A Talk with an Expert

Today, I talked to a teacher at school, Ms. B, who is most definitely an expert in her field.  She has spent many years as a researcher in the field and knows what she is talking about when dunes are concerned.  I wanted to run my project past her and see what she thought about the functionality of my design and whether or not it would be useful.  She stated that it is a good idea, if it can actual perform as promised.  She also added that a component she feels would be a great asset would be the capability to take a photograph a meter square (or any set size square - as long as we know how big the picture is) of the dune as taken from above.  Apparently, there are computer software programs that are able to count the amount of dune grass just from a picture.  Counting dune grass, though it sounds boring and unnecessary, actually provides vital data for scientists researching and studying dunes.  She also suggested that instead of cutting plant samples, as was originally planned, plants should be uprooted from the sand so that an entire plant sample can be collected. 

After discussing a few ideas, I feel that some adjustsments should be made to my project.  First off, I plan to have an arm that will allow the camera to swing up and above the vehicle to take a picture of the ground as suggested per Ms. B.  Also, I have to talk to my partner, but I think that the blade should be removed from the claw so that an entire plant sample is able to be taken.  Finally, we talked about having tires vs. treads.  She said that there are two schools of thought on the subject: 1. have really thin tires to reduce the surface area of the area that is impacted and 2. have really wide tires so that the pressure on the sand is reduced as much as possible.  Either way, they are both valid schools of thought and neither has been proven to be better.

I am currently leaning towards having thinner tires, rather than lighter ones that will spread out the load, because the robot is going to be somewhat heavy regardless.  In that respect, the tires would have to be so large to compensate for the weight that it would not be practical.  With thinner tires, yes the plants will have a lot of pressure being put on them, but it is less than would have been applied if the vehicle had large tires.