03/23/2018: Second prototype completion and new electronic components

This week, with help from David, I was able to make huge amount of progress in my project. First, I was able to print out and assemble the new legs that I had planned to make last week. Then, I made some testing to judge on their functionality and made small changes to changes in accordance to the issues that arose. I also made new motor housings that were much lighter and more efficient. For instance, I tried to carve out unnecessary pieces from the structure without compromising the overall integrity. Furthermore, thanks to the new leg design, I was able to reduced much of the weight of the motor housings by removing the outer panel that was a very prominent feature of the older design. In addition, the lighter nylon screws and nuts that I ordered arrived this week. This allowed me to replace the much heavier steel screws, which further contributed to reduce the weight of my walker. Once the assembly of the new motor housing and legs were completed, I moved on to work on the electronics part of my project. While we did initially encounter several issues, such as the fact that I was unable to find the full code for the arduino, I was able to complete this task with David's help. I was also able to implement a turning feature in the code and to assign it to a servos. Finally, after all this was complete, I went on to put all of the components together. While I did not have time to link the motors to the motorshield and the arduino, I still managed to complete a presentable model of the walker. After I return from spring break, I will conduct a series of testing on the overall functionality of the walker and to make further changes if needed. Overall, I believe that this week was a very successful week where much progress was made on my walker.