There’s been a list of improvements to make to the software that seems to be magically growing on it’s own, so we decided that it was about time to make that big list into a small list by solving the problems that we’ve written on it. We have only a few weeks until construction of the final hull begins, and there is still quite a bit of work to do on the software before we can start testing. To help with this, and make sure that the software is ready by the time that the boat is ready, we’ve added David Pimental to the team. David is a student at Northeastern (we went to high school together) who’s offered to work with us on fixing these bugs.
In addition to fixing the things that I’ve broken, he’ll also work on integrating a compass module for more accurate navigation, as well as software changes that will refine and streamline the waypoint navigation system. We’ll be working together on integrating the current sensors into the system, which will help keep the power consumption in line with our math. It’s a smart boat- it’ll know the status of the batteries, the amount of electricity that the panels are generating, the amount of electricity that the motor is consuming, and the amount of electricity that is being used by all of the other electronics. This will help us when we’re testing the boat, as well as help Scout stay aware of, and control, its own systems.
