Gate Reviews

Your team will hold a gate review with your guide at the end of each semester. This page should document any information needed for the review, as well as outcomes.

MSD I: Readiness to move to Build & Test

Status Review

Current state of the project

• Summarize expected performance vs. requirements (include snapshot of current requirements document here, along with a link to the live document.)
• The team has yet to gain functionality of Autonomous mode. There has been significant progress in identifying the underlying issues preventing the functionality of Autonomous mode. These issues have been identified to be much more vast and complex then initially communicated at the start of MSD I. For instance, the objective of the previous phase which was to attain GPS Localization had yet to live up to the advertised functionality and has required significant time, effort and research. Assistance from experts (Alex [D3] & Ptucha) and the grad students (Robert, Vinita) have proven to be helpful at paving a path forward for integrating a new particle filter and attaining functional robot localization.
  
  

Progress on Meeting Customer Requirements

• Compare your current project plan/schedule to your original plan/schedule
  • Has the scope of your project changed?
    Our scope has shifted from a general approach of Sensor and Hardware integration/maintenance to a focused approach to localization. This shift to localization is expected to help achieve a stable autonomous mode once the particle filter is successfully integrated. 
    
    
  • How and why did your schedule change?
    When we began MSD I, there was an expectation that the Sensor, hardware, and localization priorities should be weighted equally. As we made progressed throughout this semester, the depth and complexity of the localization system proved to be greater than anticipated. 
    
    
  • What have you learned from these changes?
    By spending this semester reviewing the documentation, and developing an understanding of the logical flow of the localization and autonomous features, there is a greater understanding of what is to come and how these issues can be tackled. Our Fall Detailed Design Review was especially useful in helping us take a step forward in simplifying our map frame conversion for attaining localization and integrating our Particle Filter.

• Review individual team member status:
  
  
• Jon (PM + Communications)
  
  • Did you deliver on your personal responsibilities?
    I have delivered on personal tasks and objectives, but as a Project Manager I could have done a better job prioritizing tasks for the team by ensuring a group effort when it came to addressing issue with the code of previous phases. As the Communications Lead, I have been timely with email correspondence with the team-members, customer, guide and subject matter experts. We have also made sure to have effective team wide communication via Slack.
    
    
  • Did you use your MSD I plan effectively? Was it realistic? If not already addressed above, what did you learn from this and how have you applied this toward a meaningful and realistic MSD II plan?
    Although our MSD I plan was effective at covering all the risks and tasks that we wanted to focus on, it failed to weight/prioritize these tasks effectively. Now that we have a better understanding of ROS, the APM in general, and an accurate vision of the challenges moving forward, I believe we will be able to develop more realistic deadlines/tasks moving forward.
    
    
• Chris (Facilitator)

• • Did you deliver on your personal responsibilities?
    Throughout the semester I was able to become more familiar with how ROS worked and how to integrate stuff. I was also able to understand many of the different components of the golf cart. I was successful in getting the particle filter algorithm working, but I would like to have been able to integrate it more. As facilitator no conflicts came up that need to be handle between the team since we have a good team dynamic.
    
    
• Jamie (Lead Software Engineer)
  • Did you deliver on your personal responsibilities?
    As lead Software Engineer I was successfully able to help guide the team in understanding the development environment and tools that we will be using throughout the duration of the project.
    
    
• Matt (Lead Hardware Engineer)
  • Did you deliver on your personal responsibilities?
  • Yes, as lead hardware engineer I focused on the documentation for the braking, throttle, and steering systems and how they interface with the Arduinos. For my more specific roll as debugger of the autonomous mode, I mapped out the flow of the existing software. I also looked into the current odometry/localization nodes/topics to understand how they were working. I relayed what I learned to the rest of the team.
    
    
• Joel (Purchasing)
  • Did you deliver on your personal responsibilities?
    As the team's Purchaser, I have been on top of placing Purchase request forms as soon as discussed with the team and Guides. I also have instilled a strong relation with the MSD Office, especially with Kris Fisher. Because of this our team almost never has to wait for the order to go through and can place orders from companies that wouldn't be an option for many other MSD teams.
  
  
  

• Compare your current risk assessment to your original
  • Have you closed out your most important risks?
    We were not successful in achieving our most important task of operational Autonomous mode.
    
    
  • Do you have remediation plans for remaining risks?
    We have made significant progress in terms of localization and our new particle filter. This has given us a clear path forward for how to successfully integrate the Particle Filter and develop a robust Map Frame Conversion system.
  
  
  • Have any of these risks manifested themselves as problems?
    We can only draw assumptions as to why the Autonomous mode is inoperable. After diving into the code, there seems to be a number of causes as to why the Autonomous mode would not successfully work. We can only assume that the fixes we are currently working on will eventually lead to an operable Autonomous mode, and that there are no additional hidden root causes for the problems with autonomous mode. 
  
  
  • How did your risk assessment change? What can you learn from this?
    The complexity of the issues relating to the unworkable state of the autonomous mode, specifically the Robot Localization, has branched out into issues that we were previously unaware of. We learned to not trust the work of previous phases, and to understand the operation of the APM from the ground up. As this is the only way we will be able to achieve a successful run for Imagine RIT 2020.

MSD I Self-critique: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lEX7njMxbItQPAU9cEWldnUrQf6iX1_R/edit#gid=1328228719

MSD II: Project close-out

Status Review

Current state of the project

• Summarize actual performance vs. requirements (include snapshot of current requirements document here, along with a link to the live document.).
  
