John Deere Track Team MEEP

Inspiration

We were inspired by the projects that John Deere presented to us. From the large-scale construction machinery to the farming machines, each had it's own use and specialty. We were inspired by farming machines that could till the soil and the methodical movements of construction equipment.

What it does

Our robot autonomously follows a corner path with a plow behind it and a rake in front to break down and level the material it passes. The rake is meant for a bigger picture view of unpredictable terrain, which we would have to break down before it gets leveled and sorted by our back rack which acts as a sort of terrain grater.

How we built it

With pure grit and ingenuity, we relied on master craftsmen before us and designs on other farm equipment to break down the main components of our build. The base is the standard robot kit, but from there, we used various crafting methods to create our masterpiece.

Challenges we ran into

Our biggest challenge in making a full autonomous run was getting caught in the corner and hauling our leveling tool. We had to troubleshoot different variations of the code so that we could escape a corner successfully. We also had to redesign our tool to make sure it was efficient on leveling sand but also able to move around.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We actually got an autonomous to run the demo and the whole map. It started off less efficient and less controlled, but slowly, with different iterations of the code, we got more efficient and actually got a predictable path for our bot.

What we learned

We learned how to plan out code but also how to keep track of the hardware side of things, especially our main components. We also learned areas we were weak in like our CAD skills not being fast enough for the time span of a Mecathon/Hackathon.

What's next for John Deere Track Team MEEP

Review what worked and what didn't by the end of our presentation. From there we will work on our weakest skills and make sure that next year/event we can demolish the task at hand and breakthrough with new skills.