Weekly Updates
Week 1 (05/01 – 05/08):
The first senior design meeting took place this week. Individuals were sorted into groups that were preemptively decided or created on the spot during the meeting. Professor Notash and Dr. Ejaz went over the syllabus and briefly went into further detail about what is expected on the website, in the report, and during the presentation. Research was done on proposal ideas, past presentations, and resources to creating a website. Matthew began to further research solar powered proposal ideas discussed prior to the meeting. Doug began to further research the white cane enhancement and laser-based technologies for proposal ideas. Three initial proposal ideas were agreed upon. Many other ideas were suggested but no fourth idea was solidified through mutual agreement by the team.
Week 2 (05/09 – 05/15):
Prior to the second meeting, an email was received by professor Notash detailing that the teams should have 3-4 proposal ideas to present during the meeting with adjoining descriptions, budget, and block diagrams. More research was done on the specifics of each proposal idea. A shared document was created to allow team members to work on inputting information into the proposal PDF file simultaneously in real-time. A project description detailing a comprehensive summary of the features, scope, and system functionality of each proposal idea was formed. Furthermore, block diagrams were created to show the rough procedural flow of each idea. Finally a estimated budget or budgetary range was formed from further research on each idea and the components needed to create a working live demonstration of the project. The descriptions were written to detail the scope of the project and to highlight the strong points of where the project would require the most attention and what benefit they would provide to an end user. The information was compiled into a singular PDF document and the format was adjusted as per professor Notash’s request outlined in the e-mails received during the week.
During the meeting, each group proposed their ideas and questions and comments were answered at the end of each group’s proposal. During our turn, all three of the proposed ideas were presented to the professor and the other groups in attendance. Matthew and Doug took turns presenting the proposed ideas, describing the details of each one while going over the description, estimated budget, and block diagrams. Questions were answered at the end and professor Notash asked us to rate our proposal ideas from our most liked to least liked idea. This ranking from most likely to least likely follows: 1. Solace – solar powered automated blinds, 2. White Cane Enhancement, and 3. Solar powered pathway lights. Research began immediately thereafter on the construction of a website and the proposal of a timeline.
Week 3 (05/16 – 05/22):
Upon receiving conditional approval pending further discussion of our lead project idea, Solace, more research was done on various topics such as solar panels, blind housing, low-voltage motors, making an app, and creating a website to name a few. Douglas began to work on a timeline and researched parts for a proposed budget. Matthew began to work on creating a website, choosing “wix.com” as the tool for the website’s construction. Douglas put together an excel spreadsheet to detail zoom meetings, weekly minutes, time and effort, timelines, and engineering specifications. Matthew worked on finishing the home page for the website including the “who are we” and the “meet the team” subsections. Matthew also worked on developing the rest of the frame of the website for Senior Design Proposal and Senior Design Presentation. There was no zoom meeting, however, professor Notash reached out via email to the teams describing what we should be focusing on over the next several days.
This week there was continued work on the website including further development of several tabs under the “Senior Design Proposal” drop down tab. Some of these tabs include the landing page, proposed project ideas descriptions, the time and effort log, and the progress log.
Week 4 (05/23 – 05/29):
This week there was continued work on the website by Matthew, including further development of several tabs under the “Senior Design Proposal” dropdown tab. Some of these tabs include the landing page, proposed project ideas descriptions, the time and effort log, and the progress log. A time and effort log has been created as a live document for both team members to input what they have been working on and how much time was spent working on it. The website is constantly under revision, however there is now formatting and housing for each section under proposal except for the block diagram which will be imported over the weekend. Douglas has expanded on engineering requirements tab of the excel sheet as well as an update to the weekly minutes. Matthew has decided to revisit the timeline to format it in way that is easier to read and more concise. This updated timeline will also be something that will be imported to the website as it is a file and can not be populated by text in the website editor. Douglas and Matthew have immediately begun working on the resubmission of the proposal with modifications and additional and more specific data and information. Matthew has started to expand upon the modified description for the proposal as well as adding the abstract. Matthew has also started creating and refining the tentative work schedule as to include it in the resubmission. Douglas has continued work on the timeline and has also begun to revise the final budget to more accurately reflect the known financial costs to the team at this point in time. Douglas and Matthew have decided to work more closely together to tackle the modified block diagram with all modules and sub-modules as well as the complete engineering requirements.
