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Team Status Report for 4/27

Risk Identification and Mitigation Strategies
Primary Risk Concern: Our primary concern is the OCR integration on time. This module of the project was just finished this week. Yuma still needs to integrate it into the code, taking more time.

Mitigation Measures:
Yuma will be solely focused on finishing the final integration. Siyuan and Jason will work on the final documentation, including final reports, final video, and final poster.

Project Design Updates
As of the current reporting period, there have been no modifications to the initial design of the project.

Schedule and Timeline
We are a little lagging behind the schedule. However, since we only have final integration unfinished, we should have everything done by demo day.

List all unit tests and overall system test carried out for experimentation of the system. List any findings and design changes made from your analysis of test results and other data obtained from the experimentation.

Tests:

temperature and humidity sensor test

recomandation algorithm test

item registration test

scalling and system reliability test

usability test

scanning test

display test

Findings & Design Changes:

The design of our overall system did not have much changes. However, in the test of scanning items, we have some findings regarding OCR. We did not expect that there are many formats, sizes, and colors of expiration dates. This makes our model tranning harder than we thought. Also, we find that the choice of camera is really important. Our first camera was cheap and it does not have great image quality. Then, we purchased an expensive one, which do have great image quality but was not designed to focus for something at close distance. In the end, due to limited budget, we have to choose a camera with good image quality and can focus at close distance, but the focusing speed is slow and easily affected by shaky hands. All these reasons combined, make our OCR module does not have a satisfying scanning accuracy.

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Siyuan’s Status Report for 4/27

Accomplishments This Week

This week, I focused on enhancing System Interaction.

I successfully integrated an onscreen keyboard into our system, which now allows for a completely keyboard-free and mouse-free operation. Previously, while users could interact with the system using a touchscreen to replace the mouse, a physical keyboard was still necessary for entering textual information, such as dates. By having the onscreen keyboard, all functionalities can now be managed directly from the touchscreen, simplifying the user interface and reducing hardware requirements.

 

Project Schedule and Progress

I am on schedule, and my progress is still good.

 

Goals for the Next Week

Next week, my work will shift toward final documentation.

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Siyuan’s Status Report for 4/20

Accomplishments This Week

This week, I focused on testing of newly arrived temperature and humidity sensor. The key accomplishments include:

Completion of Temperature and Humidity Sensor Software: I finalized the software development for handling data requests from the temperature and humidity sensors.

Testing Sensor Accuracy: I conducted testing to ensure the accuracy of the temperature and humidity sensors.

Full Hardware Integration: I completed the full hardware integration of two scanner modules, since the third one’s materials are with my teammates. This integration gives one of the final products of the project. For the central module, I have the screen in my hand, but the Raspberry Pi is with my teammates, so I can’t integrate it now.

Contribution to Final Presentation Slides: In addition to the technical developments, I completed almost all of the final presentation slides on my own.

 

Project Schedule and Progress

I am on schedule, and my progress is still good.

 

Goals for the Next Week

Next week, my work will shift toward final documentation and demonstration preparation.

 

Special Question

In the past, I didn’t have much knowledge about Python. In this project, I learned how to use it and how to find libraries for ease of use and strong capabilities. In order to learn it, I read some posts in different forums. When I have some bugs, I search through Stack Overflow to find answers. Although they might not have exactly the same problem, I can still summarize solutions on my own.

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Siyuan’s Status Report for 4/6

Accomplishments This Week

This week, I focused on testing of newly arrived temperature and humidity sensor. The key accomplishments include:

Testing of Temperature and Humidity Sensor: Upon receiving the temperature and humidity sensors, I conducted comprehensive testing to assess their functionality with the Raspberry Pi. These tests were designed to ensure that the sensors operate accurately and reliably under various conditions, providing the data essential for our system’s environmental monitoring capabilities.

Project Schedule and Progress

I am on schedule, and my progress is still good.

 

Goals for the Next Week

Next week, I will complete the development of the software required to manage data requests from the temperature and humidity sensors. With the software development completed, the next step will be to integrate the temperature and humidity sensors into the scanner module.

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Siyuan’s Status Report for 3/30

Accomplishments This Week

This week, I focused on integration of additional sensors to further enhance the capabilities of our inventory management system. The key accomplishments include:

Further Integration of Scanner Module Software: Continued efforts were made to integrate the scanner module software more deeply within our system. This involved refining the interaction between the scanner module and other system components.

Research of New Sensors: I conducted thorough research into temperature sensors, humidity sensors. These components were selected for their potential to provide valuable environmental data, enhancing our inventory management capabilities. Following the research, orders were placed for these parts from DigiKey.

 

Project Schedule and Progress

I am on schedule, and my progress is still good.

 

Goals for the Next Week

Next week, upon the arrival of the temperature sensor and humidity sensor, I will conduct initial tests to verify their functionality and compatibility with the Raspberry Pi and our existing system components. Following successful testing, I will begin the process of integrating these sensors into the scanner module. This involves developing the necessary software.

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Team Status Report for 3/30

Risk Identification and Mitigation Strategies
Primary Risk Concern: Our primary concern currently is the OCR accuracy. Our current camera setting and training dataset are not able to provide enough OCR accuracy.

Mitigation Measures:
We are currently trying to find another camera with autofocus and wider focus range. We have ordered another camera with autofocus and 40mm to infinit focus range. Another mitigation measure could be switching to another dataset to train our OCR model.

Project Design Updates
As of the current reporting period, there have been no modifications to the initial design of the project.

