Week 3 (9/8/2024) Work Log/Project Update-
TODO –
a) Meet with Nick and Nasi to get started on the designing our electrical components. Parts we have/want, how/where these things will go on our shop vacuum.
b) Also talk with Nick on how we can proceed with the Cleaning fluid.
Concern – Main concern is me being able to also fit meeting/work times in with our Drive Train team.
Week 5 (9/22/2024)
Reflection: Made it further than I thought, with a (relatively) finalized wiring diagram and all parts we need on order. However I am very concerned I will not be able to fulfill all of my responsibilities.
TODO –
1. Finalize Wiring Diagram (in a software maybe?)
2. Make 3d sketch-up on free software (I forget the name) to hold the *Insert electrical component name* onto a screw board.
3. Potentially start on code?
4. Figure out a way to mount the electrical box and where to put it.
Concerns –
I already sort of listed my concerns, but I am very very busy outside of school as well, and I don’t know if I will be able to help all of the teams I agreed to be a part of.
WEEK 6
Reflection: Didn’t do much this week. Working this weekend instead, doing more design and CDR prep with the team. A bunch of our parts came in, so this week I would like to get my bearings straight with the parts we will be working with.
TODO –
- Go through parts
- Start wiring some things?
- Figure out how and where we will be mounting stuff
- DCR review preparation.
Week 7 Worklog
Reflection: I have been missing a few weeks with this update thing I now realize. The past few weeks have either been CDR or ordering parts. I have not been a part of the ordering, but I have been participating in our weekly meetings and making suggestions to the team. Going to work on some wiring today
ToDo
Nothing really to-do. But some things I did/am going to help with this week.
- Connecting the motor to the motor controller.
- Wiring up the inverter?
- Wiring up the relay
Week 8 Work Log (10/19/2024)
This past week I worked with the team to test the electrical parts once they were mounted. We tested to see why our motors to the wheels were not working as intended. After testing many different components we realized that the motor controller for motor 1 is in some way damaged and not allowing the motor to operate as intended. We also returned the inverter because it was a huge waste of space. We are talking more about ordering a different motor controller and/or inverter this week.
Things I am going to help with this week:
- My Lab responsibilities
- Ordering new parts
- Possibly dip my toes into the code to see if there is anything I could help with there.
Week 1 Spring Semester Work Log (1/12/2025)
This semester I am working on a new project called ARMcade. This extent of this project includes creating some sort of console that can connect to both an NES controller and a VGA 6 color board or something along those lines. I met with the team a few times this week as we tried to understand what the end goal of the project was. I am going to do a bit of research in my off time though, because I don’t understand the computer lingo as much as some of the others.
Things I am going to help with this week:
- My own research
- Starting BOM and finding out what parts need to be ordered.
- Figuring out a weekly meeting time for me and the rest of the group.
Week 2 Spring Semester Work Log (1/20/2025)
This past week our team finalized our specs sheet after being given some feedback from some of the enterprise leads. I am still behind on most of the computer language being spoken about, but if I remember correctly, we are thinking of programming our microcontroller in C, and only coding our startup screen of the VGA in ARM. We are going to have some sort of SD card read/write module and use a library from adafruit to make the whole thing work. Parts for most of the things we need have also been ordered.
Things I am going to help with this week:
- Understand what knowledge is needed for my responsibilities.
- Figure out what is needed for my lab responsibilities.
- Watch some youtube videos that would help my understanding.
Week 3 Spring Semester Work Log (1/20/2025) – Project Update 1
This past week our team ordered what should be our final parts we will need for the project. We still have plenty of money left which is great. We are now focusing on learning as much as we can about our responsibilities so that we can hit the ground running when our parts get here.
TODO this week:
- Watch videos and take notes on how VGA’s work and anything on how to program them.
- Make Some sort of diagram that we can start to use for pinouts of the board we are using.
- Watch videos and take notes on how serial communication works so that we can hook up to a controller
- Watch videos and take notes on how to read and wright info to/from SD cards.
Concerns:
- I am very new to all of this, so I just don’t know how much help I will be, or how much I will be able to pull my weight.
- I feel we are getting the physical parts of this board started a little late, which can lead to a rush later. It just would’ve been better to get some parts ordered sooner. But it is what it is.
