Thesis Statement

I will create a rover that will be able to travel across very uneven terrain, which will relate to the book Star Splitter.

Conceptual Precedent

Technical Precedent

Additional Precedent

Initial Sketch

Day 1:

Today, I continued to work on and finished the brainstorming worksheet and sent an email to the CCI to order some parts that I need for my project. The project that I want to create is a remote-controlled buggy, which is why I need motors, an IR receiver & remote, wheels, and batteries for the remote.

Day 2:

Today, I started modeling the robot in Onshape. I started by finding some of the parts I ordered and imported them. Then, I started to model the main body of the robot. Tomorrow, I will try to model the suspension mechanism.

Day 3:

Today, I worked on the suspension mechanism on Onshape. I chose to use a Bogie-Bogie suspension system because it allows a vehicle to traverse very tough terrain.

Day 4:

Today, I got the parts printed yesterday and started to assemble them, as you can see in the picture. I also started to print the top half of the chassis, as there was no available printer at the time.

Day 5:

Today, I finished putting together the rover and started to wire it. Tomorrow, I will try to finish wiring the rover and try to start coding it.

Day 6:

Today, I finished wiring the rover, which includes an IR receiver, Arduino, and a motor driver. During Help & Work today, I started to code the robot. The GIF on the right is when I just finished wiring it. Only the right side works because I haven't coded the robot yet.

Day 7:

Today, I continued coding the robot. Using ChatGPT, I got the robot to move forward and backward and turn left and right, but you could not hold down the buttons, so you would have to click it very fast.

Day 8:

Today, I fixed the code and was able to drive the rover for the first time. The battery runs out very quickly, but it is very fun to drive around and can climb over obstacles, such as in the video to the right.

Final Images

Video