Ah, the first pool test of the year. In September this time! Vedarsh would be proud.
Workflow Problems
It’s almost never smooth, but this time we wasted quite a bit of time getting setup that we must eliminate in the future. Here’s an analysis of our timeline:
1:15pm: We begin moving everything over to the pool. Due to the construction at Gross Hall and using an old “Soviet-era, garage sale” (Sid’s words) cart, we needed to walk around 0.75 miles, which took around 40 minutes. Also, there is zero shock absorption on this cart, which is of course not ideal for component longevity.
2:00pm: Our theoretical start time, we had everything at the pool at this point and were bringing tables/chairs out.
2:10pm: Everyone arrived, we began to unspool the tethers, but then we realized we were missing our extension cable. We realized we were missing our extension cable, so we called until we reached a team member at Gross Hall, and asked the next group of people coming over to (a) come over quickly, and (b) bring our extension cable.
2:40pm: Saagar arrived with the extension cable.
2:45pm: As we were setting up, we realized that the power cords for our network switches were not in the CS bin, likely due to unpacking and some confusion that came with that.
2:50pm: I begin my run to Gross Hall for the power cables.
3:15pm: I return to Gross Hall with the power cables.
3:20pm: We are finally powering up laptops and connecting.
3:25pm: We put our robots in the water, and finally begin our testing.
3:26pm: A lifeguard comes over, and expresses concern that we just put our robot in the water, and informs us that the pool closes at 4pm.
3:50pm: We conclude our test so we can be out by 4pm.
4pm: We leave the pool.
4:40pm: We arrive at Gross Hall. Thankfully, the route back is more downhill.
We wasted too much time not knowing where things were. We need to confirm we have all we need when we move out for the pool tests. This is exacerbated by the main entrance closures of Gross Hall. In the future, we will attempt to procure a car to move our robots.
Pool Test Observations
In terms of the actual pool test, with the 25 minutes we had, we conducted a systems and functionality check using exactly our finals competition code. Crush worked excellently and was able to submerge, at which points we were satisfied.
Oogway, however, had more trouble. It appears its second switch is also beginning to experience issues, so we will likely need to replace that. Oogway also had issues of disconnecting whenever starting task planning / enabling controls, regardless of whether autonomous mode is used or not. Further testing will need to be determined as to whether this is a software or hardware issue. We will attempt to replicate and fix this issue later in the week.
Furthermore, Oogway also was unable to connect to either the front DepthAI camera nor the IVC modem, even after multiple power cycles.
Finally, both robots appeared to have some unrealistic readings (very low temps and humidity, very high voltage on Oogway’s battery) in Foxglove, so it appears that our sensors may be broken. We experienced similar issues at comp, and didn’t have an issues, so this is not on the top of our priority list.
As a part of our competition debrief, we realized that (a) pool testing is our biggest bottleneck, and (b) we are losing way too much time due to random electrical/mechanical errors that occur. Thus, we are trying a new workflow with these types of mechanical/electrical issues involving a formal ticketing/resolution process — and Oogway’s various issues will make up our first tickets.
Conclusion
Thanks Ahaan for swimming! We will take next week off (the pool is closed), and try to iron out these issues with Oogway. Looks like air shipping wasn’t the kindest to him…
Attached below is my Strava segment of running back to get the power cords for the switches, and of our first power cycle of the year!
