Week 15 - Final Report, Slide Presentation & Progress Report Submission

In the final week, our group was assigned to complete the final report for the System Engineering subject after last week's final presentation. There are five chapters to be included in the report. Chapter 1 is the introduction, Chapter 2 is the literature review, Chapter 3 is the methodology, Chapter 4 is the results and discussion, and Chapter 5 is the conclusion. The report should include a cover page, table of contents, references, and appendices. Furthermore, a progress report through a blog was also required. Finally, all the assessments, including the final report, slide presentation, and progress report, were completed and submitted to my lecturer, Sir Zaki Ayob, on Wednesday for evaluation and grading.

Week 14 - Last Troubleshoot and Final Presentation & Demonstration Day

This week, once again, our group went through the troubleshooting process to address the issues we faced the previous week. We carefully examined the code, reviewed the connections, and conducted various tests to identify the source of the problem. After several iterations of troubleshooting, we finally identified the issues. For the battery indicator system issue, it was discovered that there was a minor wiring inconsistency causing intermittent interruptions in the connection between the battery charger module and the battery itself. I promptly replaced the battery charger module with a new one, corrected the wiring, and retested the system. This time, the OLED and LED consistently displayed the correct and stable battery readings during the charging process, providing accurate information to the user.

Regarding the movement system issue, it was found that the motor driver, responsible for providing electrical signals to the DC motor for movement, was faulty. This was identified after comparing the coding and conducting tests on the existing motor driver with a new one. I checked the resistance using a multimeter to confirm the component's damage. I replaced the faulty component with a new one, reestablished the circuit connection, and retested the system. This time, the system operated well in manual mode. While the automatic control could still move the system without obstacles, the sensitivity to detect obstacles while in motion was not satisfactory. It would require some additional time to develop this automatic option further. However, we were satisfied, and the project was ready to be demonstrated on the final presentation day.

On the final presentation day, the overall presentation went well and smoothly. However, during the demonstration session, our group encountered an issue with the Wi-Fi connection to Blynk at the last moment. Blynk did not show an online status despite having a Wi-Fi connection, which prevented us from displaying the voltage and percentage readings and receiving low battery state notifications. To assure the evaluator, we could only present the successful results from the slides to demonstrate that Blynk had been successfully implemented previously. As for the movement system, it couldn't effectively showcase the efficient automatic feature due to its insensitivity to obstacles. Apart from these issues, the project still functioned well as planned. Our group received positive feedback from the lecturer and other groups, and we welcomed their suggestions for improvements and enhancements to the project.

Week 13 - Preparing Slide Presentation & Final Testing of The Project

This week, our group collaborated to prepare for an upcoming final presentation and demonstration. After discussing with my group partner, we decided to reduce the content in the slides, such as the literature review, hardware components, safety features, and testing plan, as these were already covered in the proposal stage. The focus of this presentation is solely on the results of the system testing. Therefore, the content of our presentation slides includes a cover page, introduction, objectives, problem statement, context diagram with functional description, block diagram, flow chart, circuit diagram, V-Model, and conclusion results. We worked on and completed each of these sections throughout the week.

In the same week, as part of the preparation for the demonstration, we conducted the final testing on the project to check for any issues with the outputs. Unfortunately, the readings of the battery voltage and percentage showed unbalanced output during the charging process, resulting in the microcontroller not receiving power from the battery and relying on the 5V supply connected to the microcontroller's USB port to operate. Both automatic and manual control via the remote web server was not functioning correctly for the movement system. We will address these issues in the coming week before the final presentation day.

Week 12 - Integration of Battery Indicator System with Movement System

This week, the mini cleaning robot development process continues with the integrated battery indicator system with the movement system. With the successful implementation of the battery indicator system, I was thrilled to collaborate with my group partner, Qamarul, who had been working on the movement system for the mini-cleaning robot. Both systems were crucial for achieving the ultimate purpose of the robot.

My group partner and I started by coordinating the efforts and ensuring their respective systems' hardware and software components were compatible. We synchronized the microcontrollers, ensuring smooth communication between the battery indicator and movement systems. To integrate the designs, we devised a plan to exchange data between the microcontrollers. I modified the battery indicator system code to transmit the battery status information to my group partner's microcontroller. This information included the current battery voltage and percentage readings. My group partner, on the other hand, incorporated this incoming data into his movement system code. He programmed the microcontroller to monitor the battery status continuously during the robot's operation. If the battery voltage dropped below a certain threshold, the movement system would automatically slow down to conserve power and extend the robot's operating time.

The mini-cleaning robot seamlessly coordinates between battery monitoring and operational efficiency by integrating the battery indicator system with the movement system. This ensured that the robot could continue its cleaning tasks without interruption and without burdening the user with manual intervention.