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Vasudha’s Status Report for 02/18/23

This week, I mainly focused on the hardware and mechanics side of the design of our project. Specifically, I fine tuned our trapdoor design, planning out specific measurements for the bins, lid, trapdoor/platform door, camera-jetson frame, etc. I went through multiple iterations of the trapdoor design, some as seen below:

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1vTtQRCfDoRzRX9KN5lw0bdCIRwlpby7mf9q2U1XyG2s/edit?usp=sharing 

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/113cMvrOCkN0lnGb3p7Mp-p-1ntxNbYKT5Z-GDhDywOc/edit 

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1SFQX2WVGmJm90RJwDvzh1R_OuZj7p4rXcLf2yBIn_wA/edit?usp=sharing 

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1Q1V-tIaLU_egyhBnFnMCREbfhr12IFpmU5ED0h5apkc/edit?usp=sharing 

The first design above was the design as of last week, involving an actuator controlling a single lid for recycling. After some research and suggestions from the TA, we decided to switch to a swinging platform controlled by a servo. One servo will be connected to the swing door, controlling the degree of turn towards each bin. Then, on each side of the platform door, a servo will be attached to the lid frame and act as a sort of lock to support the platform to make sure it cannot be forced into the wrong direction. This setup will then allow us to go back to our initial idea of having a bin self-separate incorrect recyclables instead of the user having to wait and remove their waste from the platform if not recyclable. Designs 3 and 4 provide specific measurements and perspectives for the initial swing door design. Side by side, I developed a list of materials needed based on the design changes, and looked up different material types and sizes based on the needed measurements. If only a certain measurement was available (ex. Recycling bins only came in certain sizes), I scaled up/down the other parts of the design to account for this. Updated list of materials here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g7h4UxZviUhH3USrjvgQkKy8eIstabp8K-l7TRypfCo/edit?usp=sharing 

I worked on the arduino circuit design for all the hardware components – neopixels, servos, piezo speaker, and proximity sensors. I used tinkercad to create the design and programmed the simulation with the basic control flow of the circuit based on the output that will be sent to the Arduino from the Jetson. Link to design + simulation code: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/lqaXO4oCuXd?sharecode=SEZayoRTbx7Bb38PGnaV4sheBsci4fS94ztYQ4ntChs 

Lastly, I worked on the design presentation, creating schematics and updating the HW side of the design.

Diagrams worked on: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15j3AFNqRnFr1QK4KOhniSD_vvZ2-SMlD/view?usp=sharing 

While progress so far has been on schedule, with a solid mechanical and circuit hardware design completed, there might be a slight setback due to the fact that not all the materials have been ordered yet. Since our schedule originally had us start assembling the hardware next week, this might be difficult to begin until all parts have arrived. 

Therefore, next week I will work on finalizing design (ex. working out specifics regarding cutting the acrylic for assembly, where to screw parts in, adding more details to the circuit simulation etc.), the report, and help out more on the software side (ex. debugging the training model) until the parts arrive to still make progress and be prepared for when the parts actually arrive. 

Some of the ECE courses that covered engineering, science, and mathematics principles I used for the design include 18-100 and 18-220 for the arduino circuit design. In addition to this I used simple geometry/math topics, and my team used concepts from ML and Programming courses to work on the software side of the design (ie. training model, arduino programming).

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Team Status Report for 02/11/23

One significant risk that could jeopardize our project is the trapdoor not working. Specifically, since our group is not very experienced with mechanical hardware, including this component in our project is a risk. If the door does not work, then there is no way to prevent people from putting the wrong waste into the bin, even if our model classifies the trash correctly. Therefore, to mitigate this risk, we have started researching this mechanical portion from the very introduction of this idea, and have simplified it as much as possible. While initially we were planning on using a conveyor belt and pushing the waste into the “correct” bin, we ultimately decided to reduce this plan to a simple downwards opening trap door to limit the number of mechanical components required. Additionally, this risk is being managed by our team members searching up videos to see real working examples of the trapdoor, looking up and comparing the necessary and possible components that could work to operate the door, and looking for swing lid garbage cans as a contingency plan that would eliminate the need for us to build the actual trapdoor but just to add extra components (lock that would prevent the lid from opening) to have the mechanism work as desired. 

Compared to our proposal presentation, some design changes we made include figuring out a more detailed design for the trapdoor (ie. adding an actuator and using the servo as a supporting lock), deciding to use a neopixel rather than 2 separate color LEDs to avoid confusion, and adding an ultrasonic sensor to know when the bin is full. These changes were made based on our research in attempting to fine tune our design, as well as based off of some of the questions/comments asked by peers during the presentation. 

Schedule wise, we are on track. This next week we will need to continue fine tuning our design (hardware and software wise), defining specific parts that we need and having better, quantifiable plans/goals going forward. We could be further in setting up the ML model training,

Our project includes considerations for the education, safety, and cleanliness of the students that will be using Dr. Green recycling bin. Students are learning recycling rules in their local area, the bin will be safe for students and be made of a safe plastic material, with a slow open/close speed. Cleanliness is a component that we are still working on, but the material will be easily cleanable. 

 

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Vasudha Srinivasan’s Status Report for 02/11/23

During the start of this week, I mainly focused on our team’s proposal presentation, finishing up slides and practicing its delivery. Specifically, I worked on setting up an appropriate theme, format, and visuals for the slides, defining the problem, technical challenges, and testing plan, and adding any missing content to the remaining parts. I then looked over all the information that we had researched, our updated design plan, and any quantifiable values to be as prepared for possible questions that could come up during the presentation. I ran through the presentation multiple times (alone and later in front of others for feedback), making sure that I was covering all the important details while still maintaining the time limit.

After presenting on Monday, I worked on finding ways to incorporate the feedback/comments/questions that came up during the presentation and researched more in terms of our materials to better define our device design, specifically focusing on the mechanical/hardware implementation, as that is the area we are most unconfident about at the moment.  In terms of the visual LED cue that we had originally planned, I thought it might be easier to go with neopixels, as only one would be needed (as opposed to a separate LED for red and green) to avoid confusion for the user and allow for future indicator capabilities if time permits. Based on feedback given during the presentation, I also looked into proximity/ultrasonic sensors that could be used in order to indicate that the bin is full. Lastly, I tried improving our trapdoor implementation, looking up videos of existing designs and tools that could be used (servos vs actuators vs more powerful motors). 

Here is our current version of the Trap door design

My progress is going according to schedule, and I hope that in the next few days, I can narrow down all of the specific materials needed for ordering and have enough design details for our upcoming report deadline. 

Document of research sources of materials: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12br7eD0iqjRmdWXDqOWgGqm1XdGtU76QQc_jtMEdrBI/edit?usp=sharing