Debrifing Meeting

The meeting began with introductions of both the 2015-2016 team and summer students working on the project. This was done by going around the room saying names and where they will or had been working on for the Spartan Superway. 

After the floor was given to the 2015-2016 team to tell of their experiences from this past year. This included events from Maker’s Faire to what could have been done better. At Maker’s Faire the project received 3 Editor’s Choice Blue Ribbons, which had not happened before. Also, one team member had noticed at the Cal Berkeley Solar Car Booth the project was interdisciplinary. Their group was divided into sections with a specific dedication: business, engineering, and planning team. The business team focused on sponsorships, engineering team did design and creation, and the planning team created events and organized the project. Having these kinds of teams could have led to more success and completion of the projects. It was also noted that having engineers from other fields could offer guidance since it is their specialized areas. 

Many group members felt there was a lot of work and accomplishments but overall had fun. At Maker’s Faire kids were excited and interested in the project and even offered their opinions. Spectators were impressed by the work completed and the cabin model, especially the bike and finishing models. Ron Swenson noted he was asked many times how fast was the podcar would move. This question would need to the addressed by looking at human factors which an ISE could offer insight. Also, many people thought VTA was backing the project, so having a main sponsor could promote a stabilized project. 

In terms of fabrication, teams realized there was a large learning curve. This could have been remedied if class time was used to teach techniques from people of certified areas. Like having Jack (member of the 2014-2015 team) or Kyle, from the shop on campus, come in and offerworkshops on fabrication techniques. One member noted there was less time for fabrication because of breaks and presentation time. Some group members felt there was an issue with ordering parts and materials. This would allow one designated person to keep track of spending and ordering parts, instead of people turning in individual receipts for reimbursement.

After discussing experiences groups witnessed this year, they shared beneficial knowledge with the new students. 

• There is a lot of things which need fixing

• Designing is not a real life example

o Deflection can occur which had not been accounted for in modeling

o Do not take forever to design, the turnaround should be fast

o A block diagram for development in design and building 

• More communication

o Subteam to subteam meetings

o Having a server for sharing information and constantly updated with current files

o No delaying of information because it will only cause more delays

o People need to know and keep up with deadlines

o People need to be on the same page

o Be willing to help and ask for help when needed

• Creating a forum for documentation, tracking, and accountability

o Have a master Gantt chart

o Always for universal communication

• People need to be held accountable for their work

• Project manager would be good to have

• Teams should be divided equally or have the right number of students to complete the work. Also have people in groups they are qualified to help in. 

• There needs to be a sense of urgency to get things done, what needs to happen early, and there needs to be dedication

Students who are available to help or give knowledge on:

• Henry: 3D printing

• Chris: will be available to help

• Alex: demo on welding

Status Update

      Currently the intermediate scale of the cabin model is being worked on, which should be assembled by 4/22. The interior and exterior aspects for the intermediate cabin will be completed by the coming week. The first imitative for the group was build a cardboard model of the smaller cabin as shown in figure 1.This was to see what building issues the group might have when building the models.

Figure 1: Cardboard model of small cabin

Colors for the cabin are still being decided, but are being leaning towards more metallic colors. Like silver, royal blue, and shiny white. Finalizing the seat design is also being established, but a design like in figure 2 and 3 are being considered. Although the seats will be able to fold up and can be manually pushed on to sit in for passengers. Some what like the theater chairs but will have a support from the edge of the seat to the wall to add for support and longer life.

Figure 2: Monorail Chair in Las Vegas, NV

Figure 3: Monorail Chair in Las Vegas, NV

Figure 4: Working small cabin

Podcar 9 Charette

    I did not feel like participating in the competition, because I had felt like it was a conflict of interest. The presentations from those that did participate gave more insight and reassurance that my partners and I are on the right track fro the cabin and stations. There was a consensus view that the cabin needs to have handicapped features and easily accessible. The architectural students from UC Santa Cruz had many good ideas, some were similar to my thoughts. They believed having different station types would be beneficial depending on the area for the station, including different types of safety features, and have solar panels.
    I had the pleasure of meeting Bengt Gustafsson! He is very passionate about his work and knows every aspect thoroughly. I asked if he would like use to add anything to the cabin. His reply was not for the exterior but rather the interior. He would like us to add a feature more make a simple interior design for easy cleaning.
    At the meeting during down time I met a fellow anthropologist, Jason Ackerman. He was very pleased an anthropologist is working on the project.
   Overall I was glad that I stayed for the presentations for aspects for the cabin and station.

