Week 4: Aerospace and Industrial Engineering

Simulator

Drone

“detect” various surfaces as indicated by different colors

1. Describe the plan your group used to build the project.

Our plan was based on the activities we completed and the simulations we tested out. These helped us to understand what shapes and dimensions work best for our project. According to the best results of these activities and simulations, we made our plan for the final projects.

2. How did you incorporate the Design strategies from the textbook (Ch 21-26)?

We incorporated the design strategies from Chapters 21–26 by planning the rocket’s shape, choosing suitable materials such as wood, paper, tape, and a stopper, and explaining why each part was used. We then built and tested the rocket by launching it into the sky and observing its height, stability, and overall performance. Based on the results, we evaluated the design and identified possible improvements.

3. Describe the process your group used to accomplish the task.

We first started off with the activities of this week to shape our perspective on what works best. Then we completed simulations to make our rocket design and see if our design's center of pressure is below the center of gravity. After this confirmation, we built our rocket and tested with a string if our rocket is stable.

4. Describe the principles you used to build the project and apply to the engineering fields you studied.

We used principles such as planning, material selection, stability, aerodynamics, testing, and improvement to build the rocket. These same principles apply to rocket and airplane design through shape, balance, and drag reduction, and to autonomous drones through control, sensors, and reliable programming. Testing the final launch helped us evaluate performance and improve the design.

5. Each member’s role in the project.

Derinsu: Completed the airplane activity with the wooden sticks and the foam propeller airplane. Additionally, she completed this week’s research paper.

Becca: Did some rocket simulations and completed the straw rocket activity. She also contributed to the air quality check around campus.

Emily: Completed an airplane activity and the foam propeller airplane. Additionally, she helped with the air quality checks and updated the website for this week.

Rocco: Completed the paper airplane activity and did all the drone programming and testing.

Nolan: Completed the stomp rocket activity, built simulations for the final project, and was the main contributor on building our final rocket. 

6. Describe the successes and the obstacles your team encountered and how your team overcame the obstacles.

Successes:

• Getting the drone to change led color when it detected and landed. Also, getting it to start and stop without encountering any problems.

• The rocket went really high and was stable during the launch. Therefore, it went straight up and came down without going in any direction we did not want it to.

Obstacles:

• The drones were not flying too smoothly and they were not moving in a straight line. So, we made corrections and programmed the drones so that it would land more often.

• We struggled to find a way to have a lower center of pressure and a higher center of gravity. We solved this by designing the same rocket in the simulations and playing around with it. At the end, we implemented our result to the actual rocket.

7. What would your next steps be to improve your project?

Find other ways to raise center of gravity or lower center of pressure for the rocket. For the drone, find ways to make the drone fly smoother. Also, try to keep the drone in a straight line while it is moving.

8. Describe the lessons that you learned and how you will apply these lessons to future projects.

For future projects about rockets, we learned that the rocket should not be too tall and that the motors are heavy and this should be planned from beforehand. For drones, the programs need a lot of corrections, so we learned that we need to test. For all projects, the more tests we complete, the better our project will be. 

9. Knowing what you know now, how would you start your project differently?

For the drone, set up pads in a straight line instead of putting them randomly. For the rocket, play around more with the simulations before starting to plan the rocket.