This past week, I worked on finishing up the slides for the design presentation, adding last minute information regarding the hardware and mechanical design that I had been working on and helped Ting practice (since she was the speaker for this phase). After this, I updated our materials list with specifics needed after some design changes (ex. neo-pixel strip instead of singular pixel, dowel structure, etc.). I also took time this week to look into the design report, taking the presentation feedback into consideration to better define the design and update the diagrams accordingly. I looked into fine tuning the swing door design support of the swing door after realizing our last plan had the door being held up and controlled solely by a single servo. After looking into potential axle setups and talking to our TA about how we could implement this, we decided to go with a dowel supporting the ends of the door, with other designs in mind in case this support is not enough (ex. gluing an axel to the bottom of the door and having it lie on a loop connected to each side of the main frame, getting a new lid material that is thicker so that we can drill further into it, etc.). I updated the circuit simulation to reflect the hardware component changes. Additionally, I tried planning out a more detailed schematic regarding mechanical building by drawing out where connections with the hardware would need to be made, and then looking up possible implementations (screw placement, frame dimensions, placement, etc.).
As mentioned last week, my progress is now slightly behind on the hw/mechanical side due to the fact that our materials order was placed quite late. However, to account for this, I spent more time on simulating, improving our current design, and the design report to save future time and be more prepared for when the parts actually arrive. With these proactive actions, hopefully the time spent for building will be reduced so that we can still stay on track.
In regards to actions for the next week, since our team has been struggling on the software side, I plan to help debug the model set up so that progress can be made while waiting for materials to arrive. Additionally, I plan to finish off the report early on in the week so that more time can be spent on the technical end before Spring Break.