Week 7: Fan Redesign and Room Search Code

This week a flaw was found with the design which is something that should have checked much earlier.  Because the infrared sensor was ineffective, the light sensor was substituted as it was much more effective when tested in the lab on Thursday.  However, when used in the lab this week, it was very inefficient as it could only sense a difference in light when it was very close to it, which the infrared sensor could do more reliably.  This is because there is too much ambient light in the lab, so this obstacle must be accounted for.

The code will have to be changed to account for this issue. The code will be added to to allow the robot to, when it gets to the entry way to a room, it will enter and ride the perimeter of the room instead of turning and trying to sense from the entrance.  This will allow the robot to get very close to the candle so that it can sense it at a close range and be able to simply stop there and put it out with the fan.

There were also issues with the original fan design. It was not strong enough to put out the fire and therefore a new design had to be come up with. The problem was that original fan could only blow the candle out from a certain position, and due to the random location of the candle this was not reliable enough. The new fan design shown below is more capable but a pre-made fan blade is being considered.