The timeline of progress is written by Max and hence it may contain his perspectives on everything here
Preclude to the actual start of PS9888
during teaching weeks of Sem 2 AY 2020-2021
At the outset when forming this group for the course PS9888 (2021), our group consisted of Vicknesh, Max, Steven and Fernando.
During our first online Zoom group meeting, the four of us in the group introduced ourselves to each other since it was the first time all of us met some of our other group members. Vicknesh was really talkative and brought up a lot of potential product ideas with reference to past student’s PS9888 projects.
In the next Zoom meeting that we had, we proposed ideas on a particular product that we can make. We all had different ideas and my idea alone actually made it into the shortlist, a large part due to Vicknesh’s strong approval plus interest in it. The others ideas were either relatively too difficult to pull off or a mainstream version of their proposed product already exists in the mass market. However, my idea in essence was a robot or device capable of removing rubbish that was washed ashore at beaches or along shorelines. I also proposed a less ambitious tangent idea of designing a solar panel that is capable of rotating to point in the direction of maximum sunlight intensity. I thought maybe I could combine both ideas of mine into one. However, Vicknesh decided to twist my idea to some extent and wanted a robot or device capable of removing floating rubbish on water instead with a mounted movable solar panel. We all agreed to this modified idea and then we submitted our particulars along with this idea’s to register ourselves officially for this PS9888 Special Term course.
The next time my group met, it was in person. We delved deeper into our idea by discussing intricate details of our product. We decided to go with a boat that possessed a built in mechanism capable of collecting rubbish that is floating on water, and thereafter the rubbish will be dumped into a waste storage container on the boat. Now we were actually ready to consult the course coordinator professor to share with him about our specific design and product features.
After the professor heard our idea in detail, he seemed alright with it. However, he asked us to consider using 2 boats with a net in the center to capture floating waste on water instead. That was an idea that none of us really thought of or did not share with each other yet. On top of that, the most important input we received from the professor was with regards to doing calculations on energy considerations and drag that the boat will experience. He further explained that this will narrow down the appropriate parts such as the battery and motor that we can buy to be incorporated into our boat.
We really took the professor’s 2 boats idea idea seriously and decided to go for that instead of our initial single boat idea.
Original tentative schedule of PS9888 (2021) shared by Professor Ho (course coordinator) during Week 1 of AY 2020-2021 Special Term 1. Deadlines indeed were pushed back due to the evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic.
AY 2020-2021 Special Term 1 and 2 Weeks & Dates Below
Week 0 (3/5/2021 – 9/5/2021) Progress
My group and I met online via a Zoom meeting to further expound on the boat idea. Vicknesh proposed a new idea for the waste collection mechanism which involved using 3 layers of nets that are capable of individually moving up once waste is fully deposited onto a net.
Week 1 (10/5/2021 – 9/5/2021) Progress
This week the course coordinator, Professor Ho briefed all the students on the safety aspects as well as the need for risk assessment for this course PS9888, via an online Zoom meeting. We had to finalize and assign roles besides the group leader role which could be indicated during registration of this course. The following are the roles that are available and we discussed among ourselves and subsequently assigned ourselves to a role.
Vicknesh – Group Leader
Fernando – Finance
Max – Communicator (Blog)
Steven – Safety Officer
Unfortunately, our ex-group member Fernando informed us that he will drop out from this project coupled with leaving our group because he has an ongoing internship plus other obligations to deal with during the entire PS9888 schedule. He cited a reason that he will not be able to commit enough time to this project per week due to his hectic schedule. My group and I wished him the best for his other endeavours and we are now faced with manpower shortage. However, my group and I will make do with what we have and definitely push on. On the other hand, I will take up Fernando’s role of being in charge of finances for our group while mainly managing this blog as well.
Week 2 (17/5/2021 – 23/5/2021) Progress
We finalized our idea of using 2 separate boats that are connected by rods to become a 2 boats linked system. I made sure everyone agreed to it so that our project scope becomes narrower and easier to manage.
Moreover, we finalized our idea of using 2 movable nets instead of the multi layer nets that are capable of vertical movements. One of the 2 movable nets can rotate itself to dump waste onto our boat, while the other net becomes available for waste accumulation on top of it. The net used for dumping waste will drop down and be activated by rotational movement to accumulate waste again when the other net is full and has completed its dumping waste rotational movement. We call this sequence of motions a “reloading” feature of our boat.
Personally, I think this is a very cool looking and somewhat ambitious feature of our boat and I really hope that it can work without hiccups and be able to last in its operation for some time. However, the biggest downside of this mechanism is the net that sticks out vertically from the bottom of our boat. This particular sticking out net will prevent the boat from being able to float on shallow water as it will scrape the bottom surface of the body of water. Moreover, this net can also trap or even get clogged up with unwanted things that are lurking below the surface of the water and thus hamper the movement of the boat as a whole .
