Meet the Team
Business Team
The Business Team in responsible for creating the public image of our team. The Business Team finds our donors that make funding the team possible. They plans outreach events that we take the car to and showcase our work. The Business Team is also in charge of updating our social media outlets.
Mechanical Team
The Mechanical Systems Team is responsible for designing, manufacturing, and optimizing the solar car’s chassis, suspension, aerodynamic components, and braking systems. The chassis team develops the structural framework of the vehicle, prioritizing lightweight construction, structural integrity, and driver safety while supporting the integration of electrical and mechanical systems. The suspension team designs and tests components to ensure vehicle stability, efficient handling, and reliable performance throughout long-distance races. Additionally, the aerodynamics team focuses on minimizing aerodynamic drag and reducing the energy required to propel the car, maximizing overall vehicle efficiency. The braking team develops and integrates braking systems to ensure safe and reliable operation under varying driving conditions. Throughout the design and manufacturing process, the Mechanical Systems Team collaborates with other technical teams to improve energy efficiency, maximize race performance, and ensure compliance with competition regulations.
Computer Science Team
The Computer Science Team is responsible for developing car strategy and the software component of the embedded system. The strategy team creates and employs solutions for collecting and storing telemetry data and uses supervised and reinforced machine learning models to make data-backed, informed decisions about the car’s operation, like power consumption and how to optimize power usage. These strategies are used both during development and during the race to maximize performance. Additionally, the strategy team builds and manages an online data visualization tool for post-race performance triage so the team can utilize race and test drive data for continuous improvement. The embedded team collaborates with the electrical team to develop the dashboard, battery monitoring system, CAN logger, and other programmable elements on the car. They also develop data-based system monitoring systems to ensure safe car operation.
Electrical Team
The electrical team is responsible for the design, selection, and installation of all electrical subsystems in the car. These systems include, but are not limited to, the battery pack, battery protection system (BPS), motor controllers, sensors, driver control interface, and the solar array. All circuit boards on the car, except for the motor controllers and MPPTs (Maximum Power Point Trackers), are custom designed and assembled by member of the electrical team. These boards are then programmed by electrical team members in collaboration with members of the computer science team. They also collaborate on the implementation of the telemetry system for the car, which is used for strategy during our races. For Gato del Sol VI the electrical team designed and built a new battery pack, dashboard, solar array, 12 new PCBs (printed circuit boards), implanted two new motors, and implemented four new MPPTS. Unfortunately, the new BPS was not completed in time for the 2018 race so an off the shelf unit was temporarily used in its place. In the coming years the team will work on refining the design of Gato del Sol VI to reduce power consumption, component size, and cost leading up to our next vehicle.