Author: suannc

I finished illustrating the GUI and worked with the rest of my teammates to finish updating and debugging the GUI. As a group we also tested out a projector from the library since it is brighter and provides a better user experience. The brighter projection did not affect our system much so we will not need to retrain data thankfully.

Going forward I will work on the final report, an elevator pitch and a video showing how our project works.

I collected metrics with my teammates this week and also wrote some of the presentation slides. I also worked on gui storyboarding and illustrated most of the pictures that we will use in our new gui.

My goal for the next week is to finish up gui art and help code some of the gui if needed.

I discovered that the tap detection was not sensitive enough while working with my teammates, and assisted with debugging the current system.

My goal for the upcoming week is to add another sensor to the tap circuit for better tap sensitivity. I will also help design the UI to make it more user friendly and colorful.

I discovered several major bugs with my teammates, including extra black screens that happen upon modal closure and really sensitive tap thresholding.

My goal for the next week is to help my teammates figure out tap detection bugs. I will do this by familiarizing myself with PyQt functionality so I can contribute more ideas during debugging sessions.

The Arduino code was tied together this week. The tap subsystem code was tested to see if it worked as expected; the subsystem was able to send user tap data accurately and quickly every time a tap was sensed. However, tap threshold varied greatly depending on the poster board setup. The knock threshold was higher when the poster board was placed in its stand and assembled at full height. The threshold was lower when the same stand setup was only partially assembled and placed on a table like so:

I will work on thresholding in the setting of the final demo for best tap thresholding. I will also help verify our product requirements.

The most significant risk is the error rate in the calibration function. We are currently trying to mitigate this through different approaches like re-adjusting the reference coordinates using a third central coordinate to recalculate the width and height. Additionally the thresholding for tap detection seems pretty arbitrary from the data we collected right now. Testing on final demo site is necessary.

We have added an additional step to the calibration function: detecting a third coordinate at the center of the GUI screen for re-adjustment of error in calibration. To optimally implement this change, we have added a splash screen that it solely meant for calibration. After calibration is complete, the user is directed to the main screen consisting of the six buttons required for our poster. 

No schedule changes have occurred this week.

I discovered that one sensor was enough to record knock information on a board. This was only clear after plotting serial output from the Arduino. This is great because then no extra parts need to be soldered or hooked up.

I got serial communications between the arduino and the laptop to work. The arduino sends data to the Python script in a loop and the computer receives it without a hitch.

My goal for next week is to determine what kind of hard threshold is necessary to bar fake knocks while allowing real knocks to be input into the system. Additionally I need to tie together the arduino code that senses knocks and the code that sends serial information to the Python.

I ordered an SD to install Raspbian on the the Raspberry Pi. I have hunted down soldering irons and soldered extra wire to some sensors so that they are easier to prototype with.

I have created the arduino sensor circuit with one sensor that was able to detect knocks. I have also worked with setting up tap sensing with poster board setup to see how effective the sensors were. It seems for our poster board size we will need at least 6 or 7 sensors to effectively receive taps over the whole area.

I will work on expanding the current prototype to multiple sensors. I will also change the current arduino sensor script to read knocks from multiple inputs. I will look into soldering a multiple circuit setup on a protoboard instead of keeping it on a breadboard. Since the SD card came in I will also start setting up the Raspberry Pi.

This week I spent many hours writing the ethics paper, whose due date got pushed back. Due to assignments in other classes I was not able to work on much else.

I have ordered the SD card needed for installing the Raspberry Pi this week.

For this upcoming week, I plan to prototype using an Arduino since the SD card I ordered has not yet come in. I will additionally work on setting up the camera using a Python script so that it will work with our computers.

One of the major risks is that our webcam might not be compatible with Python. So far we have been testing in our demo environment using our old MATLAB code, but now we will be migrating all our code to Python. This means that we will have to prioritize taking data using a Python interface as a next step. In the case that we are unable to interact with the camera using Python, we will consider purchasing a PiCam. This is well within our budget.

Suann has placed an order for an SD card for the raspberry pi. We need this to read data from our sensor. To make sure that we do not have any delays in putting this system together, Suann will make a behavioral model of this tap sensing system using an Arduino.

Currently, there are no changes to the existing design, nor is there any change in our schedule.