Jacob F. Hughes' portfolio |
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Outline
The goal of this project was for groups of students to apply their programming knowledge to something other than "make this happen", and they would also have to build the machine that would run off of the code. They were given multiple assignments to choose from. My group choose the assignment where we build a machine that would "cut" string over and over, until it was powered off.
Constraints
- Be able to run continuously
- Have an emergency shut off switch
- Be able to "cut" a fairly precise amount of sting
- Be able to be turned on by a switch
Brainstorming
(I was gone for the first day of the project so I wasn't there for most of the brainstorming process. However the next day we talked about having a servo measure off the string. A servo wouldn't work though because it has a physical limitation on it allowing only to rotate so far. so we decided to use a motor with an encoder, the motor would stop when the encoder "counted" a certain number of rotations. we would have a wheel hooked up to the axle that the motor was spinning and the string would be unwound from the wheel. a servo with an arm attached will spin making the arm come down and "cut" the string. Or something along those lines
Building/Final Design
Since we're teenagers, and putting forth an effort isn't something we really do, we decided to go with our original ideas. However coding the machine was a different matter entirely. The problem with the coding was miscommunication between me and my team mates. I was told that the machine had to turn on and off using the same switch. which required loops that fed into one another, and voids, and other tasks and thing like that, fairly advanced stuff. However after that mistake was cleared up, programming was fairly easy. I had two tasks one to run the motor and servo and another that would shut off once a bump switch was pressed.
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Reflection
Upon reflection I have learned a couple things. Communicating is an important part of a team, pretty obvious, but it was reinforced here. That I don't know as much about coding as I thought I did. Also that knowing what is required in the project is necessary.
Now time to reflect on how the machine worked. It did what it was "supposed" to do, meaning the wheel (spool) turned, an arm came down, and a switch turned it on and off. However if you were to really try to cut sting with the machine it would be a complete failure, as once the tension of the line isn't there because the string was cut, it wouldn't be able to function anymore.
Now time to reflect on how the machine worked. It did what it was "supposed" to do, meaning the wheel (spool) turned, an arm came down, and a switch turned it on and off. However if you were to really try to cut sting with the machine it would be a complete failure, as once the tension of the line isn't there because the string was cut, it wouldn't be able to function anymore.
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