Vicknesh was able to digitally draw the first CAD (Compute Aided Design) model of our boat idea missing the central net piece using SolidWorks on his gaming laptop.
Administrative wise, we finalized our group name to become “Clear Water”, which was solely my idea. Steven and Vicknesh agreed to it because they could not come up with any other group name ideas. Personally, I believe our group name which also happens to be our project’s name sounds neutral (not too lame or too cool) and it is not a name used in the mainstream. Moreover, it is related to our boat and people hearing or seeing “Clear Water” for the first time should be somewhat on the right track at inferring what my group is intending to do.
Week 3 (24/5/2021 – 30/5/2021) Progress
We started this week by learning about the fundamental aspects of 3D printing through an online lesson conducted by an instructor, Mr Leong Hanyang. It was an enriching 3 hour long learning session and we got to see Mr Leong demonstrate some basic functions of a Computer Aided Design (CAD) software known as Fusion 360.
On the other hand, we had our first impending progress report in front of our course instructors and hence we had to prepare for that. Once again, Vicknesh proved himself by being able to digitally draw a revamped version of our boat relative to what was done in week 2. Moreover, we finished our block diagram which basically showed how individual electrical components are connected to one another. This was because one of our instructors Mr Tony always to told us to focus on and show him a block diagram at the outset of a product (containing electronics) design phase.
Week 4 (31/5/2021 – 6/6/2021) Progress
This week I started procuring the fundamental parts needed for our project which was none other than the brains of our electronics which will be a single-board computer called Raspberry Pi 4B (Pi). Moreover, since we intended to have dual video surveillance on our boat, with one being live footage of what the boat sees in front of it and the other being live footage of how much waste is already collected in the cavities. I ordered a Pi compatible dedicated camera module and contributed an older video webcam in my possession as well. The two live footages are able to allow an operator of the boat to be far away from it physically but still be able to see where the waste is and when to activate the waste dumping mechanism.
In other news, Vicknesh and I (Max) attended an in person 3D printing workshop where we got a first hand experience of the Making and Tinkering (M & T) lab as well as got a chance to learn more and see 3D printers coupled with some 3D printed items. Needless to say it was enriching and a worthwhile experience.
Week 5 (7/6/2021 – 13/6/2021) Progress
We did extensive research and watched a lot of videos regarding how a particular electronic component works such as all types of motors, underwater propellers and gears. But most importantly we researched and tried figuring out how to actually create our linear motion only waste collection mechanism.
In other news, Vicknesh and Steven attended an in person soldering workshop where they had to solder separate electronic components together in order to fully assemble a LED clock. it was a fruitful and enriching experience for the both of them. Now they are able to bring what they have learned and demonstrate their new skills by permanently connecting separate electronic components in our boat.
Since Vicknesh is the group leader and he is an international student permanently staying in the NTU hostel for 4 years, he eagerly volunteered his room to be the base of operations of this project. He said that at the designated place of doing this project, namely at the Making and Tinkering (M & T) Lab, it was always crowded and social distancing (due to COVID-19) was hardly present there. Moreover, we actually get more space if we use Vicknesh’s room instead of a shared corner in the M & T lab. But most importantly we can work on our project even after the lab’s closing hours. It was more sensible to put all our parts and assembled items in Vicknesh’s room instead of always having to transport it back and forth between the lab and his room. However, we were on our own in Vicknesh’s room as our instructors were not physically nearby to assist us or even to monitor what we are doing.
Week 6 (14/6/2021 – 20/6/2021) Progress
Our Pi finally arrived along with the accompanying dedicated Pi camera module. Now we could actually start tinkering with something physical in our possession, instead of only being limited to browsing and perusing online materials. I felt that we were somewhat behind on time because we should have started tinkering with materials about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Anyway, we had to put what we learned regarding configuring the software pertaining Pi in order to get the dual live footage up and running. 
I placed the order for two high torque brushed DC motors and the accompanying electronics components so that we can start working on it. Unfortunately, the exact means of getting our waste mechanism to work was still somewhat of a mystery to us. But one thing we knew for sure is that motors will be involved since motors can impart motion if there is an appropriate power source connected across it. Thereafter, once we got a hold of the motors we had to figure out exactly how to get it to ultimately create the desired linear motion that Vicknesh envisioned.
Week 7 (21/6/2021 – 27/6/2021) Progress
Fortunately for us, our motors arrived very quickly and we were soon able to start tinkering with them. It was really easy to get the brushed DC motors running. However, in order to customize the motor to our requirements, we had to code a custom program using Python programming language on Pi OS. Thankfully it was not a difficult process because we can choose to code in Python programming language which all of three of us had just recently taken a course in.
