This week we got the code for YOLO to sucessfully run through, and we were able to start training. This is a great development for us, as we had been working to decipher the file structure to get the code to run for a couple of weeks. It trained very slowly though, since it was running on CPU, with 1 epoch taking almost 30 minutes. We will use the GPU on the ECE machines to run the code. Vasudha and I met with Prof. Mukherjee on 3/2 to get FastX set up to be able to do that. If that does not work, I will be using my leftover GCP credits to train. We are on track in terms of the software, and the next step after break is to start mass training, getting in as many epochs as we can with whatever GPU limits we have.
We further improved on the mechanical design of our structure, discussing with the professor and TA about a wooden frame that would encase the bin. As we wrote the design document, we decided that we will have 2 designs, one of which is backup. If the wooden frame design is too hard to woodwork, we will have the lid be overhanging the rest of the structure, which serves as handles on the side. We spent most of the week working on the design document. We are slightly behind in the mechanical aspect. Hopefully our materials that we ordered will arrive by the time we’re back from break, and we’ll start construction when the team is back from break. New tools needed for us is using the GPU on ECE machines, and learning how to run our python jupyter notebook on it.