My Best Project!

 

Throughout my computer science "career" I have done many different projects both in and outside of school. One of my most memorable projects would be one that I did in grade 11 and 12 with a group of friends, outside of school. We programmed a drone and flew it with an RC controller!

We made a program that would allow us to fly a drone and also have a heads-up display. The display included a compass, a speedometer, an altitude meter, as well as indicators for x and y direction and orientation. The display also had a camera viewer which showed the stream of a camera placed on the drone.

From the start, the most challenging part was planning out the project. We knew this program would have multiple parts, so we planned those out first. Next, we worked on finding a way to smoothly integrate all the components into the final product. Once we began programming, it was important that we communicated often so that we would all follow the same framework for an effortless integration. Another challenging step we had to overcome, was working together. For most of us, this had been the first time working on a proper project in a somewhat large group. We all had different working styles and habits, and also different opinions. To overcome this, we needed to properly communicate any disagreements and professionally arrive at a compromise.

Throughout working on the project, we strengthened our team-working skills and learned many new things. We experienced all the different aspects of working on a project in this field. We learned to plan, write proper pseudo code, communicate, have meetings, present our work and opinions, research, and most importantly, work as a team to complete a common goal. Each of these aspects allowed us to learn new beneficial information and skills. For example, when I had to do research, I learned a few new things about airplanes and how they work and are controlled, that I did not know before.

Once we completed the project, flying the drone and seeing everything that we worked on come together, made this project memorable. As well, understanding the experience and memories we had created, made this project worthwhile.

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