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Seaver Dahlgren’s Status Report for 03/11/2023

What did you personally accomplish this week on the project?

This week I created a new GitHub Repository for our web app. I created the beginnings of the framework using a Django Python framework. I also added HTML pages to represent a couple of our pages that are required for the app. I created one opening web page that enables the user to say exactly how many players will be playing on the course. The user will also have a text box where they can identify both the name of the person playing and which set of clubs and which ball each person will be using. The second page I created represents the stats page. There will be a stats page for each individual playing. The stats page will have each of the corresponding golf stats for individual players. Additionally, I drew up designs for our actual putting green. We will be using a wood frame and plywood to support the course. Additionally, we will also have a green felt grass for the ball to roll on.

Lastly, I also wrote up a large portion of the design doc. After I presented last week, it was easy to translate into the document.

Is your progress on schedule or behind?

We are currently on schedule. The team has been able to test the RFID sensor and we were able to get our initial designs approved. We submitted our final design proposal, so that is on track. With the web app currently in development we are on pace to have a working prototype before we begin integrating with the hardware side. We only need to test a couple of other sensors before we can do this. We also put in a large order for screwable balls this week, so we can actually begin rolling the balls. We also registered for additional space so we can store our actual putting green. I think we will get this extra space in the coming week. We have also received our IMU so we will begin testing that this week.

What steps will be taken to catch up to the project schedule? What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?

I want to test the IMU this week. I also want to test the pressure sensors. Personally, I will be focusing on finishing up an MVP model for the Web App this week. I want the user to be able to input all of their names. Additionally, I want it to be ready to display all of the stats. Lastly, it is also essential that I figure out how to integrate the web app framework with the SQLite database. I want to be able to easily store and display data so that it is most easy to understand. I am considering adding graphs to the golf stats part of the web APP.

 

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Team Status Report for 2/25/23

What are the most significant risks that could jeopardize the success of the project? How are these risks being managed? What contingency plans are ready?

We think that the most significant risk is the reliability of the IMU. There was only one real option that we could find for the IMU and it is designed for ML robotics. Our IMU has to meet a few requirements: 1. It has to be able to fit inside of the ball 2. It has to have Bluetooth integration 3. It needs to have a decent resolution for the orientation. Because of all of these requirements, we are highly restricted in the number of chips we can use.

As a worst-case scenario, we believe we can use multiple accelerometers to measure ball and club acceleration. It will not be nearly as accurate, though, when it comes to pitch and angle.

So far the IMU we have selected seems to fit most of these requirements. It is onboard a small MCU that has a built in BLE unit. The MCU does meet our size requirement and is small enough to fit inside the ball. An Arduino-like IDE also comes with the MCU which should make development easier and quicker as opposed to finding a library for a separate IMU chip itself.

Were any changes made to the existing design of the system (requirements, block diagram, system spec, etc)? Why was this change necessary, what costs does the change incur, and how will these costs be mitigated going forward? Provide an updated schedule if changes have occurred.

We finalized our design for the whole system. Here is our current diagram:

We also decided to re-scope how the overall course will look:

We changed it so there is only one starting point for the ball. This is because we thought it would be too difficult to identify a ball and use lidar in all directions. This is an acceptable compromise though because, on a real mini-golf course, golfers start from the same point each time.

Enumerate how you have adjusted your team work assignments to fill in gaps related to either new design challenges or team shortfalls (e.g. a team member missing a deadline)

1.) We have added a section to our schedule to allow for build and design time for the hole itself. With the addition of various sensors that will need to live under the course (RFID sensor and pressure sensor) we realized that the hole itself will need to be raised. This is also due to the hole itself needing to have depth. Seaver and CJ will lead the designing and build phase of this where Erik will shift to testing more of the components individually.

2.) With the raised concerns over the IMU Erik and CJ rather than just CJ will be working on the IMU data processing software for both the putter and the ball. For now, CJ will be working on the ball while Erik will be working on the putter, however, since both IMUs use the same IDE and configuration there is likely to be overlap in development here.

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Seaver Dahlgren’s Status Report for 2/25/23

What did you personally accomplish this week on the project?

This week I started by finalizing our initial designs for the webapp. I also researched possible Frameworks to use. It seems like my top choices are react.js and Django. I think react.js is more thorough, but Django might be easier since I am more familiar with Python. I also updated our slide deck for the design presentation and practiced with my teammates and a couple of extra people. I completed the presentation on Wednesday. At the end of the week, I also received the order for the RFID sensor, so I can begin running tests on that.

Is your progress on schedule or behind?

We are currently on schedule. We finalized our design for the critical parts of our project and were given good feedback from our peers and advisor. One component we still need to flesh out a bit is how we will test the accuracy of some of the ball metrics. Specifically, how will we know the “correct” spin and angle of the ball? Our current solution is to video tape the ball. This may be a bit painstaking since we will have to videotape a lot, so it might be worth brainstorming more solutions.

What steps will be taken to catch up to the project schedule? What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?

We will begin preliminary testing of the RFID sensor and the pressure sensor that we just received. I want to get an MVP of what the webapp will look like. Additionally, I think we should start designing some of the physical components for the course. We should order the ground material as well as the design for the hole. Lastly, we need to purchase the ball that we can prototype with.

 

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Seaver’s Status Report for 2/18/23

What did you personally accomplish this week on the project?

We did research on several of the weight sensors that we will be using for the putter hole part of our project. In addition, I also researched a couple of the RFID scanners and RFID tags and identified a few that could be ideal for our project. After collecting all of this info, I selected the best one that we would purchase. I then placed orders on the chosen RFID tags, RFID sensor, pressure sensor, and IMU chip that we will use in our project.

Is your progress on schedule or behind?

We are currently on schedule. We identified that we can use CMUs LiDar sensors to identify an orange-sized ball. Thus, we now have a confirmed way for finding the location of the ball at all times. In addition, we also purchased the sensors we wanted for the bulk of the project. The most concerning is. the IMU because it will be inside of the “golf ball” and have to withstand strong hits. Therefore, we will need to measure how effective the IMU is in measuring orientation and spin,

If you are behind, what actions will be taken to catch up to the project schedule? What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?

We will need to start working on the current software implementation for the web app while we wait for the other sensors to arrive. In addition, we need to work on finding out how we are going to build the ball. The plastic ball can be bought, but we need to make sure we can the right size. Lastly, we should identify a mechanism to hold the LiDar sensor so that it can see the right height of the ball.

 

 

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Seaver Dahlgren’s Status Report for 2/11/2023

This week I primarily worked on the slides for our first presentation and pitch for our project. I read over our slides and added suggestions and ideas to them. The slides can be found attached. After our presentation this week, I also communicated a bit with Professor Kim about how we may need to restructure our approach for our project. Specifically, he identified that the IMU sensor might not accurately detect ball movements precisely enough to calculate distance and acceleration.

We are perhaps a bit behind our original schedule as we need to ensure that our ideas now correspond to the design and scope suggested by Professor Kim. However, since he is proposing that we scale back our project, I think that this may alleviate some of the time it will take to pivot to this new design.

As we ramp up this week, Erik and I will meet with CJ to identify which of the sensors he has ordered and which ones we still need to purchase. Then, we will also solidify our ideas about our new restructured design with Professor Kim, to confirm we are on the same page. Once this is given the green light, we can move to design some of the software that may be needed for our web app. Additionally, we can identify the physical parts we own/need for the golf ball, club, and course itself as these will be key to our demo.