently developed, but damn near identical, algorithms for the same problems. Great minds, and all that…
To avoid wasteful duplication of effort, we have agreed a dividing line and self-assigned tasks that suit our respective skill sets. In keeping with this, expect a post on a somewhat interesting problem quite soon. - D.N.T. (1/11/08)
Ship’s Log 30/10/08
Today, I am meeting with my project supervisor, Dr. Lorcan Coyle.
I can use this time to serenade him with reports of progress, ideas and possibly Erasure’s A Little Respect. The meeting will take place in CASL (pronounce castle or the dungeon…), which will be a bit of a trek in my current condition.
I intend to broach the following:
- Pseudo code algorithms for simple navigation based on two 2 known vectors (Angle from magnetic north and angle from wind direction) and possible one known scalar (wind speed).
- How to deal with the Dead Zone
- How to deal with running and the associate lack of control
- The arguments for and against direct control of the boom with a servo as opposed to indirect control via the main sheet
- My arguments for and against possible control systems
- Expected issues with scalabiltiy
- My inability to solder breaks another servo shield
What I hope to gain in this meeting is final decisions on the control system, some feedback on the suitability of my proposed control methods and discuss gaining regular access to the boat. I would stress that tardiness on my part is the sole reason I have not yet inspected the boat itself. I hope to rectify this at a meeting with the other students involved in the project on Friday afternoon.
I will post anecdotal minutes shortly after the meeting. - D.N.T. (30/10/08)