19. Project Management¶
This week’s assignment is to complete your final project, tracking your progress by answering the following questions: What tasks have been completed, and what tasks remain? What’s working? What’s not? What questions need to be resolved? What will happen when? What have you learned?
What tasks have been completed, and what tasks remain?¶
I have all the electronics components complete from previous weeks, but I have a large number of boards- 3 motor driver boards, a sensor board, a power regulator board, a FTDI chip breakout board, a main board, and a bluetooth board- so I would like to combine some of these boards together in some way. I also have to complete the CAD for this week, as I have not started on that yet. Finally, I have about half of my code done for my interface and main project code, but I still have to write the code to network them together.
Whats working? Whats not?¶
My electronics are working separately, and it should not be difficult to network them together into one board. I have written some code to test them individually, and the code and the electronics are both functional. I also have the artistic side of my interface complete. However, I had some issues with the networking side of my interface and my main board, so I will have to work on that some more. I still have to build the physical car.
What questions need to be resolved?¶
I need to find the best way to design my project around my software, and find the best way to implement all the different components. I will also need to find an accurate method of tracking my robot as it moves across the room.
What will happen when?¶
First, I will create a large main board, condensing my electronics. This has the benefits of easing the cable management as well as making it easier to implement into the physical design. Next, I will need to focus on the physical model, as that is the main purpose of a final project. Finally, I will work on the software to track the robot, and deal with issues in each step.
What have you learned?¶
Over the course of Fab Academy, I would say that I have learned the most in the electronics side of engineering. Before fab, I only knew the basics of electronics, and I used Arduino Unos for everything. However, now I have the ability to easily design, manufacture, and solder boards. Because of this, I would say I learned the most in electronics design and soldering. Next, I would say I learned quite a bit of software. Especially during Embedded Programming week, when I used bare metal programming, I have learned a lot of new processes that would have seemed foreign and unfeasable, but over the weeks, I have greatly improved my software skills. I will definitely continue to improve in these areas after Fab.