Project Report Outline

*Objective
*Make Fast Car
*May want transmission
*Rules
*Fastest down track wins
*One motor in gear train
*Track (schematic) 1ft wide (color=flat black)
  • 15ft flat
  • 8ft downhill (with given slope)
  • 16ft flat
  • 8ft uphill (with same slope)
  • 4ft flat
  • groove 2x(lego) in center to steer car
    • *Sensors needed
  • race started by activating light beneath track
  • ends when crossing white line on track
    • *Series of races (cars race against cars with same # races
    *only pieces crossing the finish line can continue to race
    *cannot impede other race cars
    *no lubricants
    *Construction
    *Lego MIT kits
    *List of components, legos, etc
    *Construction of components
  • processor
  • servo
  • rotation counter
  • motors
  • battery packs
  • motor drivers
  • etc?
    • *Structural Support
    *Rip off some stuff from MIT manual
    *Batteries are particularly heavy
    *Lock down motors and servo (probably will spin off)
    *Use lots of supports on axles, esp long ones
    *Gear Train
    *Gear down motor input (power transfer) for hill
    *General Guidelines for building gear train
  • build from wheels back to motor
  • line up spinning shafts well OR ELSE
  • check mesh on contacting gears
  • smaller gears weare out more often
  • to gear down, smaller gear closer in train to motor
  • to gear up, vice-versa
  • don't glue until you are sure
    • *Transmission (not absolutely necessary)
  • add flexibility to car speeds
  • best shifting mechanism
  • be open-minded--lots of different ideas possible
    • *Programming
    *Interactive C
    *Rip off some more stuff from MIT manual
    *Controls
    *Closed loop--performance controlled
    *Why?
  • trans. shifts by motor speed, not time dependent
  • if get up hill faster, shift sooner, etc
    • *How?
  • rpm meter
  • multi-tasking
    • Return to EG498A