Home Depot

I am seriously debating on getting a job at Home Depot or some other hardware supply store. The amount of time that I spend at these places amazes me. In the last month I think I have gone at least once a week which I would believe is more than the average person.


Supplies list:
Paint
Thinner and mineral spirits
Painters tape
Sand paper
Paint sprayer 

Update for full-scale cabin, visit, and sub-team

Full-scale cabin update:

For visit of Erik Bromander, State Secretary to the Minister, Anne Lindgard, part of the Vinnova, Rod Diridon and other sponsors;  we were requested to clean up the current look of full-scale that the Swedish students started. During class time we started to bondo the places that needed fixing and sanding to make an even surface for the cabin. On the weekend the group joined at SDCC to finish up more bondo work, sanding, and painting the cabin white. I made sure that we had the proper materials for finishing the cabin. The group needed to get finer grit of sandpaper, extra white paint, and spatulas. Mark did a very good job with sanding and finding the last few areas that needed to do more bondo work. While Mark was sanding, Lucas and I started to make a painting station.  After completing, Lucas and Mark worked on how to make the paint sprayer to function properly. Then Lucas began to spray paint the cabin. The first coat showed the imperfection still on the cabin. This led to doing more bondo work and sanding by Mark. After this was complete the second coat of paint was applied the surface looked better and clean.

The Visit:

    A tour was given to the visitors so that they could see what the Spartan Superway was working on. After the video showing of how the Superway would look and functioning, group discussion began. There was definitely a group consensus that sustainable transportation needed to be established. This would provide for the ever growing congestion transportation problem and better for the environment. When Rod Diridon gave his opinion of how the future for Super would look like was very interesting and convenient for those that would be using it. I think that everyone benefited from the Mr. Diridon being at the visit.

Updates:

    The group has finalized the decision to make to complete full scale cabin, make a one ¼ scale cabin that can open to show interior, two ¼ scale cabin shells for model rail, and functioning ¼ or full scale station mechanism. The mechanism is still in the thought process because of other possible docking devices for the cabin to be stabilized when it is at the station.

Work since 9/16/2015

Sub-Team:

Since last class meeting on September 16, 2015, I have been looking at the painting methods for the full-scale cabin. The group was notified that the students and an ambassador from Sweden will be coming to see the project. Ron Swenson noted that it would be a good idea to finish up the work that the Swedish students had done over the summer. The full-scale group collaborated with Caleb Kalala Kabeya via discussion in class time and email. Caleb contacted the Swedish students to see if they had preference in color scheme for the cabin that they built. We also discussed times when we could get together to do the finish work. Work that needs to get done is as follows: sanding, adding more bondo (if needed), priming (if needed), painting, and possible second coat of paint.

Full-Team:

As head librarian for the Spartan Superway, I have been trying to look for resources and references for the project. The main goal is to find a way or location site to organize all the work done over the years in a central location. This will help the current and future teams when they needed to reference current or past information. This will replace having to ask around or emailing documents.

Cabin sketches and explanations

I would like to focus on the design of the full-scale cabin, station, and safety features. The safety features would mainly focus for handicapped; with adding hooks and ramps. The hooks in figure 1, would help to keep wheelchairs from moving during the time the cabin is going to it's destination.

Figure 1: Hooks for the wheelchairs

In figure 2, there is the representation of a ramp for the cabin. The ramp is there if the platform of the station and floor of the cabin are not leveled. The ramp would be in place of a step because there is wheelchair accessibility and passengers would not have to step down from the cabin. The ramp would also cover the gap between the station and cabin, which will prevent tripping accidents for the passengers.

Figure 2: Cabin ramp

 Figure 3 shows a possible entry and exist for the cabin. Sliding doors would be used because they would slide along the sides of the cabin. Having sliding doors is the better option because swinging doors would require space when opening, which could possibly hit a passenger if they are standing close too the entrance of the cabin.

Figure 3: Cabin with sliding doors