Being an engineer in this day and age requires a more a mind that is not only open to ideas, but one that is also environmentally aware. From the standpoint of team golf, are very serious when it comes to sustainability and the environment and we strive to create a micromouse that is environmentally friendly to use and also environmentally friendly to manufacture, while being cost effective for the manufacturing company. Recognising these targets is what allowed us at team golf to take action to meet these targets to increase the longevity of our micromouse.
Cost: Standard IR sensor circuit
This is the list of every component used in our infra-red sensor PCB circuit that has taken into account the fact that the standard circuit has been used twice, henceforth double the cost of a standard infra-red sensor PCB circuit.
Cost: Raspberry Pi Pico controller board
This is the list of every component used to assemble the controller board used to operate the Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller.
Cost: Motors and chassis
This is the list of every component used to completely assemble the chassis for our micromouse, including the motors.
Cost: Special features
This is the list of components used for the special features of our micromouse, such as the HC-05 bluetooth module and Adafruit OLED display that was used to display useful information about what mode our micromouse is in. This list also takes into account the shell for our micromouse that was 3D printed, using generic ABS material. Furthermore, the costs for the PCB of the IR circuit design and the Raspberry Pi Pico board have also been considered as a special feature.
Cost: Labour
This is the list of each team member of team golf. We have assumed that each member has worked 120 hours at a wage of £10 per hour. On the topic of labour costs, there are further labour costs such as access to an electronics laboratory and workshop, technicians and academic support. Their wages are not disclosed to us so it can only be assumed that the total labour costs would amount to thousands of pounds in addition to the £4,800.
Cost: Grand total
Overall, the costs of every aspect of the micromouse project are summed up to have a value of £5003.40 which covers the costs of the IR circuit components, the Raspberry Pi controller board, motor and chassis, special features and labour. Again, it should be noted that the labour costs do not account for electronics laboratory and workshop access, technicians and academic support. If these factors were considered in our labour costs, the grand total would increase by thousands of pounds, which is the harsh reality of things. It should also be noted that the costs of each component are not guaranteed to remain at the same price forever, and are therefore subject to change as well as the labour wage of each team member.