Work I Completed
This week is the first week back this term, and as such there wasn’t too much work that has been completed. One of our group members for the walking quadruped robot didn’t show up a lot last semester, but him being here this week meant that we were able to discuss what needed to be done. We were able to more definitively discuss who would be doing what, although this was more for them as I knew what I needed to be doing. On that note, the progress I have made on the 3D design of Winston has unfortunately been minimal. There has been quite some discussion about what needs to be added to the design, and with batteries arriving and more discussion about what specific components are being added, there has been some progress in his development. In terms of components, the biggest discussion has been about which motors to use, some that aren’t too demanding in terms of power, but also some that have enough torque. There has been some debate as three positional servo motors, being:
FS90, s3003, and the HS-311
These motors have their respective torque at 1V as:
0.25 kgcm, 0.625 kgcm, and 0.633 kgcm
clearly, the HS-311 has the highest torque, and will be the strongest to do what is needed. Another option, however, is to use a dc motor with high torque and measure its position by attaching a potentiometer to it. This wouldn’t be too complicated, and the most difficult part should be the initial calibration of its position. More needs to be done to decide which if these options are best, but the outcome of this will directly effect the design of the leg, as each motor and method has different strengths and sizes.
Reflection
I feel that there has been little progress on Winston over the holidays, however, this was not entirely unexpected, and so we are still on track to finishing the project with both our individual parts and the group one. There has also been more discussion this week, which has helped me understand the role other people will be playing, as well as my own, and the factors I need to consider, both to make my part work but also to integrate it with theirs.