Progress Report: Week of 12/18

Progress:

This week we focused primarily on integrating linux into our project. Linux is the operating system that the spiri drone runs on, so it is essential for the advancement of our project. So far we have figured out how to run linux on a mac computer. This can be done through a bootable usb drive. By putting the Linux disk image on a usb, we were able to boot directly from the drive by holding down the option key while the mac is starting up.  This has allowed us to work on mac computers instead of having to use the one linux computer that Elro has. Gui and Vasil watched many Gazebo tutorials on their website (http://gazebosim.org/tutorials).  Arianna Vetrano Sebastian worked on the container and tried to make it as light as possible by cutting out sections of the container that is not needed.  

Problems Solved:

Sebastian and Arianna solved the problem of how to make shave down the weight of the container so that we could increase the amount of things that could be carried during flight.

Lessons learned:

Arianna and Sebastian learned that we can make the container a bit lighter by adding holes to it since it is excess weight that really does not have any use.

Problems:

Connecting to wifi has been an issue for us because the schools wifi network is very difficult to connect to. Also, nothing on the linux computers are saved. This is because of the nature of the USB drive.

Drives must be configured to boot with persistence in order for basic files and inputs to be saved on the computer. We are still figuring out how to boot with persistence.

Plan:

Ben plans to download Linux onto a PC computer instead of using it on the Mac.  Gui and Vasil plan on continuing to learn Gazebo since that requires times and begin developing algorithms.  Arianna and Sebastian plans on printing out the cylindrical container and figuring out the more effect way of attaching it to the drone.  If we do not get a response from our correspondence by the time we get back to school, we will try calling them up.  We will need the Spiri as soon as possible.

12/11/14 Progress Report

Container
Progress:
 So far we have brainstormed multiple designs for the container.  Originally we were thinking of a cube-shaped box, however we realized such a container might not be the most practical for transporting paper. As of now we are sticking with a cylindrical shaped container where we can roll up papers without needing to fold and wrinkle them.  Although we have not yet received exact dimensions of the body of the drone, we were able to estimate them with measurements we do have.  Using these, we now can now get a better scene of size and have also begun to model the container on Sketchup.


Problems Solved:
After realizing that the top of the drone have ventilations, we needed to figure out a way to situate the container so that they would not be blocked. This week we solved the problem and decided to add stilts that will lift the cylindrical container up above the ventilations.  

Lessons learned:
One lesson we learned was that always think one step ahead.  We should have emailed the company and asked for specific questions such as the dimensions for the body so that what we are creating can be more precise.

Problems:
One problem we now face is how we will attach the stilts to the body of the drone.  During our group presentation, we received many helpful suggestions on how we can go about this.  Some suggestions include attached the silts to the USB port or the four screws (shown in the diagram below).  Another problem is that we still do not know have the drone so once we print out the container we cannot fully test it out. 

Plan:
Our plan for the next week is to print out our container and figure out a way we can attach the stilts to the drone.  In addition, we hope that our correspondence will get back to us with the papers so that we can get the drone.

Week of 12/01/14 Progress Report

       Progress: This week was an important week. We started learning about ROS, which will be useful when we need to program the drone, and we designed a possible container for our drone. However, the most important part of this week was contacting the developers of the Spiri. We were able to email them our questions and tell them about our project, and judging from their answer, they seem eager and willing to help us with our project in hopes of creating more " educational partnerships." They offered us a discount on the drone, which helps with our budget problem, and they offered technical support whenever we need it. They also published all of the information that we needed about Spiri (including the Spiri data sheet) and a simulator for its API, which will be very useful to us while we wait for the Spiri to arrive.
      Problems Solved: One of the major problems that we solved was the budget, which the Spiri developers helped with by offering a discount. We were also able to distribute more tasks among ourselves, which will hopefully speed up the project a little bit.
      Lessons Learned: We learned that communication is very important. By finally contacting the Spiri developers, we realized that our project could move along much faster with their help. Luckily, they are willing to help, and so it is crucial to maintain contact with them from now until the project is complete.
      Problem: The main problem right now is that it is taking a while to learn ROS. It seems to be a little complicated and advanced, and it will certainly delay our project a little bit. We are also working on trying to get a simulator for ROS. Possible candidates for software that we might use are a program called Webots and the Spiri simulator.
      Plan: In order to counterattack the delay that was caused by ROS, we put 3 people responsible for learning it, while the other 2 members of the group take care of any other task that relates to the drone. This will hopefully make learning ROS a little faster.

Sources to learn ROS:
1. http://wiki.ros.org/
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WyuAZ1SuTI&index=1&list=PL3064BF19A4F4CD1F