Continuing with Hawsepiper

What phase and sprint are we talking about?

Phase 3: Theoretical Work

Sprint 7, February 22 — March 7

What was the overall goal of this sprint?

The goal of this sprint was to continue developing the design of the Hawsepiper boat.

What did the mechanical subteam accomplish?

The mechanical team focused their attention and efforts on sail analysis and worked around obstacles regarding approximations required for sail-related math. They worked on developing and conceptualizing the spanker and made a significant amount of progress on the boat design front this sprint. The mechanical team has split into sub-sub teams and is strategically attacking the tasks that are top priority at this point on the process. Half of the subteam is specializing on hull design and the other is taking a close look at they physics of wing sails.

What did the software/electrical subteam accomplish?

The software team has grown quite a bit over the last couple of weeks, it’s always exciting to have new members join the team. They were able to successfully take screenshots of an area in Google Maps and overlay a grid (below). The waypoint component of their design is almost done with passing unit tests to help ensure everything will perform smoothly. While they have accomplished quite a bit this sprint, they have also faced challenges with ROS installation and are working to keep tasks up-to-date on Asana.

Our path planner takes a screenshot from Google Maps and turns it into a grid of water/land squares. This is in turn fed to an implementation of the A* algorithm, which plans a route taking into account wind direction. The last part is still being integrated, so it’s not visible on the map output quite yet.

Where do we stand as a team and where do we see ourselves going next sprint?

All teams suffered from complications due to the Candidates’ Weekends. Meeting times had to be changed and not all members were able to make the adjusted times and had additional responsibilities during this sprint. The next steps for us to try to get out on the water as temperatures start to warm up. This experience will enhance the team’s understanding of the relationship between the wind, the sail, and the boat as we continue to make design choices for our boat. There has also been discussion about next year’s leadership arrangements. Although the team is sad to see some people go, the current leadership team would like to congratulate Zack Davenport who will be replacing Celina Bekins, Eric Jacobson who will then be taking Zack’s position, and Jane Sieving who will be Software Subteam lead when Kyle Combes takes a semester abroad. Congrats!

Signed

Anna Griffin (Mechanical and Software Subteam)