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Team Status Report for 4/12/25

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? 

The most significant risk at this point would probably be in getting the motors to work, since the functionality of our entire system relies on our motors being able to work on command and actually vending snacks when needed. Currently, we’re having trouble getting all 6 motors to work in parallel; the max we’ve been able to control all together is 3 motors. We’re dealing with this road block by putting all our efforts this week in getting the motors to work. We’re thinking of buying more motor drivers in case we end up burning out  the ones we currently have and also potentially purchasing a motor shield, which is something we realized could be a better option to use. We also are working on getting our new PIR sensor up and running, since we only made the new sensor change and got it in late last week.

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? 

No notable changes were made in the design of the system.

Provide an updated schedule if changes have occurred. This is also the place to put some photos of your progress or to brag about a component you got working.

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Ashira’s Status Report for 4/12/25

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).

This week, I mainly focused on getting the speaker and motors to work. I started working on debugging the speaker system, picking up on where David and Anna had left off earlier and checked all the connections between wires, as well as the code and packages which were in the environment. With Anna’s help, we were able to clean up some of the connections between the RPi and speaker bonnet, which in the end is what seemed to help up us get the speakers working. I then moved onto developing the code to get the speaker to play sounds on command, since that is what our system will need to do. Eventually, all we needed to end up doing is downloading pygame and using their libraries to play .mp3 sounds. However, we ran into a bug with the RPi config file, which prevented the RPi from producing sound when the pygame code was run. We eventually realized that our config file was missing a line of code which was what was responsible for actually enabling audio output on the RPi. We still need to integrate this with the rest of our code, but we decided that getting all the motors to work would be the priority at this point.  Once we got this working, I spent the remaining time working on helping David debug the motors. I worked with Anna to rewire the motors on the breadboards to see ach connection more clearly, but after connecting the motors, and running our code which we had previously been able to use to spin two motors, none of them ended up working anymore. I’m wondering if it might be a result of fault connections or motors drivers entirely, since we’ve been having lots of issues with these motors drivers specifically. We have yet to finish debugging, but once this functionality is working, all we’ll need to do is integrate and we should be good to go in terms of our MVP functionality.

Is your progress on schedule or behind? If you are behind, what actions will be taken to catch up to the project schedule? 

My progress is on schedule with our original Gantt chart we made.

What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?

This upcoming week, my focus will be on getting all 6 of the motors to work during the first half of the week and then hopefully integration during the second half.

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David’s status report 4/13/25

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).

This week, I was still focused on integrating all 6 motors. I spent a lot of time reorganizing the wires, since our setup during the progress demonstration day was an absolute mess. This involved moving 3 of the motors to a third breadboard and shortening the wires so that they don’t get tangled up. We ended up having 3 breadboards where each contained 2 motor drivers. Then I tried to isolate the motor drivers one by one and debug them. This means using the same working combination of RPi GPIO pin and motor on each of the motor drivers to see which ones were faulty. We had to replace a few bad motor drivers but ultimately still haven’t achieved full integration of the 6 motors.

Is your progress on schedule or behind? If you are behind, what actions will be taken to catch up to the project schedule? 

I would say my progress is behind schedule since the motors are the most important part of our team project MVP and I still haven’t been able to fully integrate them with the rest of the system due to issues above.

What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?

As a team, we ran into setbacks with bad breadboards (such as rails that may have been burnt out) and really faulty motor drivers, so I plan to work together with Ashira in debugging the motor drivers one by one and finishing the integration of the motors.

 

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Anna’s Status Report for 4/12/25

This week, I focused on setting up and testing the passive infrared sensor. I explored multiple approaches to verify its accuracy, but unfortunately, I haven’t fully resolved the issue yet. Initially, I connected the sensor directly to the GPIO pins and printed “detection” based on the PIR’s state. However, this approach produced frequent false positives. In response, I researched alternative methods—experimenting with both the gpiozero and RPi.GPIO libraries, changing conditionals, sensitivity and timeout parameters, and even incorporating a LED diode that lights up upon detection. Despite these efforts, the false positives persisted regardless of how much I changed it. I suspect the issue may be related to the sensor’s sensitivity and timing, which I plan to debug further.

