July Already?!

Wow, this summer is moving fast! Let's see, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, the Mars Desert Research Station rover project. We have a few obstacles for getting the new rover done so we've been testing the capabilities of Inspiration so at least they would have something to do rover experiments with. Here is a video of us testing Inspiration on some rocky hilly terrain we found up on the iron range to best mimic the terrain that would be found out in Utah.

During this test, we found that inspiration just doesn't have the power or wheel base to do much of anything when it comes to hills and rocks. I've decided to upgrade the wheels and the motors to give it a lot more capability. These new upgrades are going to be heavy so I may switch back to this setup whenever we get around to launching it in a rocket. For now, however, Inspiration needs to be much more user friendly and able to climb over whatever the MDRS team needs it to climb over. 

One potential upgrade came in the mail a few months ago. That is the EZ-B board by EZ-Robot. 

 It has so many possibilities and it's very user friendly compared to the Arduino board that is currently in Inspiration. Unfortunately, it's also a whole new system that I would have to test, learn to program, and completely redesign the power distribution of Inspiration. I just don't have that kind of time so for now, we'll be sticking with the Arduino and its shields because most of the programming is complete and I know it'll work for what the MDRS crew needs.

Another thing that happened a few months ago was the Wings of the North museum open house that I mentioned in the previous post. I left the Stray Robotics stuff at home and participated in the event as my NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador alter ego. I created a nice little display for Inspiration to drive around in as I talked about rover missions on Mars, current NASA programs, and other robotic projects that JPL has going on. It was a lot of fun and got several kids excited for robotics.

 

Inspiration found a new friend at the museum open house

Recharging the batteries while watching a Mustang starting up

Shortly after that, we took a trip out to Chicago to visit with some friends and family. 

Had to drive down Lake Shore to kind of feel home again

Hanging with our friend Mark of the Fury Theater company

Then, about a month ago, we scored some free pavers at a garage sale and decided to do a little landscaping. 

After that, was a trip to Tucson for Spacefest! This was probably the best Spacefest that they've put on. There were so many great talks on space subjects from professionals in the field. People like David Levy who helped discover the Shoemaker-Levy comet that smacked into Jupiter, Alan Hale of the Hale-Bopp comet fame, Apollo astronauts, and a whole bunch of other people that you find on different Discovery Channel shows. So much fun to spend a whole weekend talking with them and space authors and artists! It's an almost indescribable event that a person just needs to experience. We met with so many old friends from around the world and met so many more new ones. A truly amazing experience!

Hanging out with friends, Geoff Notkin and Steve Arnold of Meteorite Men 

Cristin having fun with
 artist Michelle Rouch

Cristin getting to talk with Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart
about space law.

Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell giving fellow
astronaut Jim McDivitt a hard time
about it being his birthday.

Cristin showing Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise a project
her co-worker's son put together. 

Our view from the room at Star Pass Resort
that was hosting the event.

And our first time seeing a Javelina

Back home after an amazing trip, we started working on Inspiration again. We picked up the new wheels and motors that will be replacing Inspiration's current foam wheels and continuous rotation servos. I hot glued the new motors and wheels to a bread board, strapped on the Arduino with its shields and battery, and went outside to see how fast and powerful the new setup will be.

I think this is going to work just fine for the MDRS crew. It'll be just fast enough to keep up with someone walking yet still powerful enough to climb some small hills. My next step is to design the new suspension parts that these new motors will mount to. I'm trying to make them out of aluminum for strength and a lower center of gravity. Since I don't have any way of machining aluminum, this could take a little while. But stay tuned and check out our Facebook page for more updates. Now get out there and make something!