MRSD Tasks

Task 3 - Motor Lab

The group successfully demonstrated the lab, “Task 3: Microcontrolled DC, RC Servo, and Stepper Motor”. Marshall was the main presenter for the group while the rest of us added a few words about our respective topics. Marshall worked on the stepper motor, Simon took care of the DC motor, Akshay implemented the servo control, and Mike designed the initial program architecture and user interface. The individual lab reports for this lab can be found in Motor Control ILR01 folder under Project Documents.

Figure: Task 3 Demonstration setup

Task 4 - Sensors Lab

Our spring demonstrated the implementation of three sensors: a potentiometer, a force sensor, and  a temperature sensor.  The potentiometer was used to control the motion of a DC motor (which indirectly demonstrated the use of a hall effect rotary encoder.)  The force sensor and temperature sensor were used to control the degree rotation of a servomotor.

In the context of the RooBot project, this lab has informed our choice of relevant sensors. Our project will utilize a force sensor (to detect that the launching mechanism triggered), an IMU (to monitor the flight of the RooBot), a potentiometer (to be used as a power dial on the controller), rotary encoder (to detect the position of the DC motor), and a temperature sensor (to monitor battery hazards such as an overheat condition.

The following is an example of the voltage output for the FSR400 under linearized conditions (i.e., after being fed through an opamp and filtered within software on the Arduino Uno platform.)

Figure: Voltage versus Force (Linearized)

Please see Sensor Lab ILR02 under the Project Documents section for more information.

Meanwhile, our team studied the components of each subsystem and their required power. Then we estimated the total regular power and peak power required by the whole system. The information can be found inTeamE_PDSconceptual.pdf in Power Distribution System folder under Project Documents section.