Project+Management+-+Vipul

=**Project Management - Vipul Potluri**= 

**Building the arms:**
Our initial step towards the project in terms of hardware components was to build the output arm and control it by the potentiometers through the breadboard. We have currently finished writing an algorithm for moving the entire arm that tracks the motion of the potentiometers in real-time. We have initially tested the algorithm using just the servos without building the arm. After successfully testing the algorithm, we initiated building the arm. We are currently done building the gripper around its joint using servo brackets and also the elbow joint using servo brackets and carbon fibre tube. After the completion of the output arm, we will be building the input arm using potentiometers at the joints instead of the servos. Only 1 servo will be used for gripping and 1 DC motor at the elbow for the haptic feedback. 

**Haptics:**
The work on haptics part of the project has not yet started. Our current goal is to finish building both the arms successfully and have the motion tracking in real-time without any jitters. After the completion of the arm, we will be initiating the testing of force sensors and proceed further to develop the haptics functionality.



**Wireless :**
The design of our robotic arms has been updated to accommodate wireless communications between them. Both arms then must track each other wirelessly. We considered taking the Zigbee protocol route for our project. In particular, we bought two XBee Shields and two XBee modules for radio communications. Each robotic arm should then be connected to its own Arduino microcontroller, XBee shield, and XBee module. As of this moment, we were able to configure both modules using the X-CTU application (software needed to configure and test the modules). The application enabled us to change the baud rate, network ID, firmware, etc. by either using the terminal or using the pre-built modification tool of X-CTU. We were able to check if our parts were non defective by uploading a simple sketch to both modules. For example, we were able to turn on and off pin 13 (LED) of one Arduino microcontroller wirelessly. We were also able to conduct a range test for both modules. We have tried quite a number of different configurations and different sketches but we’re unable to get the correct results. Tutorials online only either has instructions to configure the modules or only has sample sketches, but not both of them together. This was a definite challenge to us since the configuration must match the sketch to get the devices to work. Indeed, we have to keep researching on how to successfully code the modules to fit well with our robotic arm project.