2019/2020 SpartanSuperway Small Scale Team

SSST Blog 10/17/19 Progress for the week: Controls Team  This week for the controls team, Asmaa continued working on combining the two main Arduino codes which we have so far. One of the codes was the one which implemented the ultrasonic sensor to get the motor to slow down if the ultrasonic sensor detected an object too close to it. This mimics what we want the bogies and pods to do once they are fully operational, it is essentially collision prevention system to where if a pod gets too close to another pod, the ultrasonic sensors will detect the proximity, and get the motor to slow down. The other Arduino code which we have is for the BLE. Using a pre mad app to test if the BLE works, Asmaa wrote a code to enable the Arduino to turn an LED on and off depending on the input of the user on the app. If we typed 1, the LED would turn on and if we typed 0, the LED would turn off. Asmaa combined both of these codes into one, with the slight difference that once we have our own iO...

Blog 11/14/2019 Progress for this week: Controls This week the controls team continued learning about hoe to integrate the BLE into the the project. This consisted of watching many videos and reading several indepth tutorials. It should not take much longer to be abel to successfully integrate the BLE into the iOS app. Another task which the team has been working on is testing the new stepper motor that arrived. From the testing that was done, it was concluded that modifications may have to be made to either the code or the circuit to properly use the driver board. Guideway Team The Small Scale Guideway Group focused on modifying parts of the track to fit the required dimensions. The overall size of the track will be 96 inches long and 48 inches wide. Straight parts of thr track will be in increments of 16 inches while the curved parts will be modified to adjust for the inner and outter curvature of the track. Overall, the model will consist of pieces that will fit onto one ano...

Progress for this week: Controls Team: The team successfully tested the HM 10 BLE module by connecting it to the Arduino and wrote a simple code to turn an LED on and off. Using an existing App called "HM10 Bluetooth Serial Lite", we were able to connect the BLE module to the app. The app allowed us to send information by typing messages like 0 or 1. We then wrote an Arduino code to receive the signal from the BLE module and print a message to the serial monitor and turn the LED on if signal received is 1 and turns it off if zero. Figure 1: HM 10 Arduino Code The Guideway Team: The Guideway Team has been modifying the CAD model of the track to implement new designs. We are adding dowel pins to have accurate alignment between the guideway pieces.  The team as a Whole We prepared a short presentation for the Podcar City Conference. Julio represented our team and presented the main goal of our team as well as our design choices for the track, bogie, and co...

Blog 10/31/2019 Progress for this week: Controls Team  Bluetooth module as shown in Figure 1 arrived today and testing will begin this week. The bill of materials documenting part description, cost, and website to purchase has been created. Swift classes are currently being taken for advancing progress on the iPhone application.  Figure 1. ECH HM-10 Bluetooth LE Module Guideway Team The Guideway Team is reviewing feedback from Presentation 2 in order to make better progress on design changes. We are currently reviewing the corners of the track to determine the best angle, so the bogie does not get stuck. Another design change under consideration is the best way to align the guideway pieces. Dr. Furman mentioned using dowel pins at the end of Presentation 2 that we may want to consider using. An example of how the dowel pins can be used for alignment is shown in Figure 2. The guideway team will begin to work on making more progress for the bogie switch mechanism. ...

SST Blog 10/23/19 Progress for the week: Controls Team This week consisted of presenting the progress on the iOS app as well as the motor and ultrasonic sensors for the Arduino. The iOS app currently has three main tabs: a home, order pod, and map tab as seen in Figure 1. Figure 1. Main tabs of iOS app. There are small parts of code included (Figure 2), but there needs to be more practice done to meet the requirements for the app. All of the code relies on Xcode and Swift, which Julio will continue to work on. Figure 2. Snippet of code so far. There are multiple parts being ordered at the moment, with a general idea of what needs to be included into the hardware for the controls. Figure 3 shows a Fritzing layout of the hardware, and a snippet of the motor code can be seen in Figure 4.  Figure 3. Fritzing layout of the Arduino and other hardware connected. Figure 4. Code for motor. Guideway Team The guideway team has made considerable progress in th...

