During the past week, we finalized the boat structure and began modelling the chassis in RoCo. Boat 10 was an attempt to make a faster boat by reducing drag. We flipped the battery and ESP8266 board on their sides and made the chassis narrow and long. However, when we tested it, the uneven weight distribution made the boat prone to capsizing. Even when the boat was upright, it moved in circles. We decided to use our original design of laying the battery and ESP8266 flat on the bottom of the boat for stability.
Once we finalized the design, we created plastic templates for each component of the boat, the chassis, two paddlewheels, and the servo holders. Before we made the templates in RoCo, we had to write out equations for the geometrical relations between the faces.
During this week, we will finish our template in RoCo and experiment with different parameters to modify in the app.