Redefining Success
At the beginning of my BSE experience I had a somewhat narrow view of the definition of success. To me success was a achieving a previously defined goal. I thought that I would be able to walk into the program and walk out six weeks later with a robot that would be able to do everything I wanted it to. I convinced myself that anything less than a completed robot was failure.
About two weeks into the program I was quickly learning my lesson that designing and creating the circuits for the robot was not an easy task. My struggles only got worse, and four weeks into the program, although I had the circuits built, I was realizing that the code I had found online was not going to work without editing. In the Sixth week of the program, after being told by a programming expert that the code was not going to work, I embarked on the adventure of writing my own code for the robot. Now, on the last day of the program, I do not have a fully functioning robot nor do I have completed code for the robot. Yet I do not feel as though I have failed.
During my six weeks at BSE I heard numerous stories from entrepreneurs, young and old, each with their own unique business experiences. The one common thread amongst all the speakers was failure. Each one of them told us stories of how they put their time and effort in to starting a company, only to come up empty handed. However, they did not define their experiences as failures because they learned from their mistakes and then used what they learned to make their next venture more successful. As long as one learns from their mistakes then they have not truly failed. I have learned so much during the past six weeks that it is impossible to call my robot a failure. Sure my robot does not work as planned, but using the skills I learned at BSE I will be able to complete this robot and many more projects to come.
For those interested in learning more about my project I have attached all of my notes and schematics to this post. I was attempting to build an omni-directional robot from this website using his code. However, I eventually wrote my own code, which will be attached. In the meantime, check out my videos!
DESIGN FILE: Bill of materials for omni robot Sheet1