The team progressed well with the overall goals of the project. The goal for the end of the year was to accomplish an initial prototype that achieves most of the functionalities determined by the team. Further improvements could be made to improve overall functionality of the device, but the device functions as a motor assist. The team overall has worked well together over the course of the year. The team is generally good at meeting internal deadlines for rough and final drafts. The team is always productive during set class times, especially the lab periods. Despite the challenges associated with online learning, group discussions have been largely engaging and productive. The structure of the team has remained consistent throughout the year once subteams were created and subteam leaders were chosen. As a whole, the team works well together and was productive. This is evident in the finished product of the project.
Propulsion Team’s Self-Examination
Throughout the first semester, interim, and the second semester, the propulsion team was able to keep relatively on track to have a final product and worked well as a team. The responsibilities were well divided between the team members, and even though each member focused on their own part(s) of the sub-system, there was constant communication between members, and all members were willing to help each other with any problem or question that arose. Nicole led the team, and focused on the transmission, and the transmission housing. Charlotte focused on the spring, the spring housing, the torque transmitter, and the joint between the attachment and the transmission. Katie focused on the attachment, and the motor. Geoffrey focused on the battery, and the battery housing. All roles stayed the same since the beginning of the project, but each person picked up a new role as the design evolved, specifically regarding the spring.
In general, when planning the schedule for the semester, some buffer room was always taken into account. In the end, all tasks were completed on time or even early. During the second semester, all of our parts were manufactured and assembled in time for integration with the EMI team. The interim period was also a very productive time for the propulsion team. Working during this period allowed for designs to begin being finalized and is one of the main reasons all components were able to be manufactured and assembled in time to integrate with the rest of the team. One change that would be made is all manufactured parts would be tested as soon as possible. Issues were found with designs later on than wanted, which included problems with the attachment slipping on the frame, and the spring not being at the correct angle. While these issues were eventually resolved, it caused some stress on the team because of the short amount of time left in the semester.
Electro-Mechanical Integration Team’s Self-Examination
The electro-mechanical integration team has worked well together all semester. All subteam members have readily contributed to the project in alignment with their skill sets and the team’s needs. The subteam had a strong communication network that allowed members to reach each other whenever they needed help. All initial prototypes were completed on time although further modifications took longer than the team anticipated at points. If given an opportunity to repeat the project, the subteam would try to complete the initial prototypes sooner to account for the additional time needed for testing and modifications. Additionally, the electro-mechanical integration team would begin testing prototypes of manufactured components as soon as possible. The integration of the manufactured components and the 3D printed components did not go as smoothly as planned resulting in some of the flaws that would need to be addressed in future iterations. The electro-mechanical integration team also was the primary team focusing on subteam integration. In hindsight, the subteam integration should have begun earlier. Despite changes that could improve the success of the project, the subteam was overall very successful and worked very well together.
Although the assigned roles stayed largely the same over the course of the semester, each person ended up as the point person for a certain aspect of the project. Matt Urban acted as the point person for making the CAD improvements to the 3D printed components, soldering, and fabrication. Emily Eng had the ambitious job of spearheading the Arduino code and the integration of the three subteams. Carolyn Pye coordinated all of the electrical components of the device such as the circuit board and voltage regulator as well as all of the 3D printing. Despite these specializations, every subteam member worked on all parts of the project. For the electro-mechanical integration team, the project scope did not change over the course of the semester. However, the scope that could be achieved during integration was impacted by the progress of the other subteams. Overall, everyone in the electro-mechanical integration subteam pulled their weight and were able to achieve the majority of the goals set out at the beginning of the semester.
Effort Sensing Team Self-Examination
Overall, the team structure worked well. Both members had different capabilities and strengths that complimented each other well. The tasks remained distributed well overall. The main division of labor was with the strain gauge measurement system and the 9DOF measurement system which each team member took responsibility for. Ultimately, the building of the ramp was taken care of by this subteam and this took time which could have been used to work more with the 9DOF sensor which was a setback that didn’t allow us to fully reach the goals in terms of isolating the user input force. This timing and planning could have been better to increase productivity.