JPL Reflection

What went well?

Although we were unable to qualify and advance our machine to the next round, our team still had very successful aspects of it. Personally, I believe our most rigourus and significant part of our JPL was our striking motion. When preparing it, we left no room for errror and made sure every single strike was perfect. We believed putting extreme emphasis on the strike would balance out the rest and leave a consistent motion.

What could've gone better?

At the end of the day, our device failed because of the little attention payed to the size of the ball. We calculated to succeed with a ball at around ~10 PSI, not considering the diameter. When in competition, the diameter was the main tool of measurement, causing our entire striking motion to fail because our ball that we had been measuring with was much bigger than the ball we used. For future reference, our group needs to pay more attention to all the rules involved in a competition.

What advice do you have for the capstone project?

During our JPL Project, we didnt do constant check ups for unstable parts of our machine. We never tightend the screws, never made measured before cutting. Always assuming it was going to work out. A piece of advice I would have is to just pay attention to the little things, it can take you a long way.