Phase 1
Our initial focus was building a go kart chassis as a base for our autonomous vehicle. We constructed the top kart chassis. We struggled to fit the ring bearings together but learned we could leverage the axle to brute forcing them into position. This was the first of many lessons in the difficulties of real world engineering problems. Our mechanical lead began taking measurements for a custom machined mount for the servo motor to attach to the steering column. We decided to use the ClearPath-MCPV as our servo motor. The electric team worked to develop a high level system diagram. After researching various options, we deemed TI microntorollers to be the best fit for our kart due to their focus on motor control algorithms, power conversion control, and digital signal processing. They also have great documentation. All very important aspects for our vehicle. We are still debating how we want to contorl our car remotely as well as how much computing power we need on the kart.
