Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Monday, May 5, 2014
SWAR group 10
There was this project, a project that I knew that was gonna throw most engineers off the road. A project that was gonna make you crack your mind up thinking, staying up until the wee hours of the morning. Maybe even worse not getting any sleep at all. However, it was just another small bump for me, that's what I thought.
Project warman is a competition held every year between the Australia Universities. You can say that it's one of the biggest project of my life as an engineer. This year, 2 device were to be built. Device A and B. Device A has to ferry a payload as heavy as 600 grams, avoid obstacles and lift as high as 80 cm, and transfer the load to Device B, that was the main aim of the project. Sounds easy :D
Device A can be powered by electrical components such as motors and Arduino motherboards. Device B is fully mechanical, no motors are allowed, just pure physics.
I was in charge of device A, which suits me the best, I love how electrical components work and now, I'll have to built a robot from scratch. The phrase ' Bring it on ' kept on flashing in my head.
The main challenge wasn't building the robot. It was finding materials. Specific materials were needed to built what was desired. During the first meeting with my friends, the robot wasn't well planned. A little chaotic I would say. There's more chit- chatting than there's planning. I told myself, if this goes on, the robot might not even move an inch during the day itself.
I knew sitting down, using papers, designing the robot, planning, draining and squeezing out ideas isn't gonna work. My tool box was packed, unpacking most of my tamiya stuff, filling my toolbox with nails, screws, bolts, hammer and all other equipment you will find in a typical tool box, and off I go. Everything I needed was right under my nose. The problem was, where do I start. After this project, I realized that, finding the starting edge was a pain in the ass.
I actually built 2 bases, which I soon scrapped it off which wasn't too ideal. The 3 base was a gamble, it has a dimension of 28 cm x 35 cm. It was a huge base which gave us a slight advantage on placing the mother board, battery and motors. However, in engineering, shit happens. Unexpected problem starts to occur which can drive you up the wall. The new base wasn't too ideal. It was too heavy, I've actually overestimated the strength of the tyres. It was a little too much of me to expect 4 tyres to withstand a weight of 4.6 kg. I swear, if the tyres have the ability to talk, it would be screaming , ' FUCK YOU, WAI KIT ! ' for the whole month. When we programmed the robot to move, we noticed the tyres were sagging outwards. By that, a problem has just been placed on my shoulders.
Since, the tyres does not have the ability to function at its tip top condition, no doubt the robot will have problems translating to the exchange zone. Now, this problem had 8 of us staying all night up, for 2 nights. At least I managed get at least 2 hours of sleep. However, my friends, they didn't have any shut eye, I couldn't put it in words how much I adore them. From the first week until the third week, I was almost on my own, there was a little help here and there. But other than that, I was actually hammering device A, putting all the stress and burden on my shoulders. Somehow, I told myself, if I fail, all 8 of us will fail as well. Therefore, stopping wasn't a choice for me. Even during the holidays ( which didn't feel like one ), coming back to Uni everyday was a necessity. Thank god, help came when I needed them the most. ( I'll elaborate on this later )
After the holidays, most of my friends came back, they knew I've been stressing my brain for the past 3 weeks, the knew my steam ( stamina ) was dropping exponentially low and they knew I would not be contributing much later in the project. They told each other, ' It's ok if Wai Kit doesn't wanna help, it's ok if he wants to sleep, he's dead tired, let him be . ' Now, this means a lot to me, a lot.
About 48 hours before the final deadline, we started working from 7pm up to 6 am. You guys had no idea how mentally tired I was. By 1 am, I was about to yell ' fuck this shit, I'm sleeping. ' I was on the edge of giving up. But leaving my friends to deal with the project alone, nope, no way. By 4 am, my brain finally shut off, I went to sleep. The next morning, the device was 90 % there. Surprised, excited, and nervous at the same time. We did the calibration to the mother board. There it was , that lumpy, no good piece of robot was finally working. My friends, they did it, in one night. Something that I've couldn't done in 3 weeks. You have no idea how gutted I was, pondering whether I'm a good engineer or what.
On the final day, there were 12 groups to present their robots. We were the 10th. Thus, waiting was torturing for us. When it reached the 9th group, no robot succeeded to overcome to full track. We were a little relieved. Finally, our group was called, it was judgement time. I was the one to start the device. My hands were not trembling, but my heart was beating like a drum.
Guess what, we did it ! The only group to pass. Well, we were fucking lucky. Things happened so quickly, even I couldn't believe we passed. The video below will show how lucky we were
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1fk_w4lyvU
I'm too lazy to elaborate anymore. but our group is gonna represent Monash Sunway to Sydney to compete. Proud is the only word to describe how I'm feeling right now.
