The Semester 1 assignment for the System Design and Computing module is the Odometry Exercise. All Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics & Aerospace students are required to design and build a simple mobile robot that can move along a predetermined route and indicate that it has reached a specific point via light or sound.
The robot must consist of an Arduino Uno (a microcontroller) and a 2A motor drive, and can only be made from the materials provided. The robot’s performance will be assessed and marks will be given based on the robot’s speed, accuracy, build quality (design, robustness, etc.) and programming system.
The journey to assessment day was a long and arduous one.
Lack of sleep, unpredictable robot actions, repeated testing & adjustments have resulted in some very cranky personalities.
Disagree and argue we did and D-Day arrived in the blink of an eye (or should I say after a few exchange of empty threats? Just kidding.)
On the day of the assessment, Dr. Pu and his posse PhD students/USMC alumni came into the lab ready to evaluate some electronics mounted onto a wooden board with wheels attached.
First up were the Aeronautics & Aerospace Engineering students.
The second group of Aeronautics & Aerospace Engineering students were up next.
Things didn’t go as planned (when do they ever?) and they were allowed a re-try after all teams have had their run.
It was then time for the first group of Mechanical Engineering students (a.k.a Team Eurobot 1/God Praise Us/my group) to step up to the plate.
Watch the best run we ever had below:
Credits to Chen for the video.
Only my team’s video is available, sorry!
Other teams of Mechanical Engineering students followed.
Eurobot 4 was given a re-try as well.
Photo taking session.
The aim of the odometry assignment was to prepare us for the Eurobot competition taking place in Semester 2, where each team is required to build a robot which will compete with other teams’ robots for points (i.e. compete for assignment marks) by carrying out various specified tasks.
This would definitely be a lot more challenging than what we have done so far but I’m sure we are all already excited to see what’s going to happen.
So let the games begin!
Through this group assignment, I felt a sense of gratitude. Never have I been so grateful towards the fact that the university is open 24/7. I would like to use this opportunity to thank all those responsible for that decision on behalf of the students at USMC.