Month: March 2024

This week the team focused on continuing work on the physical hardware of the system as well as finalizing our circuit design for all of our electrical systems that we are hardware hacking.  A final product for the water pump mount was printed in HTPLA and checked to make sure it fits with the gantry system.  Work was also started on the software side of things, with the GitHub repo and initial web app structure being developed. Integration of the scale into the project has begun as well.

Our biggest challenge coming up is ensuring our PCB will have good integration with the off-the-shelf components that we have.  According to our design spec and theoretical testing, it should work fine, but we will have to wait for real-world testing to ensure that.  We are currently waiting for the PCB to arrive so that we can do this.

We are currently on track.

This week, the team traveled to their respective homes to visit with their families over spring break. This status report is intended to be combined with the status report from March 1st. 

While work was limited due to traveling and rest, we focused on preparing our machine for the next step: integration. This included taking measurements and designing the custom frames and mounts for the components that will need to be mounted to the frame of the 3-D printer.

 

Part A: Written by Corrado Govea

The outcome of our project has users who are not tech-savvy in mind. While being a complicated system to produce the best quality coffee possible, we aim for anyone to be able to actuate the machine without having any prior experience with computer systems. An example of this would be our design requirement to have 5 loaded presets that users can easily actuate without having to program much. By having this goal in mind, we are greatly increasing the size of our user group and ensuring that we’ve removed one of the biggest barriers of entry to lots of “tech-centered” solutions nowadays. It is very unfortunate that lots of these great products are completely inaccessible to non-tech-savvy people, so we are ensuring that this will not be the case with our project.

Part B: Written by Elijah Knupp

When we first began considering creating a machine that would deliver delicious and convenient pour-over coffee, we were really only focused on creating the machine for individuals who did not have the time or desire to learn a new, detail-oriented brewing option. However, as we spoke to others and read several Reddit posts, we realized that this machine could also potentially benefit those who struggle with fine motor controls.  Per the Reddit posts, the individuals who struggled with this spoke about how difficult (or impossible) it was for them to pour boiling water over coffee grounds in a controlled manner for extended periods (a task required for pour-over coffee).  When they asked for suggestions on how to overcome this, most of the replies suggested that they find a new brewing method. However, we did not care for this answer. We fully believe that our pour-over coffee machine will solve many of the issues that these individuals are facing, even though there may be a cultural belief that they should “find a different brewing method.” We believe that this pattern of thinking  (“let’s figure out a way” and not “try something else”) could increase the connectivity between different groups of people and bring joy to those formally excluded in some cultural activities.

Part C: Written by Rio Pacheco

Due to the wasteful nature of pod-based machines, we aim to provide similar ease of use without the need to buy coffee pods. The user will only need to use materials already used for pour-over coffee, which are paper filters and brewing devices.  Paper filters are compostable and the brewing devices are reusable, thus making pour-over a much more sustainable option compared to pod-based coffee machines.  Also, by giving people the ability to use any ground coffee they have, they can support local cafes and buy sustainably sourced coffee rather than being forced to purchase coffee in pods that were likely sourced from underpaid workers. Overall, our solution gives people a more sustainable and eco-friendly option to brewing coffee without compromising on ease of use.

… with consideration of environmental factors. Environmental factors are concerned with the environment as it relates to living organisms and natural resources.

Schedule is currently on track.

This week, the team focused on finalizing the design report document (attached to this post). This also drove us to polish some of our designs and plans for the next few weeks.

A byproduct of this work is that we finalized our testing strategy by writing down a step-by-step spec for each test that we plan to conduct.

Additionally, we received the majority of our project’s order for parts, and we started assembling/inspecting internals for some parts. This includes the 3D printer gantry (which is being assembled), the water kettle (which we took apart in order to modify the circuit for custom controls), the water pump (which we tested with a DC power supply), and others. We noted that varying the amount of current supplied to the pump proportionately affected the flow rate. We will have to do further testing to determine exact relation between the two.

The biggest challenge possibly coming up is with integration of off-the-shelf components. From what we’ve looked at so far, there are no major indicators that anything wouldn’t work, but we will not be sure of this until we’ve reached full system integration. To mitigate this risk, we plan on doing as much assembly work as possible this coming week such that, if anything doesn’t work, we can order replacements.

Schedule is currently on track.

Design report: Team_A1_Knupp_Govea_Pacheco_proposal