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Team Status Report for 9/23

What are the most significant risks that could jeopardize the success of the project? How are these risks being managed? What contingency plans are ready?

The most significant risks to the success of our project will be integrating all of the components and ensuring that they can communicate over wifi. The most integral component of our project is the user being able to connect to the braille printer with their phone, so it is important that we ensure the communication between each component runs smoothly. We are thinking about managing the risks of communication between components and communication on wifi by possibly  using a WIFI sd card and sending the g-code instructions wireless through this way. We are also considering using a wifi adapter for ramps boards. If this doesn’t work we may consider having the user plug their phone into the braille embosser. 

Another risk is the power management of the solenoids and ensuring that they don’t generate too current. We are managing this risk by including flyback diodes for each solenoid and separating the control of the solenoids (arduino) from the power source of the solenoids.

Were any changes made to the existing design of the system (requirements, block diagram, system spec, etc)? Why was this change necessary, what costs does the change incur, and how will these costs be mitigated going forward?Provide an updated schedule if changes have occurred.

During the design proposal, we presented a 6 solenoid system. After doing more research on the solenoid mechanism and the mechanism of our braille printer, we decided that a 3 solenoid system would work better under the constraints without compromising timing requirements. This however, does not alter the design and will lower the cost. It also will not impact the schedule.

 

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Becky’s Weekly Status Report for 9/23

What did you personally accomplish this week on the project?

This week I met up with Alycia to get feedback on the design direction we should be going in for the Braille embosser. I asked her about how she can distinguish between different sides on a box, because we will need to be able to load paper in a specific direction on the printer. She mentioned different way of adding tactile information like adding an arrow to where the embosser needs paper inserted.

She also gave us the opportunity to use her different accessibility tools on her iPhone, and I have to say I’m pretty impressed with how easy it is for her to navigate around on her iPhone with her braille input device. She was able to navigate around Wikipedia and search up information about Beyonce no problem. She also showed how certain menu displays are not accessible to her, and aired some grievances about the Dunkin Donuts app and their inaccessible app.

I learned so much from Alycia this week, and I think her involvement in the project will steer us towards making a project that is actually useful to blind users. She took the time to show us the different tools she uses in her day-to-day life and that gave us some ideas on things we can integrate into the software side of the project. Specifically, she showed us these glasses she uses to read text, and detect scenes, which integrate already into her phone and could be a cool tool to integrate into our project because she could take a box with instructions, look at it with her glasses, and then take the text output from the glasses, and convert it into braille. Here’s a pic of me trying these glasses on at Panera Bread this week.

Me wearing the glasses that read text and detect scenes.

I started exploring how the gantry system was actually going to get constructed, and realized very quickly that designing our own system from scratch would be really expensive in terms of time, effort, and money to create, and that it would be a better use of time to buy a x/y system that was already built. I ended up finding a 3D printer for 135$ on Amazon that would have all of the mechanical parts we would need to print braille, and most of the electronics already included. When I looked into 2D plotters they were more expensive, and also may not be the best choice because we want to be able to control the amount of tension we have between the paper and the embosser.

I think using the 3D printer kit would come with many advantages including:

  • X/Y mechanical movement already figured out (saves time & $$$ on prototyping)
  • Electronics have JST connectors we can plug into our control board for easy wiring
  • We can control the Z-height of the embosser, which will be good for finding optimal tension between the paper and the embosser. It also gives us a lot of flexibility when designing the embosser
  • Parts already integrate into the RAMPS based control system we plan on using.

Like any other decision, using this kit will have its’ drawbacks.

  • The z-height is much taller than we need it to be. We can cut this piece, but that will require us to disassemble and reassemble the x/z gantry
  • We will need to figure out a way to make it easy to register the paper (consistently place the paper in the exact same location)  in a way that is accessible to our user. I think we can accomplish this by creating a easy to use slot based system.
  • We will need to modify the slot where the extruder goes to fit the solenoid.

If we were to source our own parts, it would be so much more expensive to build, to the point where it wasn’t worth finishing the spreadsheet.

DIY assembly Cost Quan Total Link
Nema 17 motors 8.99 3 26.97
Linear slide + mount 37.99 3 113.97
limit switches
tensioner
t slot
Nuts & screws
T-Slot Brackets
ETC
ALT TOTAL 140.94

Using the 3D printer kit will take some work to modify. We will need to do the following to create a system that meets our requirements:

  • Creating a mount for the embossing solenoid to go on the X/Z gantry
  • Making an accessible registration system
  • Creating an enclosure for the 3D printer so it is safer to use
  • Integrate the electronics to the ramps board
  • Figure out how to control the solenoids on the ramps board
  • Figure out how to communicate with the software portion of the project

I started exploring how we will control the system as a whole, and there is a way to control the 3D printer using G-Code on the RAMPS board. We will be able to modify the firmware to meet our hardware needs, as they have a way to add solenoids. I think we will be able to also add a setting to keep the embosser head at a specific height, depending on the tension that works best for printing.

I also started exploring how to communicate with the RAMPS board over Wi-Fi, and there is this software called Octo-Print that runs on a raspberry pi can control a 3D printer. I will need to do more research to see how we can integrate it into our software system, but it is a good sign that this exists.

Is your progress on schedule or behind? 

I feel like I’m making good progress on the project, and I think this week we can actually make some tangible progress if we can get the 3D printer ordered this week.

What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?

  • Order the 3D printer kit, and RAMPS Controller
  • Put in a request for a raspberry pi
  • Come up with a specific plan to communicate with the 3D printer over wifi
  • Design PCB’s that make connecting the limit switches, solenoids, and any other auxiliary hardware easy to plug into the ramps board.
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Zeynep’s Weekly Status Report for 9/23

What did you personally accomplish this week on the project? Give files orphotos that demonstrate your progress. Prove to the reader that you put sufficient effort into the project over the course of the week (12+ hours).

This week, I began researching UI considerations for the web-app of our project and began familiarizing myself with JavaScript. I read through the Apple Accessibility Software Kit documentation, which informs developers on how to make design decisions that are compatible with the Apple accessibility features.  I researched design decisions that can be made (ex: color, font choice) that make a site more reasonable to users who are not completely blind. I also tested websites that are popular amongst blind users, such as directionsforme.org and experimented with Apple’s accessibility features to better inform the design of our web-app. Based on this research, I drafted the wireframe for our web-app, outlining its basic functionalities.

digibraille_wireframe

This week, I also had the opportunity to conduct a user interview. I learned about different technologies that blind users already use in their daily lives. This will inform the design of our website as we aim to make it compatible with existing technologies.  Some examples of this being a braille display keyboard that allows her to type and glasses that scan text and convert it to speech. From the user-interview, I also learned about examples of bad design and apps that were not compatible with accessibility softwares. I conducted a user interview and received feedback on the usability of the web-app’s interface based on the wireframe I designed.

I also researched existing braille embossers and their mechanisms to better inform the design of my team’s solenoid system. This includes looking into different embossing mechanisms and different types of solenoids. Some design questions I considered include: how many solenoids should our system use, what does the x-y motion look like, and which solenoids provide enough force to emboss the page. I also researched into fly-back voltage considerations when using solenoid systems, and began modeling/drafting the circuit diagram and calculating which solenoids will satisfy the considerations of the embosser.

Is your progress on schedule or behind? If you are behind, what actions will be taken to catch up to the project schedule?

My progress is currently on schedule with the Gantt chart.

What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?

In the next week, I will incorporate the user’s feedback into the wireframe of our web-app, complete the user-flow, and  begin designing the mock-up of the site. I will complete modeling the solenoid system and create a full schematic diagram.