What did you personally accomplish this week on the project? Give files or photos that demonstrate your progress. Prove to the reader that you put sufficient effort into the project over the course of the week (12+ hours).
I’ve done a lot. I’ve completed most of the physical design of the suit in the past two weeks. This included a lot of sewing of the motor system velcro pieces into the front part of the vest. Frankly, this took way too long as the sewing machine didn’t always work. But it was something that had to be done and was a good filler while I waited for the rest of the PCBs to arrive. Once the PCBs arrived, I used solder paste and assembled 16 more sets to be used in the vest and as backups with some help from Amelia and Bethel. Then I went ahead and wired the 8 motor systems for the front of the vest and wired the lights into the vest. Then I fixed some motor functions to update them to some wiring changes I made.
Throughout this process, I continually tested each step to ensure that an issue on one motor system didn’t propagate to the whole vest. When learning how to use solder paste, I finished one PCB and tested it to ensure I did it correctly. After soldering all the PCBs I tested each and removed the ones that didn’t work for debugging later. Finally, I tested the motor functions before putting any motors into the vest. These steps of validation helped me remove any uncertainties and harder debugging later in the process.
Figure 1: All the PCBs soldered and sewed into their rubber mounting plates
Figure 2: Example of the inside of the vest
Is your progress on schedule or behind? If you are behind, what actions will be taken to catch up to the project schedule?
I think we can get our project done. I’m a bit behind schedule as I need to add the velcro for the motor system holders to the back of the vest. I didn’t do it before now because 1) I wanted to get at least the front of the vest working so we could test integration and 2) I have come to hate the time sink that swing is for this project.
What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?
I will help Amelia debug why the lights don’t work in the vest. I will sew all the motor systems into the back of the vest. I will update the motor algorithms to handle the new motors in the back.