IV Assistant Robot - The Team - Vincent Zickefoose

Vincent Zickefoose is a Computer Engineering major at Michigan State University, from Perry, MI. As the sole computer engineer of the team, his primary responsibility was writing, testing, improving, and documenting the many pieces of software involved in the development of the project. Vincent used his experience working with a variety of programming environments and languages to lead the teams' software development effort. In addition, his research experience in computer vision, gave the team some insight into a number of technical approaches to the problem.

Vincent oversaw the software development process. This included instructing team members on the basics of versioning and version control software. Vincent developed a large quantity of the code with input and consultation from the rest of the team. Vincent worked closely with Bhim for solving various issues regarding programming on the Arduino environment and interfacing with various pieces of hardware. Motor logic and control software was developed by Vincent with assistance from Brandon. Finally, Vincent consulted with Lam in the processes of implementing the mathematical model as well as sensor calibration. All team members were involved with testing. This process relied heavily on Vincent's ability to alter and refine the software. Vincent used his experience with multimedia programming, control software, and the software development process to design the model by which the robot assumes various functional states.

Vincent assisted the team in other areas besides software as well. These include various miscellaneous tasks including prototyping, wiring, and the selection of various pieces of hardware and devices. These efforts were very important early during the planning stages of the design process were Vincent determined that the DWM1000 modules and Hercules Mobile Robotic Platform would be a good fit to meet the team's requirements.

Besides technical roles, Vincent was in charge of the development of the group's web page.