Category: Meeting Minutes

19/06/2019 

Agenda:  

• Project sharing  
• Integrate different functions on a webpage as a ‘one-stop’ platform  
• Configure and test the range of transceivers 

 

Task Accomplished:  

• Discussed about the feedback given during project sharing  
• Learnt to modify the ‘one-stop’ platform 
• Tested the range of transceivers 

 

We listened to our friends’ sharing and shared our project progress during the second project presentation. It was an eye-opener seeing how much our friends have progressed 👀 .

We are not sure if we presented what we wanted to convey but we wish to say that the tank chassis that we bought is just the frame of the tank so technically we still have to buy other parts, build the robot by integrating everything together in a feasible way and running the robot (because otherwise the tank will just be a stationary toy) so technically the building of the robot is still a very hands-on and brain-wrecking job for us! 🧠 🤨

After the presentation, we started on learning how to add different functions on the webpage interface which hosts the robot’s control. We managed to modify the webpage to add an image beside the control. Eventually, this image will be replaced by the live stream of the video (and audio) taken by the robot 🎥 📻 .

After configuring the transceivers that we just received a few days back, we tested the range of the transceivers to see how far the signal can travel. We left one of the transceivers in the MnT lab (the access point) and brought the client transceiver around SPMS to test the signal strength. On the same level (same altitude), the signal strength is relatively strong for distances about 100m or so (we noted that there is a quite a number of obstacles and walls in between the two transceivers). However, when we went up a level (level 2), considering that the MnT lab is on level 1, at certain locations at distances about 100m apart, no signal can be received. This may be due to the directionality of the transceivers and obstacles involved.  

 

 

It is interesting to note that when no obstacle is involved, the signal strength received is still relatively strong even when both client and access point are back facing each other (might be due to reflection of signals from walls that allow signals to be received). ✌️✌️✌️  We will proceed to building the chassis and subsequently the robot and use these transceivers to control the motion of the robot tank! 

17/06/2019 

Agenda:  

• Modify the code and interface to allow both motors to rotate in the opposite directions for the tank to turn left and right 

 

Task Accomplished:  

• Modified code and interface to ensure both motors rotate in opposite direction successfully 

 

After the short weekend break 🌞 , we decided to continue coding for the motors. Previously, we managed to rotate the motors by entering some code and allow the rc car to achieve translational motion (moving forward and backward). Today, we attempted to code for the motors to rotate in different directions for the tank to turn left and right. We then added this to the previous code and created an interface with all 4️⃣ functions (forward, backward, left and right). 

 

 

We also attempted to code some lines out for the stepper motor which will be used for the rotating platform for the transceiver at the robot end.  

Kelvin and Qi Jie (one of the lab guys) were also present at the lab today and we had a short discussion about the transceivers and how to make the signals stronger. Evidently, reflection of the signals off the wall will result in attenuation, resulting in signal loss and weakening the signals remarkably especially when the number of reflections increase. The transceivers will definitely work better in an open space but we have to test out how far the signals can go when there are obstacles in between as there will also be obstacles in real-life situations. 🙌 🙌 🙌 

As much as we felt that we tried to figure as many things out as we can, there seems to be even more things to be done including audio processing and more experimenting with the transceivers so we will see you soon! 😄😄😄

Here is a picture of our group identity! 

We swear we are not as devil-ish as our group identity above!! 😈 😈 😈

14/06/2019 

Meeting agenda: 

• Control the motor controller on the user end using python code 
• Modify the code to make it more versatile (can control fast, slow, etc)   
• Modify the code to control motor in a web page and using the keyboard  
• Update slides for next Wed presentation 

 

Tasks accomplished: 

• Modified the code to control two motors in the car to fulfill above functions 
• Learnt how to control the speed of the motors 
• Remote accessed the rpi from our own laptops by connecting to the same WiFi 
• Updated slides for next Wed

 

Tony lent us a chassis of a DIY-ed two-wheeled car since the MnT lab has many of these hence Kelvin doesn’t have to buy a new one for us (and we can all save some money!!) 💵💵💵 We also borrowed a motor controller from our friends to try out the codes. 

