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Team Status Report for 9/20

Overall Progress

  • Created and presented our Project Proposal Presentation.
  • Researched more about hardware and software components 
  • Drafted a general layout of our project

Risks & Management 

We received a question during our proposal presentation asking what happens when the user is out of range. We have decided on the following steps:

  1.  The cart detects when the user is out of range → We decided that the maximum range the user can be away from the cart before it goes into a safety stop is 6 feet, but the cart should try to maintain a distance of 2 feet from the user. 
  2. If the user is outside of the six-foot range, the cart stops → User receives a phone notification that they left their cart behind and to return to within 6 feet of the cart
  3. To reinitialize the cart, the user must return to the six-foot range.

In addition to the cart having a safety stop when out of range, the mobile app will also have an option to manually stop the cart and manually resume the cart when the user is back within the six-foot range. This allows users to pause the cart while entering crowded areas where it might not be able to navigate, and resume cart operation upon exiting the crowded area. 

Another question we received is whether the cart’s route is mapped to a pre-determined grocery store layout:

  • We designed the cart to follow the user, so the route is not based on a predetermined grocery store layout. Ideally, the user should be able to use this cart in any grocery store.

Design Changes & Justification

  • We added new features to the mobile app based on questions from the proposal (explained above). This helps catch edge cases where there might be unexpected behaviour from the users and ensures safety for users and bystanders, and should not add any additional costs to the project.
  • Other than that, no major design changes were made to the system.
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Audrey’s Status Report for 9/20

I worked on selecting the microcontrollers that will control the motors and host the software side of the project, including the web app and LiDAR mapping. During this research, I gained a deeper understanding of the various specifications and performance capabilities that microcontrollers are designed to handle. I ensured that the microcontrollers I selected would meet the sensor and computational requirements of the project. I decided on using the Teensy 4.1 for the low-level motors and encoders, since it supports real-time feedback and low latency. I also decided on the Raspberry Pi 4 for the more computationally expensive and less time-critical tasks, such as the LiDAR mapping, obstacle detection algorithms, and web app.

According to the Gantt Chart, I am still on track to meet the fully fleshed-out hardware aspect of the design report in roughly two weeks.

Next week, I hope to pick out the specific sensors, such as the motors + wheel diameter, LiDAR sensor, etc. I will look at multiple industry standard options, weighing things like compatibility, cost, and torque, to determine which ones best meet the requirements of this project.