Update from 09/02/2015

A summary of the work done from last week is provided below, separated by category.

• Continued to work on the equations of motion for the pod car. Corrected mathmatical mistakes made eariler that led to incorrect equations.
• Summarized additional journal articles that will be used for the literature review.
• Investigated the use of the Motion Genesis software to provide a way to check the hand calculations.

Introduction

My name is Wade Brown and I am a MSME student at SJSU. I will be working under Dr. Furman and in conjunction with the Spartan Superway team for my thesis. Because my long term career goals are to specialize in mechatronics and automation, I was drawn the Superway project for my graduate thesis as a way to further my knowledge in this area and to support development of a unique form of alternative transportation. My thesis topic will be developing a novel asynchronous controller for the pod cars based on tools from autonomous vehicles and robotics research. Additionally, although I will be working somewhat independently from the rest of the undergraduate Superway team due to the nature of my project, I am excited to see if there can be any knowledge exchange between my work and the rest of the team. When I get some free time from working or from school, I enjoy hiking around various trails in the Bay Area.