Week 8 (28/6/2021 – 4/7/2021) Progress
On the other hand, we had to working on the 2nd upcoming progress presentation next week. This presentation was more narrow in its scope and the course instructors wanted to see our progress so far regarding the overall design of our project, materials bought/used so far and last but not least a Gantt Diagram which showed the planned timeline of the project.
Week 9 (5/7/2021 – 11/7/2021) Progress
We finally decided to start working on the hull of our boat which all of us have been neglecting for the past several weeks. Our initial idea of 3D printing the entire boat’s hull could not occur because of several factors. One, the boat hull that we wanted was simply too large for a 3D printer to print all at once. Two, the available 3D printed material is not really waterproof and with time water will seep in. Three, even if we could print out individual pieces of our boat hull, combining all the individual pieces together to form one single structure will simply be a herculean task when we already had other important tasks to deal with.
Instead, we decided on a different type of boat hull structure. Vicknesh proposed his new boat hull idea as he received inspiration from makeshift raft looking boats such as bamboo boats that are typically used by more rural societies. However, we could not actually use bamboo and hence we settled on using polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes instead. Many PVC pipes arranged and attached together can indeed form a single boat hull structure similar to bamboo poles arranged in the same manner. PVC pipes will provide adequate buoyancy and can be more easily acquired. As such, Vicknesh placed some orders for it at an in person hardware store and we started working on the body of the boat.
We could only easily acquire PVC pipes with both ends unsealed and hence we had to made do with what we already bought. We started all sorts of taping means in order to seal both ends of the PVC pipes so that water will not leak in. Afterwards, we test how well all our PVC pipes were sealed against water ingress by dipping the pipes into empty potato chip cans filled with water.
Week 10 (12/7/2021 – 18/7/2021) Progress
Early this week, we received word from Professor Ho that the PS9888 (2021) deadline was extended to recess week of Sem 1 AY 2021-2022 due to the worsening COVID pandemic in Singapore adversely affecting in person group gatherings and facilities usage. Hence and fortunately that means we get an additional 8 weeks of time to work on our boat such as refinements or even overhauls.
With the above news in mind, we realized that we had plenty of time left since we did not spend as much time in the previous 9 weeks. In the previous 9 weeks, we were mostly testing and tinkering with the electronics parts that we ordered as well as testing a potential structure of our boat. We encountered setbacks and challenges that deterred us from actually 3D printing the body (hull) of our boat. We were actually prepared to rush during the last few weeks leading to the deadline of this project which will be whenever the final presentation takes place. We collectively breathed a sigh of relieve and decided to take it slower for now.
We crudely attached all the PVC pipes that we have already taped and it ended up looking more like a bizarre and jerry-rigged looking flotation device instead of the boat Vicknesh had originally digitally drawn. However, looks can be deceiving and if this structure as shown below turns out to be very buyoant and very stable then it would no doubt have its merits.
Week 11 (19/7/2021 – 25/7/2021) Progress
Steven finally received confirmation from NTU’s Sports Recreational Centre (SRC) side that we were allowed to use the swimming pool to test our flotation device. As such we went on the day of booking to test our whether our structure is actually buoyant and stable. Thankfully it is!
Week 12 (26/7/2021 – 1/8/2021) Progress
According to the original tentative schedule above, this would be the final presentation week. However, we did not finish much of our boat so we felt really glad that our deadline got pushed back significantly. We decided to upgrade our PVC pipes boat structure idea by adding kick boards used for swimming learners for added buoyancy and also this negated the need to ensure that each of our PVC pipes in direct contact with water needed to sealed well to prevent water ingress. Speaking of water ingress, all the PVC pipes that we taped up all eventually were liable to water ingress which was made apparent during our inspection. It goes to show that a chemical adhesive solution is not the most ideal way to prevent water ingress and a tried and tested method involving threads (cap a plastic bottle opening) is probably the best way to prevent water ingress.
On the other hand, we added loads of newly 3D printed parts made out of polylactic acid that could connect separate pieces of our boat together which are namely the PVC pipes. In addition, we attached non rigid high density poly ethylene HDPE mesh pieces onto our boat which will act as storage enclosures for the floating waste captured as well as the net that will trap floating rubbish that the center of our boat comes across. We scraped the idea of using rigid mesh cage pieces because it will be difficult to cut them up with tools we have and position them according to the shape of the boat. But mainly because our boat’s body changed drastically and thus this naturally means that other interconnected factors will change as well. 
Week 13 (2/8/2021 – 8/8/2021) Progress
Since there would be one more week before our semester started with all of our other courses for our respective majors, we decided to take a complete break this week and did not do anything PS9888 related. We knew that we still had a total of 7 weeks before our actual deadline which was when the final presentation took place, and when the final prototype hopefully should have been completed as well as it being a success. On the other hand, Vicknesh and Steven had their own CCAs obligations and other project/URECA obligations to attend to.
