FEBRUARY 20
Today our group decided to start the scale drawing for our original star shaped prototype ROV. But once we started drawing we realized that this was very difficult to draw and would be even harder to construct. There were many things wrong with the star fish design for example it required 60 degree three way joints, which are expensive, and the ROV would turn out to be 10 times bigger than we wanted. At the end, we all agreed to change the shape and design to a square/ cube shape. We then started to try and start our scale drawings for our new shape. Today was a low point moment, but at the end we came back on top and completed the scale drawings.
FEBRUARY 24
Today we received our ROV kit, which came with al the things needed to create an ROV. The first thing we did was label all of our names and group number on all of the parts of the kits so it wouldn't mix up. Right away our group start constructing our ROV, but then realized we needed more pipes and T-Joints than we were given. At first we bought some off of Mrs. Quinny but then learned that we can strip all the old robots from last year and re-use supplies. Doing that saved us a lot of money and time.
FEBRUARY 27
Today we soldered all the different pieces on our PCB Board. It was very difficult for our group at some points but we were able to overcome our struggles. After almost a full day of work we finally finished soldering our board and now it is complete and looks great! Soldering is where you add liquid metal onto the components so they are secure and working. Once we finished soldering we tested it out to see if our controller worked, and if it was able to control our ROV.
March 3
Today was a difficult day because we needed to strip our wires for our motors and solder them on. It was very difficult because the wires kept falling off and the electoral tape kept burning off. We were hoping to be finished in order to start waxing our film canister and motors, but unfortunately we didn't get to that part of the process.
march 6
Today was the most difficult day of our project because the ROV wasn't going our way. We were already behind on the waxing because our wires were not soldering onto the motors. We had to re-strip all over again and solder once again. Today was the check point for a completed ROV, and we thought there was no way we were going to complete it. The most difficult part was the blue wires because it kept falling apart and ripping. Once we completed that, we were able to wax but then realize we were missing a film canister. We asked Ms. Quinny for a new one but she responded saying she gave ours away thinking it was an extra one. That was a difficult moment because that's mean our mottos wouldn't work because they weren't waterproofed. Instead we reused a motor from an ROV from last year but it still meant we had to re solder and attach wires to wires which was very hard since it was so thin. This was the lowest point in the project, there was a lot of stress and crying going on since we knew we weren't getting the full points for the checkpoint due today. But after see completed that, a great friend of ours, Maritza, helped us with our ROV and ended up completing it with us. She attached the propellers and the motors onto the ROV, which helped us a lot. Although we worked hard, Anayelli and Ika still came into class during 6th period to work on our ROV and complete it. We zip tied the motors onto the robot and tested it out in the pool. That was the highlight of our day, seeing our finial product. At the end of the day we received a 27/30, which is pretty good giving the situation of ours.