how i reflected on mistakes made

At the beginning of the project, I believe we clearly defined our problem: designing a vehicle that could traverse the icy, low-gravity terrain of Enceladus while overcoming visibility issues, geysers, and extreme cold. However, while our initial problem statement was strong, we underestimated challenges like extreme power loss in colder temperatures. If I were to redo this project, I would spend more time researching real-world engineering challenges in extreme environments before committing to our design.

Our team worked well together, and we had defined roles from the beginning. Each member took responsibility for different aspects of the project, which helped streamline our workflow. I was the Arduino guy, Roy was the CADer, and Joshua took care of communications, materials, etc.

We had a general plan, but it wasn’t detailed enough to account for all the obstacles we faced. For example, we didn’t fully anticipate how difficult 3D printing the vehicle’s suspension would be, which led to a major redesign. Similarly, we planned to use motor drivers and an Arduino UNO board for motor control. However, it did not work out for some reason and we had no backup plan to work with. Therefore, I hope to have a more flexible approach to planning my projects moving forward.

Time management was one of our biggest struggles. Since our team encountered many setbacks, we often found ourselves scrambling to make adjustments. While we met our final deadline, we only had one prototype and rushed the testing phase. If I were to improve anything, it would be setting internal deadlines and leaving more time to fix problems.

Things definitely didn’t go as planned. Our biggest “unexpected” was the absolute failure of our Arduino design/wiring. At first, I felt like my efforts were completely wasted. However, looking back, it was a great test of our adaptability. Instead of trying to force a broken system to work, we quickly pivoted to simpler wiring and design.