Team B0: Blackjack Buddy

The model has almost finished checkpoint training. Due to various issues we encountered, we had to restart training, and have trained our model 7/8ths of the way (roughly as of writing this) and will finish it during this week. I have also been working together with Joe to start integrating the expected output of the ML Model with the Processing Algorithm. Even though the model is not done training, the scaffolding needed for it to interact with the Processing Algorithm is something I was able to focus on and finish up this week.

This week, I have finished most of the model for the product that will house the camera and the jetson device. Pictures are attached. Each face has a bit of a jigsaw pattern so that a preliminary assembly can be done for prototyping without actually using a permanent solution like hot glue or screws. I intend to use wood to laser cut the material, so once I learn to how access wood, I will do so. The jetson will fit in the bottom compartment (almost perfectly), and the camera mount will stick out of the top. There will be a small platform inside the box that will act as the mount for the camera mount to attach to, so once I pick up the camera mount on Monday, I can configure how that will look. The holes in the box back side are for ventilation. I’m not sure if that would even be a concern, but it’s good to make sure, in case we happen to close the top for whatever reason. Wires will run from the bottom opening (where the jetson would be inserted), and this consolidation will make the product usage much easier. I may design a quick way to keep the jetson in place during operation.

This week, I have been getting back on track on my tasks after spring break week. Finally, we have settled on the gooseneck camera mount, which is the most effective way to stick the camera and then adjust it. The previous idea of a lid is very error prone and involves a lot more iteration, since it relies heavily on the materials used for the hinge as well as the design. The gooseneck mount should work better. This means that we need a platform inside the box to attach the mount to. Also, to attach the box, I plan to use a jigsaw structure, as this will support the structure best, and gives a degree of portability in case the user wants to disassemble and carry it to places. By either next week or the one after, I should have a printed prototype of the box.

I have began checkpoint training of the ML Model, and have trained our model 1/4th of the way. I have a rough plan of how I will work with TensorRT for this model, and have downloaded TensorRT onto the Jetson Nano, and will focus on optimizing the model with it after I have finished checkpointing. We also focused on the ethics component of our project this week, and have outlined some additions to align our project a bit better with the ethical expectations of engineers. I have also been working together with Joe and managed to help get the basis of the processing algorithm written. I specifically assisted with the database querying and game state formatting, as well as simplifying the logic.

As a team, we finished writing the Design Document. We kept working individually on the components we had been working on before, but we also organized to get a simpler Camera to use instead of the Oak-D Pro. As mentioned, this camera has far more features than we need, so we just got a simple USB camera off Amazon, and will put the order in after Spring Break. Development is proceeding smoothly for the most part, which we are happy about. We do not have any significant schedule changes or block diagram changes currently. The most significant risks would be an issue with model training, which could delay integration progress, so Nico will be taking the week after break to get the model up and running so we don’t have to worry about that possibility.

This week was focused on the finishing the debugging and finishing reading and understanding the algorithms described in the papers.

For the website, I was able to fix most of the bugs, but one bug that has remained illusive is with having multiple people connect to the website at the same time, so I’m still trying to debug that. The web app and the DB are connected properly though, so I was happy to fix that bug.

The formalization the paper described was a bit complicated, so I spent some time speaking with Nico understanding it, and I think I now understand this fully enough to start implementing it. However, we ironed all these issues and understandings out right before Spring Break, so we will finish it after the break.

For the past two weeks, I have been working on an improved design for the angling of the camera in the Blackjack Buddy mechanism. I have started to create a CAD model for the product, and hope to finish it by the time the next status report is written. I have also continued to work on the algorithm for betting strategies with Joe. The idea is that we will have a module that acts as a function for this algorithm, and the goal is to make this module as portable as possible so that an integration into the entire design will be as seamless as possible.

I have started training of the ML Model, but the environment was having issues, so I worked on resolving that before Spring Break. I was able to iron out the issues by setting up a Conda environment and resolving the dependency issues to use Yolo. I also read more into TensorRT, and decided to start getting the needed resources together to download and use TensorRT on the Jetson Nano. We will report on training next week