2016
Tron Days
October 2016
The big problem with the pulley system involved all of the different aspects of mechatronics and required the different skill sets of each team member combined with knowledge in all of the subject areas. After I explained to my group how all of our smaller questions were related to each other, we worked together on an award application. As a result of my critical thinking skills, we won the Mechatronics Award! I believe this situation clearly demonstrates my ability to understand the connections between smaller problems and look at the bigger picture of a project.
The first question I solved was calculating the lengths of the pulley cables when the weight was at different locations. I applied my knowledge of linear algebra to create a coordinate system within the range of the two pulleys, assumed the winch’s diameter to simplify my calculations, assigned each point a set of coordinates, and used my knowledge of vectors to find the length of the two cables in each situation. At the time, my group member John was working on the AutoCAD question. I verified my calculations with his 2D model of the pulley system in AutoCAD by creating a replica weight at each point and dimensioning the length of the cables in the software. The second question I worked on involved creating a program in C++ that prompted for an (x,y) position of the weight and outputted the length of the two cables. I designed a flow chart to plan out how to efficiently code the program and wrote out pseudocode for the functions I wanted to create for the cable length calculations before typing out the code. To test my program, I used my coordinates from the previous question as test cases, however; some of the test cases weren’t giving out the correct numbers so I asked John to look over my code and ask for his advice on what I should change. By testing different numbers, correcting the code, and listening to input from my team member, I was able to modify my program until it worked correctly and efficiently. The next day, John and I worked together to write a program in RobotC that ran on a Lego NXT pulley setup. After lots of experimentation and testing, we finally created a program that moved the weight from one set of coordinates to another, and it was a great feeling to finally see it work properly!
TRON days was a very hands-on and collaborative event that I highly enjoyed. Over a period of two days my group worked together on solving small questions that all related to a bigger problem involving a two-axis pulley system. In order to get some content for our presentation on the engineering design cycle the next day, we had to solve at least one of the problems. After reviewing all of the smaller questions, I used my critical thinking skills to understand the connections between them and how they related to the big problem.
Team member, John, and I working together on the Lego NXT program
My group members: Vanessa, myself, Pati, and John after winning the Mechatronics Award