Progress This Week

This week, the team met to begin the design process, setting goals and basic functions for the final design. On the electrical engineering side, discussions focused on ensuring circuits and motors do not ignite hexane, remote camera feed or recording, and autonomous or remotely controlled operation. They also had their first meeting with Dr. Roberts to discuss deliverables and future meeting protocols.

Project Risks and Obsticles

This week, the team encountered difficulties in scheduling a site visit that worked for everyone and lacked a clear understanding of the robot’s requirements until a test could be witnessed, due to security restrictions on obtaining dimensions or old test data. A risk facing the project is the team taking on too many ideas, leading to a debate between simplifying the design to perfect a few functions versus incorporating a range of basic functions. The team is currently discussing a middle-ground approach.

Plans for Future

This week’s future plans include laying out tasks, establishing weekly responsibilities and assignments, and completing preliminary design ideas. The team also plans to book a site visit and begin planning for measurements and important observations to take during the visit.

Team Meeting

On September 22 and 23, 2025, the team met to update technical advisors on sponsor interactions and to plan the Preliminary Design Report (PDR). They coordinated a site visit to Robins Air Force Base and discussed supporting the electrical members with the team website. The PDR deadline was moved to the week of October 13, and the team outlined its key components, including problem definition, constraints, and concept generation. They agreed on a biweekly meeting schedule with technical advisors and weekly design notebook updates. The group also began dividing responsibilities for ideation and research, identifying four main functional criteria—range of motion, distance, non-explosivity, and camera capabilities—and discussed potential solutions such as hydraulic systems, remote operation, and touchscreen-compatible tooling.