AY 2021-2022 Sem 1 Teaching Weeks & Dates Below
(Further Time Extension till Deadline)
Week 14 [Teaching Week 1 of Sem 1 AY 2021-2022 ] (9/8/2021 – 15/8/2021) Progress
This week we once again received permission to test our boat at NTU’s swimming pool from SRC side and we went there according to our booking period.
Thankfully our final boat structure is very stable even with some weight (a few kick boards) placed in both of its storage enclosures on the sides. However, it was clear to us that the boat will not be hydrodynamic at all and it will experience lots of drag.
Week 15 [Teaching Week 2] (16/8/2021 – 22/8/2021) Progress
This week we started working on a new floating waste capture mechanism for our boat because the “skeletal” structure of our boat was already complete. We manually tested out our mechanism without the encumbrance of any HDPE mesh pieces as well as the absence of any motors and the accompanying electronics. The manual mechanism operated by hand looked to be alright so naturally the next step is to make this mechanism become motorized.
Week 16 [Teaching Week 3] (23/8/2021 – 29/8/2021) Progress
We finally started tinkering with the propulsion system of our boat which was trying to configure a brushless DC motor connected to an underwater propeller to work. It was quite challenging and unfortunately we could not make it work the entire week. It could have been due to the fact that our C++ code for the communication between the robotic operating system running on Vicknesh’s laptop was incorrect in certain places. However, Vicknesh was previously told by Professor Ho that our priority was not to focus on this aspect of the boat. Instead, we should focus on our waste capture mechanism and ensure that is top notch because that is the factor that causes our boat to stand out and it also caught the attention of Professor Ho during our initial weeks.
Week 17 [Teaching Week 4] (30/8/2021 – 5/9/2021) Progress
We finally completed the defining feature of our boat which was our unique custom designed floating waste capture mechanism. It was working relatively well and was not a catastrophic failure. Please take a look at it under the page
Waste Capture Mechanism in Action (Dynamic)
Week 18 [Teaching Week 5] (6/9/2021 – 12/9/2021) Progress
We started working on the slides for our impending final presentation because our boat’s defining feature was already completed. We assigned portions and it was clear that Vicknesh was the most knowledgeable about everything related to the boat. Because Vicknesh came up with the vast majority of ideas pertaining to the boat while Steven and I only helped outand followed his instructions. Hence, personally I felt that Vicknesh being the group leader is the most suited role for him and he his undoubtedly the most valuable player in our group for this project.
Week 19 [Teaching Week 6] (13/9/2021 – 19/9/2021) Progress
Apparently, all of us had some CAs for our respective registered courses this week and on top of that Vicknesh and Steven had other obligations such as CCAs and other presentations to prepare for. Thus, we decided it was prudent to take a complete break from PS9888 this week.
Week 20 [Teaching Week 7] (20/9/2021 – 26/9/2021) Progress
Our viva for our final presentation was changed from afternoon to morning at the last moment and made known to us this week. It was made clear that our viva will be a 15 minutes individual oral interview session with the course instructors. Hence, we had to prepare for potential questions and discussions thrown to us. Furthermore, I reminded my group members that we should standardize some potential answers so that the instructors will get the sense that we are one cohesive and non truncated unit. By standardizing what we say during the viva, it can show the course instructors that everyone in my group was involved in every aspect of our project in some way or another and was there to provide inspection and/or assistance if need be.
Week 21 [Teaching Week 8] Progress
(Final Presentation & PS9888 Final Deadline on 28/8/2021)
We did our final rehearsal for the final presentation as well as went through the potential questions that could be thrown at us during the viva section. At the end of our group gathering session, we felt adequately prepared and our most knowledgeable member, Vicknesh was there to ensure that we got all the technical related details correct. Now we could only countdown and eagerly wait for our last assessment components (viva and final presentation) to conclude on 28/8/2021.
(Even Further Time Extension till Absolute Final Deadline on 10/12/2021 & 11/12/2021)
Post Final Exams of AY2020-2021 Sem 1
{Overtime} Absolute Final Week (3/12/2021 – 9/12/2021) Progress [PS9888 exhibition date on 10/12/2021 & 11/12/2021]
In retrospect, I can say that the feedback my group and I received on our final presentation date which took place on 28/8/2021 was disastrous. The course coordinator Dr Ho was not impressed at all that our boat did not possess a working simple and conservative propulsion system such as the brushless DC motors connected to propellers that can be fully submerged. He expressed immense disappointment and was not really impressed whatsoever by the other features of our boat, because the boat was not able to even move straight slowly by itself using remote control. We did our best to explain and “sell” our boat but at the end Dr Ho did not seem impressed whatsoever. However, he did provided an opportunity for us to redeem ourselves by improving our project absolutely latest by the exhibition date. There will be about a week of time after our final exams and before our exhibition date to work on our boat.