Reflections

Karim

The final days leading up to the project check-off is a crucial period where significant learning occurs. This intense 72-hour stretch, while demanding, has immense satisfaction and a sense of achievement at the end. For future teams (or past me), I’d recommend that before diving headfirst into the project, it is imperative to dedicate substantial time in thoughtful design of the chassis. Understanding how its geometry can be optimized to accomplish the necessary tasks is vital. Similarly, a familiarity with wheel dynamics is essential for effective robot design is important as it significantly influences manoeuvrability.

It was also easy to fall into a cyclical trap of tweaking the robot's software, often without meaningful progress. It's crucial to recognize when this cycle occurs and to not be afraid to deconstruct and reassess your design. Do not hesitate to dismantle the robot and start over, incorporating the valuable lessons learned from your initial build. This approach not only streamlines the rebuilding process but also results in a more efficient and adept final product.

Embracing this iterative process, where learning from previous attempts informs subsequent improvements, is key to evolving your design and strategy. Such a mindset will ultimately lead to a more successful project outcome.

Thank you to the teaching team for all their time and help throught this project!

Anthony

Now that we've finished the project, we have some unique concepts for this robot that we'd be curious to explore in the future.   Our largest issue during testing was our motors having slightly different behaviors, and spinning our robot unintentionally.  If we had one wheel that was being driven, and that wheel was on a platform rotated by a servo motor, we could have very precise turning and only one motor speed to account for.  If this rotating platform also included an ultrasonic sensor, we could also eliminate the need for ultrasonic sensors on every side of the robot.  This would require a strong servo, but would decrease the effect of inconsistent motors.

I will never forget the consecutive all-nighters pulled to finish this project off, and I'm very thankful for the teaching team that stayed up with us until the early morning.  I feel like I've gained enough skills with Arduino-powered robots to pursue some passion projects once I catch up on sleep.

Irene

This class was definitely the most involved course I've taken during my time at Stanford but I have absolutely no regrets in taking it. I feel like I learned so much more through the structure of this course because of how hands on it was in comparison to other more theoretical courses offered at Stanford. Looking back on our progress over the quarter, I definitely wish that we had poured more time into our project in the earlier stages and explored more of our initial ideas, rather than just picking one route and sticking with it. 

We learned a little to late that our decisions were not the best suited for the parts we were working with, but we had no choice but to push through and try to make the best of our situation. I'd love to take a second stab at this project with the lessons we've learned and maybe explore some of our earlier ideas in order to increase consistency and speed. 

Romeo

Although the most time-intensive course I have taken at Stanford, definitely the most rewarding. Working with my team to get this project done was at times difficult, but we all managed to pull together to make a final product we were satisfied with. Before taking this class I should have done more research on what fails often with robots so that I wouldn't have had to learn the hard way. I would have looked more into how to best get my robot to drive straight. Believe it or not, that was the toughest part of this project, getting the robot to go in a straight line. At the beginning, we had lots of great ideas, but once our robot wasn't driving straight, everything started falling apart. If I had understood how to get this to work earlier, everything else would have been much easier. Not only that, I could have then spent more time on developing a more robust sensor suite so that I could more quickly complete the requirements. From this project I better understand how sensors work but also that ultrasonic sensors aren't the most reliable. The ultrasonics got us through this project, but to work with them and to use them to our advantage was difficult. I don't know how I made it through, but I did. Moreover, I have a better understanding of library and timers which will be very helpful later on. I also should have taken ME 220: Introduction to Sensors before this class, rather than taking it next quarter haha. This class would have also oriented me in my design choices when designing the robot. All in all, although it was a tough project (mostly because I didn't prepare myself well enough, at least I think so), I got what I wanted out of this class. I was able to create a mechatronic device. Thank you to the teaching team for all their help and guidance and to my Mechabrains team for all their hard-work and dedication. I also think it's worth mentioning that this class has solidified my decision of pursuing the mechatronics depth for the coterm, so thank you ME 210 for that.