One change that has an associated cost is the memory usage of the dataset file. Stephen created a YML file with feature vectors representing 27 component images that had a size of 1.4 MB. Our ideal dataset size would comprise 54 component images, which would correspond to a YML file size of ~3 MB. This is bigger than our previously anticipated 500 KB size for 50 component images, but because our maximum application size is set as 100 MB, we don’t expect this 2.5 MB difference to be a problem. In addition, there were some changes regarding how the user will input the component values. When showing progress there were concerns of the UI and it being tailored to a younger audience. Now rather than the user clicking on components to input values, they are presented with text of each component name to click on to input values. We expect this will be more user friendly and will cause less confusion.
We also worked a bit on integrating the computer vision and circuit simulator components of our project. Our circuit simulator is now directly able to simulate a circuit from an image generated by the computer vision algorithm. We are still unable to get the computer vision library to build for XCode though, which may mean we will have to use the Intel Mac lab.
Overall we are more behind schedule than we would like, but hope to make this up over next week’s break. Our goal is to have the full integration complete by the time we come back from break, which gives us time to work on final documentation during the first week back.
We have all developed lots of skills that we did not previously have by working on our application. Stephen had never used computer vision before, Jaden had never coded an iOS app before, and Devan had limited c++ experience. By working on this project, we were able to develop our skills and become better engineers. From a logistical standpoint, we have learned to work well together by giving each other status updates often to mark our progress and make sure we are relatively on track. This also allows us to pass ideas between each other even though our work is very compartmentalized. Planning the gantt chart also helped a lot because we are able to manage our time better and not spend too much time thinking about what to do next after completing a task.