Schedule and Timeline
We are not on track with our timeline. The development for the OCR algorithm detecting expiration dates has been falling behind and we haven’t been able to integrate that portion of the scanner module yet.
The updated Gantt Chart is attached below. We still have one week of slack.

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Siyuan’s Status Report for 3/23

Accomplishments This Week

This week, I focused on the software development aspects of the project. The key accomplishments include:

Scanner Module Software Integration: I successfully carried out further integration of the scanner module software, ensuring that it seamlessly interfaces with other components of our inventory management system.

Development of Photo Capture Function: In collaboration with Jason, we initiated the development of a photo capture function, aiming to capture images for OCR. Despite our efforts, we encountered technical difficulties with setting up the OpenCV environment required for the photo capture function. These challenges have temporarily hindered our progress in implementing this feature but have not impacted our overall project timeline.

 

Project Schedule and Progress

I am on schedule, and my progress is still good.

 

Goals for the Next Week

Next week, the focus will continue to be on the integration of the scanner module software with the broader system. Alongside development, I will try resolving the OpenCV challenges, and I will resume development of the photo capture function, aiming to integrate this feature into our system.

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Siyuan’s Status Report for 3/16

Accomplishments This Week

This week, I focused on the software development aspects of the project. The key accomplishments include:

Modification of API Request for Database Compatibility: I undertook the essential task of modifying the API request functionality to ensure compliance with the data format used in our database. This modification is a vital step towards integrating the barcode scanner module software with our existing data management systems. By aligning the format of the data retrieved from the API with that of our database, we facilitate smoother data integration, storage, and retrieval processes.

Implementing More Features to Barcode Software: A significant development achievement this week was adding more useful information to the API request. Now, the software can get the date and time, and the user can select which item is correct if there are many corresponding items to the barcode.

 

Project Schedule and Progress

I am on schedule, and I have catch up what I missed last week.

 

Goals for the Next Week

Next week, the focus will continue to be on the integration of the scanner module software with the broader system. Alongside development, testing of the newly added features will be conducted to ensure their reliability and effectiveness. Based on the testing results, necessary refinements will be made to enhance the software’s performance and user experience.

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Team Status Report for 3/9

Risk Identification and Mitigation Strategies

Primary Risk Concern: Since our project did not progress much this week, our primary risk concern for this phase of the project is still being able to identify the expiration date correctly given the input image taken by our camera. There are many concerns regarding the accuracy of the data, as even the slightest error could lead to faults. For now, we will still focus on preprocessing mechanisms, as we have not implemented character recognition yet. 

Mitigation Measures: Despite the planned preprocessing procedures we mentioned in the last status report, we still need to consider some things about expiration dates. For the input, we should take into consideration what would be the most common format for expiration dates. Although most USA products are in MM/DD/YYYY format, some products from the Asian food market may have YYYY/MM/DD format. This would imply that software would have to be able to distinguish between them.

Project Design Updates

As of the current reporting period, there have been no modifications to the initial design of the project. 

Schedule and Timeline

We are on track with our timeline. Although we did not expect writing the design review report would take a week, we still have enough time for integration and testing. 

Additional Questions: 

A was written by Yuma Matsuoka, B was written by Jaesup Kim and C was written by Siyuan Li.

Part A

Our project is helping bridge the gap between those who do not have technical knowledge and those who do. In our society, people who have technical knowledge (i.e. students, young people) are able to utilize technologies such as the iPhone, applications, etc to make life easier. For example, those who are young are more likely to use mobile check-in for a flight than those who are old, who are likely to go to the airport early to print out physical passes. Our technology will not discriminate based on technical knowledge, as the entry to operation will be very low. The product will take less than 5 minutes to set up, and will be very intuitive to use. Furthermore, it will be a hard product, hopefully closing the idea gap that apps present. This hopefully will be a step in lowering the implicit accessibility barrier in using technology to simplify our lives.

Part B

Our project helps people from all cultures. Different cultures have different grocery items and foods, and also storage spaces to keep them fresh. Our scanner is able to work on any environment and any storage space, whether it be a fridge or pantry, or a chilled basement. Our product will count for all of those environmental aspects as well as condition of the items. Even products that come from a foreign origin with no barcode will work as you can manually enter the item.

Part C

Our project directly contributes to lessening the environmental impact associated with the disposal of food. Food waste contributes to a significant portion of methane emissions, a potent greenhouse gas, when it decomposes in landfills. By ensuring that families and individuals are reminded of expiration dates, IntelliStorage helps in making sure that groceries are consumed before they spoil, thereby decreasing the volume of food that ends up in landfills. 

Moreover, our project’s efficient management system encourages users to make more conscious purchasing decisions. By having a better overview of what is already stocked at home, users can avoid overbuying, leading to not only less food waste but also a reduction in the carbon footprint associated with the transportation, and packaging of excess groceries.

 

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Siyuan’s Status Report for 3/9

Accomplishments This Week

This week, I focused on both the documentation and development aspects of the project. The key accomplishments include:

Completion of Design Review Report: I have completed writing crucial sections of the Design Review Report, which include the Introduction, Use Case Requirements, and Architecture.

Implementation of Information Extraction Function: A significant development achievement this week was the implementation of the function that extracts useful information from the API request. With this functionality, the software now can parse information, such as product name and brand.

 

Project Schedule and Progress

I am slightly behind schedule, but the work for next week is still software development. In this case, things are still manageable.

 

Goals for the Next Week

Next week, the focus will shift towards further development of the barcode module software, building upon the foundational work completed this week. Alongside development, testing of the newly added features will be conducted to ensure their reliability and effectiveness. Based on the testing results, necessary refinements will be made to enhance the software’s performance and user experience.