Project reflection

Introduction

As mentioned earlier about halfway through the project a paradigm shift occurred in which the goal of the project switched from designing a prototype to obtaining a more in depth knowledge about the dynamics and parameters of the reforestation process such that the need for a robotic solution could indeed be confirmed. After this confirmation, the group worked on developing a user interface which can be used to control the robots and specify the desired reforestation parameters. This page gives further details about the pitfalls we encountered during the first stage of the project and lead to this paradigm shift. Furthermore, an identification of errors in judgement which were made during the project such that they can be avoided during future projects

The general information about the project can be found in PRE2017 4 Groep6.

Old formulation of the project

Old planning

Table 4: Preliminary planning for the project

Week number	Task	Person*
1
	Choose definitive subject	Collaborative effort of all members
	Define problem statement and objectives	David
	Define users	Adine
	Obtain user requirements	Gerben
	Work out typical use cases	Luc
	Define the milestones and deliverables	Maikel
	Define the approach of the problem	Collaborative effort of all members
	Search for relevant state-of-the-art (SotA) sources, categories: Modularity (Semi-) Autonomous cars Sensors for prospecting/evaluating ground Drilling/plowing/seeding mechanism Current Forestation combat methods	All divided into the subcategories: Maikel David Luc Gerben Adine
	Make project planning	Collaborative effort of all members
2
	Review user requirements and use cases	Collaborative effort of all members
	Finish collecting SotA articles and write SotA section	Each member for their respective subcategory
	Compile list of potential robot designs	Collaborative effort of all members
	Make some concept design sketches	Maikel
	Make a preliminary list of required parts	Gerben
	Define embedded software environment	Luc
	Preliminary elimination session for designs based on user requirements	Adine
	Start compiling list of design preferences/requirements/constraints	David
3
	Finish list of preferences/requirements/constraints	Adine
	Further eliminate designs due to constraints	Collaborative effort of all members
	Rank remaining designs and select a winner	Collaborative effort of all members
	Develop a building plan/schemata for the winner design	Gerben, Luc
	Start acquiring physical quantities for modelling design	Maikel, David
	Start with a simple model of some system parameters	Maikel, David
4
	Commence robot assembly according to highest priority of building schemata	Gerben, David
	Continue modelling/simulating	Maikel
	Start coding robot functionalities	Luc
	Catch up on documenting the wiki	Adine
5
	Continue robot assembly and coding	Gerben, David, Luc
	Continue modelling/simulating	Maikel
	Catch up on documenting the wiki	Collaborative effort of all members
6
	Continue robot assembly and coding	Gerben, Luc
	Test the first (few) finished sub-system(s) of the robot.	Collaborative effort of all members
	Finish modelling/simulating	Maikel, David
	Finish catching up on documenting the wiki	Collaborative effort of all members
7
	Finish robot assembly	Gerben
	Make concept designs for possible modules	Luc
	Make a draft for final presentation	Maikel, David, Adine
	Test the first (few) finished sub-system(s) of the robot.	Collaborative effort of all members
8
	Buffer time	Collaborative effort of all members
	Finish final presentation	Maikel, David, Adine
	Complete wiki	Gerben, Luc

^* The current division of task is a rough estimate for the next 7 weeks. New tasks may pop up or task division may be rotated, and is hence subject to change during the progress of the course.

Old problem approach

The problem will be approached by a design question. What is the best design for a robot to combat deforestation which will be build modular so that it can be implemented for other purposes with minor changes. The first 2 weeks the approach will primarily be sequential, as user analysis, use cases and requirements/preferences/constraints need to be done sequentially before the rest of the project can start. Once this is over, the project will run in a parallel fashion where building and modelling will happen simultaneously.

Old milestones & deliverables

Table 5: Milestones

Date	Accomplished
30-04-2018	SotA research done
03-05-2018	User analysis/use cases done
07-05-2018	Have a partially eliminated list of designs
10-05-2018	Pick final “winner” design
21-05-2018	Have the first working subsystem
25-05-2018	Finish modelling
31-05-2018	Have an operational prototype running with at least 2 subsystems
07-06-2018	Made several concepts for modules
11-06-2018	Presentation is finished
14-06-2018	Wiki is completely updated