Project Complete - PM's Review

The project is now completed with the final test concluded, as depicted by the Gantt chart below.



The project started off very well, and in the initial phases we accelerated beyond schedule. Unfortunately this progress was lost over the Easter holiday's, though we pulled the project back and completed it on time. In retrospect I should have accounted more for the inevitable decrease in group members output over the holidays and planned around them, though by motivating my team immediately as term resumed we were able to finish on time to a high standard.

The intended budget for this project was £0.00 which we were able to meet. All components were sourced for free as either unneeded spares or from recycling centres over the Easter holiday's.

The program worked well and much of the design was also good, though we were let down by the rear caster wheel. The original was sourced by me from Swindon Recycling Centre, and when tested it turned out to be to heavy and stiff. I made attempts to modify the wheel and also treated it with WD40 to loosen it, though the weight ultimately let it down. The wheel was replaced last minute with a homemade caster wheel which did not perform well on the line following mode as it would cause the buggy to veer off course whenever it tried to turn. If I were to do this project again, I would have sourced a light-weight pololu ball caster to replace this wheel.

The symbol reading part of the final test went smoothly, as the rear wheel did not have a chance to cause problems. The design assessment was acceptable, though the aesthetics of the design could have been improved with practise. Some of my cuts were not perfectly straight and the holes drilled by Anand caused the acrylic plates to crack in several places. This caused the final build to look a little rushed, and were a result of our limited experience using tools.

The power of the motors was also a little low. The battery pack was only just powerful enough to power the circuit and motors. As seen in other groups, if I were to repeat this project I would have designed a secondary power supply specifically for the motors.

In conclusion I feel this project went well. We scored highly in the final assessment and worked well as a team. To improve our project if I were to do it again I would have planned our schedule better around the Easter holiday's so that we could have had more time testing, installed a secondary power source for the motors, dedicated more time to ensuring the build was neat, and sourced a better rear caster wheel.