Using the previous code and modifying it, we managed to move and control the motor in the car. Refer to the video below for more details!  

 

 

We managed to remote access the rpi from our laptops too. ✌🏻✌🏻✌🏻We then tried to modify the code and eventually got to change the directions of the wheel spins (clockwise or anticlockwise) by entering commands on the rpi. 

 

 

We then hosted the code in a html web page and guess what? We managed to control the motors just by pressing the ‘F’ and ‘B’ keys on our keyboard. When we press F, the wheels will turn clockwise and when we release F, the wheels will stop moving. When we press B, the wheels will turn anticlockwise instead. 

 

 

All our codes are now stored in the rpi!! It was an eye-opening experience today ehe 👀 It took quite a bit of googling and help from our amazing mentor Kelvin to get the motor working and to connect the pins on the rpi to all the right places.  

 

 

We also 3D-printed our group identity and we will reveal them in our next post… and it will be some time before we update the blog again as we enjoy our short weekend getaway! Here is a sneak peek though…  

 

 

Our dearest NS man Reuben is going off for his reservist next week 👨🏻‍✈️ and is escaping the presentation (joking he worked really hard for the project). See you in one week’s time and enjoy your outfield bye!! 🖐🏻

 

13/06/2019 

Meeting agenda: 

• Read up on how to code  
• Look through parts needed and procure more necessary parts 👀

 

Tasks accomplished: 

• Bought one more HAT module, one Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and one binaural microphone  
• Asked to borrow a motor controller from another group 

 

Several significant problems we faced include the continuous delay in the delivery of the chassis (as the other suppliers were also out of stock) and the duration we had to wait before the other components come. ☹️☹️☹️

We texted Kelvin over the phone and discussed how to make the components work together. He then kindly volunteered to buy a chassis from Malaysia for us to try coding and moving the motor next week since the chassis will take two weeks to arrive. Thank you Kelvin! 😇😇😇

We decided to meet tomorrow at the lab to discuss with our mentors further on our project and see how we can progress without some of the components for now.  

The design of the rotating disc for the transceiver is rather important and we came up with a preliminary prototype.  

 

Kelvin has previously helped us with the coding for the motor controller and we are still in the process of understanding it. Next week, we also need to try testing the audio streaming (USB mic to be plugged into the rpi and we have to write a code to stream the audio over the LAN). Lots of new things to figure out but we will learn as it goes!  💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻

12/06/2019  

There was no meeting in real life, but we did some behind-the-scenes work.  🙃🙃🙃

Some of us went to the MnT lab to measure the inner and outer diameter of the power plug using a caliper while Rachel continued enquiring about the procurement because some of our parts have not reached and appeared to not be reaching in time. 🕔

The chassis of the tank is an important part in building the body of the robot but there appears to be some delay because the chassis is out of stock. 😱 😭 😱 😭 😱 😭 We placed an order on the same model but on a different listing which will only be available next week. Due to such unforeseen circumstances, we are currently considering building the chassis of the tank from scratch though this would require more raw materials and the product might not be as sturdy, so we are just keeping it in consideration.  

We also played with the raspberry pi and tried testing out the connection between two routers using WIFI to simulate how we will connect the robot to the user end using two transceivers. After some attempts, we managed to get remote access of the raspberry pi from the user end using two routers. 🙏🙏🙏

We also had to buy the power plug adaptor for the ethernet switch. 😄😄😄

10/06/2019 

Meeting agenda: 

• Look through rubrics and see whether we are on the right track  
• Updating the blog  

 

Tasks accomplished: 

• Ensure that rubrics are followed  
• Updated blog and meeting minutes  
• Decided on group identity  

• Took a break and went out together yay 💯

 

 

We had lots of fun singing k and watching each other fail at pool (because we are too focused on MnT we forgot how to pool 😌) It was a fun night before getting back to doing MnT again!

 

See you at our next meeting! 

