“When you can’t change the direction of the wind, just adjust your sails.” –H. Jackson Brown Jr.
No, we haven’t switched our topic to an aquatic theme! But the idea behind this quote was a prevalent theme for our team this week. Last week Landes, one of our Physics majors, presented our bill of materials (BOM) to the class. Our design is quite simple with only a few things needed. The first component is a claw that holds the box of medication and four ultrasonic sensors that will be used to detect the ground level and prevent our drone from just falling onto the ground. The third component we need is 3D printed stilts for the drone to rest on once it has reached its destination.
The biggest concern our professors and advisors had for our design was that because the box was being held so close to the body of the drone, a gust of wind could interfere and throw the drone off course or even damage it. To me, with no background in physics or design, this complication seemed awful; it would be
This is the new sketch our team worked on during free time in class after hearing the concerns of the advisors.
our downfall. However, during our ten minute break they immediately started sketching new ideas and bouncing different thoughts off of one another. Unlike me, they didn’t panic and think they had to change the entire concept and direction of the project; they just changed the metaphorical sails of our project and began designing a new way of carrying the box.
One thing I have noticed about our group is that everyone in the group is calm and collected throughout much of the process. We will never achieve our greatest success without failing along the way and after this week I have faith that our team can push through these gusts of wind setting us back and create an even better outcome.
By Becky Rosen