Week 5 (05/30 – 06/05):
This week the proposal was resubmitted for evaluation. All of the groups met with the professor on Monday in a zoom session to discuss expectations, weekly updates, modifications, and to clarify any questions or concerns the students had regarding the proposal process. Furthermore, professor Notash gave feedback on each group’s website and suggested some modifications to be made as well as provided resources as examples. After the meeting Douglas and Matthew met to discuss improvements that needed to be made to the proposal after hearing professor Notash’s feedback. The group came up with a plan to revise each of the sections of the proposal that needed to be addressed. After this, the group scheduled a meeting through email with professor Notash. The meeting took place on Wednesday via canvas chat at approximately noon. During this chat the group voiced additional questions that related more directly to the group. The professor provided answers and resources such as those pertaining to developing a power budget and EDA tools the group could use. After the meeting, Douglas revised the meeting minutes as well as the engineering requirements. Matthew wrote the weekly update, updated the website, and put together the revised proposal resubmission. The timeline, budget, work schedule, and description are currently being revised for the revised submission as well. The group has put in many hours to ensure success, however, there is still much to do.
Week 6 (06/06 – 06/12):
A continuation of the work being done last week was the theme of this week. The team finalized the timeline, budget, work schedule, website, and many of the other aspects of the project documentation and expectations. The team has migrated all files to Google drive so that they can be worked on as a live document and imported directly to the website. The team has put together a power budget for the system under suggestion from professor Notash. The team has also sourced many if not all of the parts and materials needed for the project. Trips to various hardware stores and electronics and robotics component stores have been made to compare products and prices. The beginnings of the framework of the system and housing unit has begun construction. Every tab of the website has been updated and finalized given feedback from peers and professor Notash alike. By the end of day on Friday, June 12th, the website will be done and ready for a soft submission. The team is paying close attention to the tentative work schedule in order to stay on track if not ahead as we approach the final weeks of the proposal process.
Week 7 (06/13 – 06/19):
This week started off with a short 30-minute meeting with professor Notash to quickly review our website, report, and the progress we were making. The professor provided us with feedback which we took into account as we finalized the website and submitted it to Dr. Ejaz. Some specific changes that were made included fixing the formatting of the report, expanding upon our progress log with specific information and diagrams, and making the website easier to navigate. The group scheduled a follow up meeting with the professor on Thursday in order to voice some questions and concerns. Throughout the week, the group focused on the report as the chief priority among tasks. Chapter 1 and chapter 2 of the report, along with the sections before it, have been the focus of our efforts. Chapter 3 and 4 are also being populated as we progress. This week the group also reviewed and finalized the components found in our research for purchase.
Week 8 (06/20 – 06/26):
The focus of this week shifted to further research and incorporate the auxiliary weather station into our design as per professor Notash’s recommendation. The continuation of the research into the components and their effect on the existing design transferred from the weekend through the first half of the week. Starting Wednesday, the team worked on reworking the existing power budget, monetary budget, engineering requirements table, description, abstract, and system block diagram to reflect the addition of the external weather monitoring device. Drafts of the device are also being worked on to further show and elaborate on our thinking to our peers, committee members, advisors, and to the public when finalizing the design. Continual work on updating the website with all the new information, research, and progress that we have made is being done. The report is being kept in mind as well as we update all of the former sections. Furthermore, the team has reached out to peers and professor Notash on the best methods regarding reformatting our report.
After revising all parts of the proposal to reflect the changes made by incorporating the weather station into the design, the group focused on hammering down any further revisions after Monday’s meeting with professor Notash before focusing on the report. The report was the main focus of this week’s efforts as the professor requested an update by Monday. Additionally, the group promised to keep professor Notash updated on any additions being made and if we run into any more roadblocks. The professor emphasized the importance of the report as we are down to the final days now to complete it. The group is aiming to finish the report over the weekend that way on Monday, professor Notash can provide feedback and we have the remaining week to make the necessary revisions for our final submission.
Week 9 (06/27 – 07/03):
Week 10 (07/04 – 07/10):
The group focused most of their efforts this week almost solely on the report and all of the involved documentation and formatting that goes into the report. The team worked diligently and with great effort to have the soft copy of the report completed in order to provide Professor Notash with the best reflection of what the finalized hard copy of the report would look like. This was done in order to give the most perspective into our thoughts on the report and maximize the feedback we could receive from professor Notash. With the most feedback, the team could put the bulk of their efforts into making the suggested revisions to a nearly finalized report instead of worrying about finishing a half-way done soft copy of the report before the due date. A meeting was called on July 8th with the professor via canvas chat. It was at this moment the professor suggested several revisions and additions be made to the report. The next day, professor Notash extended the due date to July 12th at 2 P.M. This decision was made to allow for the professor to provide feedback to the students over the weekend and suggest any final modifications. Lastly, an e-mail was sent out to the groups to allow them to select a preference for their day of presentation (Thursday or Friday, July 16 & 17).