SSST Blog 10/17/19 Progress for the week: Controls Team  This weeks progress was similar to last weeks. The controls team focused on two separate tasks. Lissette and Asmaa continued to develop the test code for the motor and ultrasonic sensors. The purpose of this code is to simulate what would happen if two bogies get too close to one another, in which case the ultrasonic sensors would detect this and slow down the motor of the bogie that is getting too close to the other bogie. There were some issues with the code last week, so this week kinks were continued to be worked out. A snippet of the Arduino code can be seen below in figure 1: Figure 1: Snippet of code to control motor speed using ultrasonic sensor  The space where the small scale team works was also searched for useful components. While Lissette and Asmaa were working on this, I (Julio) was working on the iOS app. So far I am just learning the basics of the programming language Swift by watching courses ...

Team Blog #3 What we have completed: This week the Progress was made on the guideway and with controls. The controls team focused on writing some preliminary Arduino scripts and developing the interface of the app that will be used. Using some of the sensors and motors that we already have. The controls team was able to roughly simulate what the the motors on the pods will be doing. Using the apple programming language swift, the team was able to begin developing a basic layout of what the interface will look like. The only issue that the controls team is currently facing is how to use swift on non mac laptops. The Guideway Team focused on determining the best design for supporting the guideway rails with the base piece. There are two options that have been considered so far. The first option consists of a rectangular stand (2X4 wood) with a slot as seen in Figure 1 part 2. There will be an aligner tool as shown in Figure 2 that is used to clamp down the track to the rectangul...

This week's progress: Controls: During this week, the team has been doing research on the Bluetooth module we will be using to connect our mobile app to the Arduino. We narrow the options down to either the BLE-shield or the Bluefruit.                          vs  Guideway:  The team discussed how we will go about designing the base support for the guideway. We will be using PVC pipes, washers, nuts, and threaded studs for the supports to elevate the track. Complete by Next Week: Controls:  The team will be creating a BOM of the components and sensors we still need. The team will also make a prototype of a stepper motor controlled by an ultrasonic sensor.  Bogie:  The team will be designing a snap-fit design for the connection between the bogie and the pod and hopefully 3d print it as a demonstration for the rapid prototype assignment. Guideway: The team will be...

Team Blog #3  September 25, 2019  Presentation Recap: This week the Small Scale team presented solutions for improving the guideway, bogie, and controls. The bogie will be improved by changing the switch mechanism to latch onto the third rail to prevent the bogie from falling through any gaps in the guideway as shown in Figure 1. The guideway will be improved by laser cutting plywood, which would allow for precision among each track piece. Figure 1. Bogie latching onto right side of third rail.  The bogie will be slightly redesigned to incorporate a two piece snap on to avoid taking apart the track as shown in Figure 2. The wheels of the bogie will be improved by adding friction tape. Figure 2. Snap-Fit design for the two-piece bogie. In addition, the controls team will make an iOS phone application developed in Xcode to control the bogie. The bogie will use a PixyCam to determine each direction to take and for locating each station. The Pix...

Team Blog #2 September 18, 2019 COMPLETED: This week, the team came together to discuss the direction we would take regarding the small scale project. Currently, our idea for the project was to make improvements on the track that had already been built, along with refining the controls and bogie to get it all to work properly. However, after discussing with Mr. Swenson about alternate ideas that he had to the project, we debated on taking a different direction by building even smaller tracks made from laser cut material. PROBLEMS: There are several problems with both the options that we have discussed. Originally, the small scale track as seen in Figure 1 was created from last years small scale team. This design has many imperfections, but we already know all of them. Of course, with all those defects there must be some type of solution, but the problem with that in itself is figuring out which part to focus on first: bogie, controls, or track? Figure 1. Small Sca...

Contact Info: Name Phone Number Email Asmaa Darwish (408)-442-9922 asmaa98darwish@gmail.com Justin Ghieuw (510) 676-6681 j.ghieuw@gmail.com Julio de Pereda Banda (951)-587-7763 chargers1756@gmail.com Shane Fatehi  (408)-306-3044 shane.fatehi@gmail.com Lissette Romero (831)-241-3912 lizzie6879@gmail.com Availability: Scope of Work and Goals: This year, the small scale teams scope of work is to: - Develop a sustainable and efficient manufacturing process for the railway - Design a railway that is repeatable and interchangeable - Redesign bogie and railway (specifically at the y-junction) so that there is no risk of failure at the y-junction - Design a bogey with the necessary sensors/electrical hardware which will allow for multiple pods to be on the railway at the same time without the risk of collision - Possibly develop an app to be able to communicate back and forth with the bogies from users mobile device The...