First few days: May 28, 29, 30

After getting settled into my temporary residence and catching up on sleep I was eager to get to school and start working. Of course the first day was purely paperwork and getting the correct documents in order to allow me access to the lab. I was able to meet the active members of the team, Rob and Ivan. Both are PhD students at the School of Electronic, Electrical, and Computer Engineering. Rob acts as the project manager and Ivan plays the role of the principal engineer of the project. The chassis, as seen below, is the leftovers from the previous year. Because I was so eager to get started doing work, Rob and I began disassembling the frame to change the placement of the Hydrogen Fuel Cell, top level of the locomotive.

The next day I met Ivan. He introduced me to the RoboteQ motor controller. This motor controller is typically used for the fighting robots you see on TV. It has script functionality that allows the user to program a script using a custom programming language called MicroBasic. The language is based off BASIC so it’s easy to use. The difficult part of the process is learning the terms, identifiers, and arguments that go with the custom programming. Ivan was informed of my hobby project that I did over the summer which required some programming with Python, PHP, HTML, Linux, and some circuitry. With some skills with programming I was the perfect candidate to learn the new programming language. The struggle was real. I hadn't practiced programming since last summer so I started small and learned some basic things and read the user manual. In the picture below, you’ll see Ivan showing me the PC Command Console for the RoboteQ Motor Controller. 

Rob and I also did some work on the Fuel Cell. Due to the addition of an air compressor for the air brakes, the pressure regulator for the hydrogen needed to be moved up. This required a delicate hand, a few delicate hands. Rob and I moved the fuel cell and placed spacers in the mounting brackets for the regulator. 

I also met an Hammad, a PhD student turned staff. He is a research staff in charge of an undergraduate working on a project for a rail company. He offered his skills to make a tachometer for our locomotive. This tachometer serves as the main speed detection for our loco. He made the circuit board from scratch and did all of the programming for the device. In the pictures below, we are testing the results with an optical speedometer to calibrate the outputs from Hammad's circuit. First we had to find a way to place the tachometer on so it's not supporting it's own weight. I was in charge of that. I used my engineering skills to make due with the materials I had. It worked perfectly. 

Back left to front: Rob, Ivan, Hammed, Ben (myself)