07/06/2019 

Meeting agenda: 

• Met with Kelvin (our mentor!!) 🌟 
• Learn about coding for rpi  
• Met with Tony (our guardian for the project!!) 🙆‍♂️

 

Tasks accomplished:  

• Understood the coding for rpi for the motor driver  
• Discussed about the different parts of the robots and setting up a webpage for live streaming of video and audio  
• Obtained a step-up DC booster to step up the voltage of the battery to power the robot 
• 3D printed a casing for our rpi to safeguard the rpi 

 

Our very patient, extremely smart and slightly lame mentor, Kelvin, took his time off and guided us in the coding of the motor to control the robot. 😃 We discussed about broad picture of the project including details like interfaces, IP addresses, and how to set up the connections between the different components and talked about the possibility of creating a webpage with a remote controller and the live streaming of both the video and audio.  

We also got to meet with Tony and realised that we faced the problem of having to purchase a battery with a large enough voltage (48V) to power the robot after considering and calculating the voltage needed to power the components of our robot. Tony gave us a DC-DC boost converter but we had to purchase the HAT module to be used for the DC-DC boost converter so that we can step up the voltage from a battery with lower voltage. We also bought a spare converter just in case!! 

To prevent the rpi from being scratched and damaged, we 3D-printed a temporary casing for our rpi. 😄😄😄

Till next time (which is soon)!

04/06/2019 – 06/06/2019 

Meeting agenda:  

• Discuss with Tony to compare and decide how to make the robot and communication process work  
• Decide which parts and models to buy  

• Sourcing and Procurement for parts  

• Transceiver (CPE510) 
• Chassis RC Tank 
• CCTV  
• Ethernet Switch  

• Microphone and audio adapter  
• LAN cables 
• Motor Controller  
• HAT Module  

• Edit the presentation slides for the presentation on 06/06/2019 

• 3D Print the Ears  

 

Tasks accomplished:  

• Ordering of most parts for the robot 
• 3D printed the ears 

 

 

• Attended and presented during the first sharing session 
• Decided to use Wi–Fi transceiver to facilitate the communication between the robot and user end 

 

During our discussion with Tony, we considered different possible ways to facilitate the communication between the robot and the user including using:  

• Cellular data (GSM) 

• WIFI using router or transceiver  
• Dongle (“a lipstick-sized gadget that plugs into your computer and allows you to connect to the internet”1) 

As much as each method has its pros and cons, we finally decided on WIFI using transceiver. The range dongle can reach is too short and WIFI using dongle is not strong enough. Cellular data is overly expensive and GSM cannot support live-time transmission of audio and video. Tony recommended using WIFI considering the limited funds we have.   

We settled on the model TP link CPE 510 as it has a long range of about 15+ km. One challenge we faced with this model is that it has a dual directional antenna. To resolve this, we thought about fixing the antenna on the rotational platform on the robot and always rotating the antenna such that it always faces the base station. 😉  

Some of the parts including the ethernet switch and the raspberry pi came few days after we ordered. We then thought about how we wanted to arrange the hardware together and how we wanted to test the raspberry pi.✌️

 

 

17/05/2019 

Meeting with Prof Domenico  

Meeting agenda:  

• Discuss with Prof Domenico on our project idea  
• Read up on articles related to plausible project 

 

Tasks accomplished:  

• Decided on bimodal telepresence robot instead of gestured controlled robot  

 

 

We started off discussing with the prof about our initial idea which is a virtual telepresence robot with VR headset connected to it. However, our conclusion was that in the context of the application for disaster relief, it was not necessary to have a VR headset because it appears to be excessive. 

Prof Domenico led us around his lab and introduced some of his projects and prototypes in his lab telling us that we can use whichever parts we need for our project. We had a brief idea of his area of interests in robotics and he gave us some of his opinions on possible projects.  

We wanted a purpose for our robot and what came to mind was a disaster-relief robot. After an hour of deliberation, we found binaural recording in robots a novel concept to touch on. This became the basis of our project.  

All four of us went overseas from 18 – 28 May and we had a great getaway before intensely working on our project in June again.  

Here are some pictures of us being really happy during our trip before getting back to the grind again! ✨