Unit 18: Autonomous Systems Design Review

Stop adding features

The final Unit is not a last-minute build sprint. It is where you prove that the system you designed can be explained, tested, limited, and recovered.

Turn a Mission into Requirements converts goals into measurable claims. Build the Architecture assigns those claims to subsystems and interfaces. Prove the Robot Before You Trust It builds the verification matrix and injects failure deliberately.

Assemble the dossier

Your final Autonomous Systems Design Review should contain:

• mission and operating boundary;
• requirements;
• mechanical and power decisions;
• sensing and measurement chain;
• control model;
• localization/perception architecture where relevant;
• autonomy state model;
• communication interfaces;
• human authority and stop behavior;
• reliability/recovery analysis;
• architecture decision records;
• requirement-to-test matrix;
• known limitations.

Reuse evidence from earlier Units. Do not recreate work simply to make the capstone longer.

Defend the boundaries

A strong defense can answer why a subsystem exists, why an interface has its limits, what happens when evidence becomes stale, and which remaining risk you intentionally accept.

Simulation, diagrams, calculations, supplied data, and recorded traces are valid evidence. Physical robot operation is not required for a rigorous architecture defense.