The Beginning Work on Our Quadcopter

     "Maybe we shouldn't have ordered from banggood.com" an insightful quote by Sam Silver.

"GitHub Can GetOut!" a famous anonymous quote

     This week our group began working on our physical quadcopter. We recently received our quadcopter blades, which we were very disappointed with. Although the quadcopter blades were not as large or as sturdy as we would have liked them, we quickly ordered new carbon fiber blades, which we quickly received  through amazon prime. We immediately began testing our new carbon fiber blades, however we were disappointed with the speed that the motors were  able to spin them.

      Because the motors that we had at our disposal were under powered we were again confronted with another problem. It was hard to decide whether or not to order new motors from amazon prime, or if we should wait another week for our motors to arrive from the infamous banggood.com. We decided that it would be best to order new motors from amazon prime because, the infamous banggood.com had disappointed us before.

      As the trimester becomes closer and closer to ending, it seems we have bitten off more than we can chew. Our goal for next week is to finish the hardware on our quadcopter so that we can begin bug-testing for the next couple of weeks. It will not be easy to finish our quadcopter before the end of the trimester, however I am confident that we can do it. With a team of geniuses such as ours, there is nothing we can't accomplish.

The Wait For Parts

"Without our motors and blades there is little we can do."

An insightful quote by Quinn M.

 "My laziness is exactly like the number eight, if it lays down it becomes infinite." A true quote by Victor Meyer.

       Last week we received many of our parts, however the most vital parts that our quadcopter needs, are still to come. This week has been notably less productive than last week, this is mainly due to the fact that our most important part have still not arrived. Aside from waiting on our parts, Sam S. and Jacob R. have accomplished much of the programming that will be necessary for our quadcopter to work.


      Earlier this week Jacob R. began programming one of the most vital parts of our quadcopter. Although Jacob was able to program the AT MEGA, he was unsuccessful in making the AT MEGA run the script. Hopefully in the coming weeks we will be successful in programming the AT MEGA. Besides the AT MEGA, we have been successful in making our gyroscope work.


     Our plan is for now, we are going to use four separate motors with propellers for our vehicle. This is in contrast with the majority of groups which are doing land vehicles. In their groups they already have most of their parts, however we need our parts even to figure out how to write the code. Our plan will come along much quicker once we have those parts, but as for now, we are moving along step by step, doing what we can.

Hard at Work on the Beginnings of Our Quadrocopter

Sam holds up our gyroscope

Hard at Work on the Beginnings of Our Quadcopter

"Let's get this started" - Sam, 2015

We received many of our parts this week, namely the camera, gyroscope and some motors. We have been hard at work soldering things such as the gyroscope, in order to connect it to the main Arduino.  The gyroscope's purpose is for the stability of the quadcopter.  The four propellers, once we recieve them, will rely on this information to stay in flight.

Victor Meyers was noted as being, "our best solderer," according to Sam.  Here we have Victor soldering together one of the first components that we tested, the gyroscope.

Victor solders wires

The gyroscope appears to work smoothly, however we were getting some readings that made it appear as thought the gyroscope was but a mere accelerometer.  Later we were relieved when we had just read the information wrong.  As well, we have began soldering on other stuff.

We have but little to do on our complicated quadcopter without vital parts.  Earlier last week, we created our very own working autonomous two wheeled (four wheels, counting two rear speakers placed as wheels) car, using the allotted parts from the beginning.  This we were told would "get us a C," so, consequently, that's our backup plan.

As our plan is for now, we are going to use four separate motors with propellers for our vehicle.  This is in contrast with the majority of groups which are doing land vehicles.  In their groups they already have most of their parts, however we need our parts even to figure out how to write the code.  Our plan will come along much quicker once we have those parts, but as for now, we are moving along step by step, doing what we can.  

We believe that our quadcopter will triumph against the other groups because of its innate superiority.  It can fly wherever it needs and will move around objects with its ultrasound sensors we are mounting on it.  This is the way it becomes autonomous for the whole point of XV: Auto.  Our quadcopter will be able to fly over its obstacles and fly low when needed.  The programming seems ominous and may provide many troubles, however, we believe we can do it fairly easily.  It will have the most maneuverability, it may even be able to fly above water.  The only place it wont be able to go is under water (for obvious reasons).