Oids' Solution

Follow our Progress Week to Week September 29, 1995 October 6, 1995 October 13, 1995 October 20, 1995 October 27, 1995 The Grand Solution A car with transmission 2 gears Shifting mechanism with the servo Development of new parts Motor driver Sliding "tube" gear--essential for making transmission and motor stationary Rotation Counter Interactive C elements Shifting based on rotation of the gear train Rotation meter which samples every .05 s Pretty much only goes into second gear on the downhill and while coasting on straightaway below it. Problems Stablility of entire structure Pieces had a tendency to shift Numerous structural problems translated to gear problems Keeping everyone on project fully informed of progress (lost our log book of progress) Broken parts Multiple motors Tons of lego bricks Snapped a few lego gears Shafts (we even melted one in half) Spirits Results Built a control car to compare speed--transmissioned car wins in race Second gear is beneficial even on flat terrain (though best down hill) Learned gear trains are tricky Broke lots of parts The car was faster because of multiple gears, though more prone to failure Complicated structure Many things could make the car less efficent Found we could prevent many failures with high maintenance (like a real dragster) When in top form, it is awesome Detailed report describing how to complete the project Cool Pictures