The Grand Finale!!! (Project Overview)

At the closing of today's Design Expo, our work with the Elastic Tank project had finished. As a team, we were able to form an idea, design certain parameters, prototype the parts, and assemble a working model. There would be multiple changes that differed from our original goal but that was part of the learning process that this project was trying to achieve. Not everything works as it should. In the end, every member of the team was satisfied with the results. It was a very cool feeling to know what had started as a idea had become a working prototype. During today's design expo many great ideas and prototypes were showcased. Many worked, some not quite as the designers had envisioned, but that did not matter. A prototype is not a finished; ready for production product. It is meant to be a working step towards a completed product. We were lucky enough to have our tank work exceptionally well even if our intended goal could not be met. Though the project due date may have been met, that does not mean that the Elastic Tank has seen the dark corner just yet. We have gained a lot of thoughtful ideas on what we could do to make the tank better leading up until today. During the Dean's competition, the events judges and other facility gave us some pointers on what to do with the current product. From the beginning, we knew as a group that we were not going to make a life altering device. We wanted something fun, I mean we are teenagers! We also did not want to back ourselves into a corner with something too specific. So we choose to make a recreational toy, as to have as few limitations as possible. Along with the tank's main purpose being for recreation, it could also be a learning tool for education. The three main lessons that could be examined through the tank are Arduino coding (coding in general really), Solidworks modeling, and trajectory in regards to the rubber band launcher. Had it not been for the judges input, we may not have gotten those 3 selling points. Going into the competition the main point of our tank was for fun, with education being its secondary purpose. However the judges saw its educational potential as its main selling point. We gained that the Elastic Tank could make a great platform for just about anything the user wanted. A feature we had hoped could make it to the prototype (time constraints got in the way) we a Bluetooth motorsheild that would allow the tank to be controlled by a phone. This therefore make the tank remote controlled. From here, things such as sensors (to allow it to not hit objects if controlled anonymously) or a camera (to have it be a mobile camera platform). With so many options available the tanks use can be altered to fit the user's needs as they see fit. This expandablity is what makes the tank have potential, it can do a lot of things with just minimal tweaks. This made us look at the tank in a different light. Without knowing it; we had created a device that could do much more than just shoot a rubber-band and move in a determined path. At the end of the day, we still love what we created. And sometimes there is just no substitute to a rubber band launching tank. It put a smile on our faces, so what more could you ask for??  

Code

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ck5b0fyeetpqmil/Elastic_Tank_V1.ino?dl=0
The code that we used for the demo

The Elastic Tank is ALIVE!!!

It was finally completed before the difference makers event. The elastic tank does fire rubber bands but only on a preprogrammed loop designed by Nick. The rubber bands must also be manually loaded before every button press as well. The only thing now is to wait for Friday to present our final product at University Crossing in Mohoney hall to the class. So excited that it works! Great Job Guys!

DifferenceMakers Convention Reflection

Overall, our elastic tank presentation at the DifferenceMakers convention went well. Our prototype was able to move, rotate, elevate and shoot as expected. The elastic tank followed a pre-determined path, rotated its barrel, shot the elastic band, rotated back to its initial position, and returned back to its starting point. Our initial problem we set out to solve with our elastic tank was geared towards education. We wanted to model projectile motion to help solve the problem of younger students not experiencing the interactive part of education. Through this resolution, we hoped to spark the creation of more models, such as ours, to be created to model other educational topics to help students learn. As the competition approached, we altered our problem solution to be a platform for various things. One possibility could be to replace the turret with a camera and it could go places a human can't. This could used for anything, from military use to general household use. Another possibility could be to place a sensor on the front of the elastic tank, so when driven around freely, it won't crash into a wall and break. This feature would work well with the camera. Initially, we had planned to use a Bluetooth sensor to control the elastic tank with our smartphones, but we were short on time for the competition. If time permits, we plan on adding on this Bluetooth feature, which will work great with the camera and sensor attachments.

Solidworks model

Click here for the solidworks model!

December 2nd

Last tuesday we got all of the ordered parts for our project! 

Over Thanksgiving break I took the parts home with my arduino and tried to get the bluetooth shield to work. After much aggravation I was able to get the example programs to work with the shield (my phone seemed to have a hard time finding the shield). 

In the end, we decided to drop the bluetooth shield for the December 4th deadline. Perhaps we will get it working for the presentation later in the month.

But, as of now, the tank is able to drive around!!! But we don't yet have the 3d printed parts, hopefully we will get them tomorrow.