From what I learned in my individual research project, there are many varying steps in the engineering process. A product is never truly finished as it constantly sees minor adjustments and improvements. As with Levi Strauss and the wildly successful blue jean, the addition of the copper rivet revolutionized work pants. And yet, the standard of these pants is always morphing and getting better, transforming into the globally recognized product of today. And similarly, I've learned from simply the rivet that it can easily be the most basic, ever-changing innovations that can quite literally hold everything together.
The main difficulty with our JPL project is being able to finalize our concept and successfully reach the point where we can finish our first construction. Our current issue is with coding and testing the claw as the delicate wiring constantly presents failures. However, just today, we altered our design to eliminate the use of the claw in place of a simpler wooden lever.
Because of that, our construction process has been rapidly accelerating and we were able to saw and build lots of the wooden components today. Overall, the project is currently running smoothly.
I suspect that the main problem we will face in the coming weeks with our JPL project is that of finding a suitable motor or alternate mechanism for lifting the lever arm. If we go the motor route, there will definitely be issues and steep costs surrounding the optimal one. In the direction of utilizing a counterweight and pulley system, we'll surely see aversion in the process of fine-tuning the specific lengths and angles.
My life, currently, is busier than I anticipated it would be. From three AP-level classes to musical auditions as well as the added stress of college apps, this year is almost busier than junior year. But it's working out alright and I'm hoping to have more free time as the year goes on.