Week 7 Update (11/6 - 11/10)

 This week's progress centered around updating the droid's simulated dimensions. Accuracy is integral in creating as realistic an environment as possible to minimize any hiccups in the ultimate transition from the simulation to the actual droid itself. Droid specs were acquired from MEs and reflected in our updated code. A new GitHub repository was also created, due to technical difficulties with parent folder permissions with our previous directory.

Gazebo was successfully installed and now runs smoothly, the team also created a shortcut/wrapper file to run repetitive launch commands more efficiently. Motion tests were conducted in Gazebo as well, the droid now can move in a simulated environment using keyboard commands as input.

The current challenges at this stage are as follows: The simulated droid currently in development only moves using it's back two tires (for forward/backward/turning) and pushes "frictionless" front tires that do not turn. In addition to turning those front tires, the droid needs to utilize an Ackermann steering apparatus like the one in the droid's hardware. Finally, the input commands ("go, turn, stop") need to run from an existing program or file instead of via a user interface. 

The total hours logged for this week: 18 hours.

Below are images documenting our progress:

Fig #. New GitHub repository with updated code and more regularly scheduled commits

Fig #. Four wheels, oriented and dimensioned correctly


Fig #. Terminal for Gazebo simulated movement controls

Fig #. Using the control terminal shown above (right), we were able to generate movement from the simulated droid in Gazebo 

Fig #. Hand-drawn diagram from ME team members 
showing the Ackermann steering design and specific chassis dimensions.
This will need to be implemented next week.


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