From this project, I've learnt that pursuing a degree isn't about grades. It's about the passion, the curiosity to learn more, the ability to stand up and say ' It's okay, let's do it again. ' I'm not getting HD's but I certainly love what I'm doing right now.
Project warman is a competition held every year between the Australia Universities. You can say that it's one of the biggest project of my life as an engineer. This year, 2 device were to be built. Device A and B. Device A has to ferry a payload as heavy as 600 grams, avoid obstacles and lift as high as 80 cm, and transfer the load to Device B, that was the main aim of the project. Sounds easy :D
Device A can be powered by electrical components such as motors and Arduino motherboards. Device B is fully mechanical, no motors are allowed, just pure physics.
I was in charge of device A, which suits me the best, I love how electrical components work and now, I'll have to built a robot from scratch. The phrase ' Bring it on ' kept on flashing in my head.
The main challenge wasn't building the robot. It was finding materials. Specific materials were needed to built what was desired. During the first meeting with my friends, the robot wasn't well planned. A little chaotic I would say. There's more chit- chatting than there's planning. I told myself, if this goes on, the robot might not even move an inch during the day itself.
I knew sitting down, using papers, designing the robot, planning, draining and squeezing out ideas isn't gonna work. My tool box was packed, unpacking most of my tamiya stuff, filling my toolbox with nails, screws, bolts, hammer and all other equipment you will find in a typical tool box, and off I go. Everything I needed was right under my nose. The problem was, where do I start. After this project, I realized that, finding the starting edge was a pain in the ass.
I actually built 2 bases, which I soon scrapped it off which wasn't too ideal. The 3 base was a gamble, it has a dimension of 28 cm x 35 cm. It was a huge base which gave us a slight advantage on placing the mother board, battery and motors. However, in engineering, shit happens. Unexpected problem starts to occur which can drive you up the wall. The new base wasn't too ideal. It was too heavy, I've actually overestimated the strength of the tyres. It was a little too much of me to expect 4 tyres to withstand a weight of 4.6 kg. I swear, if the tyres have the ability to talk, it would be screaming , ' FUCK YOU, WAI KIT ! ' for the whole month. When we programmed the robot to move, we noticed the tyres were sagging outwards. By that, a problem has just been placed on my shoulders.
Since, the tyres does not have the ability to function at its tip top condition, no doubt the robot will have problems translating to the exchange zone. Now, this problem had 8 of us staying all night up, for 2 nights. At least I managed get at least 2 hours of sleep. However, my friends, they didn't have any shut eye, I couldn't put it in words how much I adore them. From the first week until the third week, I was almost on my own, there was a little help here and there. But other than that, I was actually hammering device A, putting all the stress and burden on my shoulders. Somehow, I told myself, if I fail, all 8 of us will fail as well. Therefore, stopping wasn't a choice for me. Even during the holidays ( which didn't feel like one ), coming back to Uni everyday was a necessity. Thank god, help came when I needed them the most. ( I'll elaborate on this later )
After the holidays, most of my friends came back, they knew I've been stressing my brain for the past 3 weeks, the knew my steam ( stamina ) was dropping exponentially low and they knew I would not be contributing much later in the project. They told each other, ' It's ok if Wai Kit doesn't wanna help, it's ok if he wants to sleep, he's dead tired, let him be . ' Now, this means a lot to me, a lot.
About 48 hours before the final deadline, we started working from 7pm up to 6 am. You guys had no idea how mentally tired I was. By 1 am, I was about to yell ' fuck this shit, I'm sleeping. ' I was on the edge of giving up. But leaving my friends to deal with the project alone, nope, no way. By 4 am, my brain finally shut off, I went to sleep. The next morning, the device was 90 % there. Surprised, excited, and nervous at the same time. We did the calibration to the mother board. There it was , that lumpy, no good piece of robot was finally working. My friends, they did it, in one night. Something that I've couldn't done in 3 weeks. You have no idea how gutted I was, pondering whether I'm a good engineer or what.
On the final day, there were 12 groups to present their robots. We were the 10th. Thus, waiting was torturing for us. When it reached the 9th group, no robot succeeded to overcome to full track. We were a little relieved. Finally, our group was called, it was judgement time. I was the one to start the device. My hands were not trembling, but my heart was beating like a drum.
Guess what, we did it ! The only group to pass. Well, we were fucking lucky. Things happened so quickly, even I couldn't believe we passed. The video below will show how lucky we were
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1fk_w4lyvU
I'm too lazy to elaborate anymore. but our group is gonna represent Monash Sunway to Sydney to compete. Proud is the only word to describe how I'm feeling right now.
From this project, I've learnt that pursuing a degree isn't about grades. It's about the passion, the curiosity to learn more, the ability to stand up and say ' It's okay, let's do it again. ' I'm not getting HD's but I certainly love what I'm doing right now.
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