EE471 Inverted Pendulum Design Project
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[ Home | Members by Group | Schedule | Status | Documentation | Data | Q & A ]
EE471 Inverted Pendulum Design Project |
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[ Home | Members by Group | Schedule | Status | Documentation | Data | Q & A ] |
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Status Report for the Week of October 12
Group 1: Reported on the derivation of a simple equation that has the mass of the pendulum, the mass of the vehicle, and the force resulting from the application of a voltage at the terminals of the motor as the variables. A mature concept of the optical encoder design was presented and evolved (see below) based on the requirements and input of Groups 3&4 (a.k.a. Group 7) during the lab meeting.
Group 2: Reported success with the acceleration experiment (see Data). Actual accelerations for a given voltage were calculated. One caveat of the motor that will be used is a noticeable difference in the acceleration in forward and reverse. (The motor causes that.)
Group 3 & 4 (a.k.a. Group 7): Presented a functional first draft of a flow chart for the control program. Requested an additional bit on the optical encoder so that the direction of motor rotation could be determined external to the microcontroller. As justification for the request, Group 7 presented the circuit they envision as the polarity (motor direction) switch. It consists of a bit on the optical encoder that reflects the position of the pendulum--either left of vertical or right--connected to a DPST relay. They also discussed a mechanism to prevent the vehicle from running into a wall should it get the notion to. After discussion with Group 1, the additional bit was agreed to (see below).
Collaboration and Compromise: Group 1 and Group 7 hammered out a compromise on the optical encoder that gives Group 7 their requested additional bit yet reduces the number of bits required to achieve the desired resolution by mirroring the gray code across a vertical plan normal to the plane through which the pendulum will move.
Project Coordinator's Assessment for the Week of October 12:
While officially behind schedule as of Sunday, all groups reported progress that will be the spring board for the completion of the project. The next week and a half must see the construction of the pendulum, the optical encoder, and the PIC circuit, as well as the completion of the control program. Failure to do these things will certainly result in postponing the final deadline--that is not an option.
I see the systems coming together in concept but we should have them together in physical form by now. However, everyone has worked hard to bring the project as close to completion as it currently is and everyone has done an excellent job. Keep up the good work!