19. Project Development

Well, I am close to present my final project, now that I have a defined date (06/14/2021), I must focus on the things that were pending, check that it is working correctly and other questions that I am going to detail below.

What tasks have been completed, and what tasks remain?

I particularly consider that the most difficult part of the project was the elaboration of the PCB, fortunately I was able to elaborate it without any problem and it also works correctly, I have all the sensors and actuators working correctly, recently I was able to machine all the pieces I needed to assemble my car in MDF, to be able to perform a complete programming, first I must integrate all the parts in my project, it is pending to run the wiring of all the parts and perform the code tests.

What’s working? what’s not?

As I am a cautious person related to electronics, I previously tried it with an Arduino development board and everything seems to work correctly, I also checked the kerf of my material so that my joints can fit in the most appropriate way, honestly I am not a fan of programming and that is something that I am leaving for last (programming of the PCB and also the mobile application).

What questions need to be resolved?

I consider that the most important question to be solved will be Is my prototype able to measure the weight correctly? As I detail in my final project page, I have paid attention to that detail and made all the necessary modifications so that in the end my cart will accurately measure the weight of the product that I will place in the basket, I feel that this is the most important part of my project and I must get a super precise measurement to later calculate the total production of my harvested area.

What will happen when?

Gantt chart

I consider that a Gantt chart is the best way to organize the actions necessary to obtain a final product, my diagram spends much of the time formulating the idea and also gathering the necessary components to develop the project, the rest of the actions depend directly from the week in which they teach us to apply each of the manufacturing technologies.

Things that are pending are not supposed to bring problems, hopefully so, this week I will get to work so that the project is finished with a margin of time to be able to make both the slide and the video detailing the operation of my prototype. In conclusion, this week many things will happen:

  • crimping of connectors
  • wiring
  • secure all electronic components to the cart
  • check that everything already installed works correctly
  • last but not least programming

What have you learned?

I learned many things throughout this process, performing each of the assignments taught me to distribute correctly my time and generate a schedule that allows me to conclude my projects, my knowledge before taking the fabacademy was very limited and seeing that my final project integrates different manufacturing technologies, I can understand the main phrase of the fabacademy Learn to Make (almost) Anything.