Outside of the PIR, I successfully helped Ashira get the speakers to produce sound by adjusting the wiring—this involved some frustrating debugging, but we eventually resolved it. I also assisted David with the motors by suggesting that lowering the Vref on the motor drivers could help achieve the expected rotation, which thankfully worked. Additionally, I reorganized the motor circuitry, consolidating it from 3 breadboards to 1 with Ashira.

Although I’m currently a bit behind schedule due to the PIR sensor not being integrated yet, I plan to go into the lab tomorrow to continue debugging. Hopefully, by next week, motion detection will be more reliable and we can move forward with integration.

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Ashira’s Status Report for 3/29/25

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).

This week, I mainly focused on finalizing some parts of the enclosure; namely, finishing the manufacturing/assembly of the front panel window, as well as getting the springs we’ll be using to dispense the snacks from the machine to attach to the springs. This mainly consisted of me working in CAD again to design these mounts, laser cut everything, and attach them to the springs and motors. Right now, rotational movement from the motors is not being translated well to the springs. There’s some jitter that occurs when the springs begin to turn, which I’m assuming is a result of not having the mounts coupled tightly enough to the motor shaft, something I plan on fixing later on. I also assisted in attempting to debug the speakers with David and Anna, since the initial tutorial we referenced to set the speaker up ended up not working for us. I tried to look at other websites and blogs for possible fixes, but unfortunately none of them ended up helping us get the components working. 

Is your progress on schedule or behind? If you are behind, what actions will be taken to catch up to the project schedule? 

My progress is on schedule with our original Gantt chart we made.

What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?

This upcoming week, my focus will probably be on integrating all the parts into the gui again, and possibly further finalizing code. I’ll also put some more effort into trying to debug the speakers again and potentially also help bring up the new PIR sensor we plan on replacing our ultrasonic sensor with. 

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David’s status report for 3/29/25

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).

Personally, I didn’t accomplish anything really significant, since I spent my entire week debugging components without much success. For the first half of the week, I spent time working with Anna on debugging the speaker and trying to get sound output. I tried soldering wires to the speaker module and connecting them to the raspberry pi. I also installed the libraries and tried making changes to the config files but that didn’t work either. Another thing that I worked on in the second half of the week is trying to get all 6 motors set up along with their motor drivers. The circuit board is set up but the motors need to be debugged. Anna and Ashira had fixed the motor code and schematic for 2 motors, but since we added 4 more motors, I haven’t figured out the issue with unstable and unpredictable movements. 

Is your progress on schedule or behind? If you are behind, what actions will be taken to catch up to the project schedule? 

I’d say my progress is still on schedule but I really need to try and figure out the speaker issue and the 6 motor integration issues this week. 

What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?

For this next week, I will try to get all 6 motors moving the way they should when the program is running. Ashira had some suggestions about the currents going through the motors and those adjustments, so that is like food for thought for me. Hopefully, making those measurements will give me some better idea about what is going wrong at the moment. 

 

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Team Status Report for 3/29/25

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? 

One of the most significant risks we’re facing is getting the speakers to work, as we’ve encountered persistent issues despite extensive troubleshooting. Additionally, while we’ve started setting up the circuitry for the six motors, initial testing with two motors did not perform as expected, indicating potential challenges ahead. Another concern, as mentioned in Anna’s report, is the ultrasonic sensor’s susceptibility to inaccurate measurements due to the sensitivity of the sensor. We plan to schedule dedicated work sessions where each team member focuses on a specific task while collaborating as needed and discussing the next steps such as any potential design changes moving forward.

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? 

At this point, no notable changes were made in the design of the system.

Provide an updated schedule if changes have occurred. This is also the place to put some photos of your progress or to brag about a component you got working.

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Anna’s Status Report for 3/29/25

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).