  • Which requirements were unmet, and why?
    The final design was unmet do to being unable to physically work on the project. Most of the things that did not work as well as we wanted was localization and detection of low obstacles, but if we had more time we would have had more time to refine the results. 
    
  • How robust is your final design?
    Design could use more sensors, specifically in the localization area to produce more accurate data.

  • Did you meet your project budget?
    Yes

    Description	Purpose	Price	Manufacturer	Part Number
    Rechargeable AA Batteries	Essential for devices that need batteries like the keyboard and Remote Control	$15.68	Newegg Business	9SIA86E4N36677
    USB 20-Pin Header	Expand the number of USB ports available	$4.99	Newegg Business	N82E16812423076
    USB to Micro B  (3 meters)	Charging cable for the RealSense	$21.22	Allied Electronics	70407738
    Real Sense Mount	To mount the Real sense underneath the 16 LIDAR	$0.55	Construct	--
    Omnidirectional Camera	Mount the 360 camera on top of the cart	$4.04	Construct	--

     

    USB to MicroUSB	Cable for the Omni-Directional	$12.99	Best Buy	50193418
    RealSense	Localization/Odometry	$199.00	Intel RealSense	T265

  • What was your customer's assessment of the work you delivered to them? Were they satisfied?
    Customer was satisfied with the content of our major deliverables.assessment was good and they were satisfied.

• Compare your current project plan/schedule to your original plan/schedule.
  • Did the scope of your project change during MSD II?
    Yes
  • How and why did your schedule change during MSD II?
    Due to Covid-19, MSD II shifted from fixing issues with localization and object detection to full documentation of the current status as well as suggestions for the next team.
  • What have you learned from these changes that you can apply to future projects?
    Yes, it is important to have test/sensor data so that simulations can be run remotely without access to the project.

• Review individual team member status.
  • Did you deliver on your personal responsibilities? Did you use your MSD II plan effectively? Was it realistic? If not already addressed above, what did you learn from this and how can you apply it to future projects?
    
    
    • Jon (PM + Communications)
      
      • Did you deliver on your personal responsibilities?
        I have delivered on personal tasks and objectives for this project phase. As Project Manager and Communications Lead, I have been timely with communications and email correspondence with the team-members, customer, guide and subject matter experts. We have also made sure to have effective team wide communication via Slack.
      • Did you use your MSD II plan effectively? Was it realistic? If not already addressed above, what did you learn from this and how have you applied this toward a meaningful and realistic MSD II plan?
        Although our MSD II plan was effective at covering the tasks we wanted to focus on, it failed to recognize the impact of the COVID-19 risk and its effect on our project as a whole. Despite the epidemic, we were able to use our knowledge and experience to revise the initialization of the vehicle's software to develop a meaningful form of documentation to minimize the learning curve for future phases.
        
        
    • Chris (Facilitator)
      • Did you deliver on your personal responsibilities? Did you use your MSD II plan effectively? Was it realistic? If not already addressed above, what did you learn from this and how can you apply it to future projects?
        Throughout the semester I was able to create a video and tutorial on how to operate the vehicle, so the next team is set up well. I feel that I kept a manageable load and was proactive, so that I did not get behind on work. As facilitator no conflicts came up that need to be handle between the team since we have a good team dynamic.
        
        
    • Jamie (Lead Software Engineer)
      • Did you deliver on your personal responsibilities?
        Yes, prior to the global pandemic, I was successfully able to complete software tasks, as well as assist my team with their software tasks. 
        
        
    • Matt (Lead Hardware Engineer)
      • Did you deliver on your personal responsibilities?
        Yes, as MSDII shifted my focus on software rather than hardware, I took part in rebuilding the navigation stack in order to remove issues that arrived from the previous team. I also took part in documentation for the next team and suggestions on how they should go about learning about ROS and the APM (getting started document).
        
        
    • Joel (Purchasing)
      • Did you deliver on your personal responsibilities?
        As the team's Purchaser, I have been on top of placing Purchase request forms as soon as discussed with the team and Guides. I also have instilled a strong relation with the MSD Office, especially with Kris Fisher. Because of this our team almost never has to wait for the order to go through and can place orders from companies that wouldn't be an option for many other MSD teams.

• Review your current risk assessment and problem solving status.
  • Have you closed out your most important risks?
    
    • Accuracy & stability of localization still remains an issue. Integration of RealSense for obtaining odometry data was successful. Close out of our most important risks were stunted by the COVID-19 epidemic.
  • Were there risks that you did not anticipate? If so, what do you think the reason is?
    • The COVID-19 epidemic and the closure of campus was an unsuspected risk that we did not anticipate effecting this project.
  • Did any anticipated risks manifest themselves as problems?
    • No, but a new risk came up that we did not expect with the COVID-19 pandemic, so we where unable to work on our golf cart.
  • How did you use your problem solving process during the semester?
    • We adapted to this crisis and pivoted our work to be focus more on handing off to the next team.
      
      

Deliverables Checklist and Website Status

Lessons learned, etc.

• Does the team have any other lessons learned that were not addressed above?
  • Start early and make sure that you can get the gold cart moving in the first semester. You should be set up better then we were to have a working golf cart within the first couple of weeks.
• What advice would you give to future teams?
  • We had issue thinking that the previous team code would work, but we were unable to get it to work, so make sure that you are able to get it to work. Also, make sure that you understand the ROS navigation stack with the tutorials. It can be overwhelming at first, but it will become more clear. Suggestions for learning ROS and about APM can be found here: Getting Started.pdf