Week 4 Spring Semester Work Log (1/26/2025) – Project Update 2
We are now focusing on learning as much as we can about our responsibilities so that we can hit the ground running when our parts get here. Hardest thing will be the rush to get stuff moving once parts get here.
TODO this week:
- Watch videos and take notes on how VGA’s work and anything on how to program them.
- Make Some sort of diagram that we can start to use for pinouts of the board we are using.
- Watch videos and take notes on how serial communication works so that we can hook up to a controller
- Watch videos and take notes on how to read and wright info to/from SD cards.
Concerns:
- No concerns as of now. Once parts come in, I think we will be able to get a good jump on the work we need to do.
Week 5 Spring Semester Work Log (1/26/2025) – Project Update 3
I am a bit more familiar with VGA now as I did a bit of research this past weekend. However we are deciding whether or not we should use 6 bit color or find a library that is of a higher resolution (8bit +). That and making a wiring diagram are my main priority this week.
TODO this week:
- Get familiar with KiCad and make a wiring diagram for all of our connections.
- Do more research on virt and horizontal syncs for display and see how hard/easy and start constructing an R2R ladder. If not an R2R ladder, order an arduino shield that had built in VGA support.
Concerns:
- Concerns are that it is almost week 6 (CDR) and it feels like we have made little to no progress because parts just came in.
Week 7 Spring Semester Work Log (2/16/2025) – Project Update 5
This past week was CDR, so most of the week was taken to make sure our presentation had all the correct information on it. I had a little time spent on simulating the R2R ladders we will be using. Had some confusion on the values we were getting out.
TODO this week:
- Need to get in touch with Nick and Steven to get some code pushed to our VGA
- Get 3 R2R ladders working on a breadboard.
Concerns:
- I am realizing that with our current team makeup, it is very hard to dedicate the expertise or time to the project that I feel it needs to get completed.
Week 8 Spring Semester Work Log (3/12/2025) – Project Update 6
It is now the weekend after spring break. I foresee us having issues because we are missing a teammate now. I have some good KiCad drawings going that we can change along the way. Will need to put in some extra work to figure out VGA now.
TODO this week:
- Finish R2R ladders and help push code across it.
Concerns:
- Time Crunch and getting close to the end of the semester.
Week 9 Spring Semester Work Log (3/16/2025) – Project Update 7
This past week we talked with Shane and decided to pivot part of our project spec. We are going to use an LCD display that should be easier to implement while still attempting to keep the project mostly the same.
TODO this week:
- Continue working on R2R and pushing valid VGA inputs
- Continue making a complete pin-out diagram
Concerns:
- Time Crunch and getting close to the end of the semester.
- Limited time to work with teammates.
Week 10/11 Spring Semester Work Log (3/16/2025) – Project Update 8
We are going to use an LCD display that should be easier to implement while still attempting to keep the project mostly the same. I am going to continue working on the VGA to see if I can’t make progress on it. Was able to get into the STM32cubeIDE on my computer and add our board to the project. Going to talk with Nick on how to compile and run the code. Also hooked VGA outputs (not including our timers) to the VGA port. So that should be good for testing once we actually figure out how to program the timers. I am late to this party, but I was also going to reach out to see how plausible it would be to get a soldering certification so I can get our R2R on to a board before checkoffs.
TODO this week:
- Timers and Pushing VGA inputs.
- Soldering r2r ladder if I can get certification.
- Continue updating pin-out diagram.
Concerns:
- Time Crunch and getting close to the end of the semester.
- Limited time to work with teammates.
- Tying components together and fitting them in the box.
Week 10/11 Spring Semester Work Log (3/16/2025) – Project Update 9
This was a very busy week with the second round of midterms running their course. Nick did an amazing job of pulling all of the code together on the board using the Arduino IDE. I got my soldering certification and began making the more complete R2R ladder. The main thing to figure out before our Checkoffs for the team is to put the whole configuration inside of the box. And personally, the thing that needs to be done for me is finishing the wiring diagram and showing some more progress on the VGA side of things.
TODO this week:
- Wiring Diagram.
- Finish R2R ladder.
- Checkoff.
Concerns:
- Getting back to campus from a sports competition early Monday morning.