This week, I focused on getting the peripherals working, specifically understanding how it works more in depth and setting up testing code for the ultrasonic sensor. While testing it, I realized potential issues that could arise. Our project’s primary goal is not to proctor the user but rather to encourage discipline by detecting their presence nearby to continue a timed study session. However, the ultrasonic sensor has some limitations due to how it operates—it sends a trigger signal and relies on the echo signal reflecting back to determine distance. This method is highly susceptible to interference, as various obstacles can cause inaccurate readings.

Initially, we referenced a previous project that used the same sensor for a similar purpose. However, after working with it firsthand, I discussed with the team the possibility of pairing it with a passive infrared (PIR) sensor, which detects heat. This combination could improve reliability, ensuring more accurate presence detection. Despite its challenges, the ultrasonic sensor still holds value in our setup, and I am continuing to refine its integration. Besides this observation, I was able to set up the code for the sensor to detect within our 1 meter threshold range and I also attempted to integrate it into our main code so that the timer paused when the distance detected was greater than the threshold.

I also dedicated many hours to assisting David with debugging the speakers. Despite extensive research and multiple attempts at reconfiguring both hardware and software, we have yet to produce any sound. Troubleshooting this component has been time-intensive, but we are actively working on finding a solution.

Is your progress on schedule or behind? If you are behind, what actions will be
taken to catch up to the project schedule?

Due to the time spent troubleshooting the speakers, I wasn’t able to dedicate as much time as I had planned to integrating the sensor with the GUI. As a result, I’m slightly behind my intended progress. To get back on track, I will prioritize integrating the sensor next week before revisiting the speaker issues if needed.

What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?

I hope to integrate the ultrasonic sensor to the code and test its functionality so as to see how I can further refine its accuracy.

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Team Status Report for 3/22/25

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? 

The most significant risk at this point would probably be in bringing up the rest of the peripherals and integrating it with the rest of the system. It took us some time to debug the motors and LED strip, as well as integrate that code with the UI, so we anticipate having similar challenges with the speaker and proximity sensor. However, since the GUI and enclosure design of our project is pretty much finished, we will have much more of a combined focus on getting the peripherals to work this week than we did in previous weeks in an attempt to offload the possibility of having to debug in later weeks. We will also need to time ourselves to make sure that we have enough time to test our system as well.

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? 

No notable changes were made in the design of the system.

Provide an updated schedule if changes have occurred. This is also the place to put some photos of your progress or to brag about a component you got working.

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Ashira’s Status Report for 3/22/25

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).

This week, I focused largely on getting the peripheral components to work + integration between parts. More specifically, I worked on helping David debug the motor driver circuit + code so that we could control the motors with the RPi. This consisted of looking through tutorials, as well as other existing projects which had also incorporated the same components we were using to try and see what the problem in our circuit could be. I also spent lots of time measuring voltages and currents across the circuit to make sure they were what we expected them to be.  In the end, the problem seemed to end up being incorrect motor driver step settings and also not having the GPIO output step pins oscillate between high and low at a high enough frequency. I was  able to extend this control to 2 motors, but since we ended up burning out some of our motor drivers in the debugging process, we’ll have to wait until our new motor drivers come in before attempting to integrate all 6 motors together. I also helped out Anna with integration between the LED and GUI – more specifically, figuring out how to configure the python environment we made for our LED strip functionality to work with the GUI libraries we were using. Since neither of us had super extensive experience in using python environments, we relied on forums to help us debug. In the end, we were able to begin integrating our existing motor and LED control code with our UI. 

Is your progress on schedule or behind? If you are behind, what actions will be taken to catch up to the project schedule? 

My progress is on schedule with our original Gantt chart we made.

What deliverables do you hope to complete in the next week?

This upcoming week, my focus will probably be on helping to get the rest of the peripherals (sensors + speakers) up and running. I will also try to clean up some of the motor control code + extend the functionality to 6 motors so that when the new motor drivers come in, integrating those will be a lot easier.  I also need to laser cut the clear window on our front panel and get that attached, although I don’t anticipate it taking a long time. I was also planning on laser cutting some motor attachments to make it easier to connect the springs to the actual motor.