Team Status Report for March 22

 

1. 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? （written by Vicky)
   => As our project moves forward, here are some possible risks:
   1. The challenge mode game on touch screen is experiencing some latency in the touch response. This does not affect the gameplay significantly but improving the response time will make it more user friendly and help players gain points more easily. This will be done by modifying the current program.
      
   2. We have decided to use ¼ inch thick MDF board to build the machine body and ⅛ inch thick board for the inside compartments. The advantage of using thicker walls is the interconnection between perpendicular sides will be fixed together more securely as a bigger touching cross sectional area has higher friction. The disadvantage is this will make the final product slightly heavier. This is a light trade-off.
   3. For the refill of items, our current solution is to fix the servo motors to the spirals (in which the items are filled), and fix the arduino board at the bottom of the machine. With a long connection line made secure, the user can take out the spirals like a tray and refill there.
   4. Our current planned view of the gameplay was done by implementing kiosk mode on the rpi system. This seems to be difficult during system development when we need to access code files when running the web page. We plan to switch to chrome browser kiosk only so it’s both easier to exit kiosk mode and make other rpi file edits.

2. 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? (written by Fei)
   => Yes, a change was made to the existing design plan. We initially planned to use wood purchased from Amazon to build the vending machine and use wood glue and nails to hold the structure . However, after the ethics lecture and the discussion around E5, we found their method was more stable. Thus, we decided to purchase the wood directly from TechSpark which fits our needs better with its larger dimension.This change does incur additional costs, as the Amazon purchase had already been made. However, these costs are justified by the reduced risk of structural failure which minimizes the chance of rework. Moving forward, we will pay more attention to make sure the construction method is a good choice early on to avoid last-minute adjustments and additional expenses.

3. 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. (written by Min Ji)

=> This week, our group successfully purchased wood from Techspark to construct our trivia kiosk and discussed detailed plans for assembly. Min Ji improved the touchscreen UI/UX, aligning it closely with our Figma design, and temporarily disabled audio narration for reliable testing. Vicky completed Arduino code tests for candy dispensing functionality, confirming the reliability of our motorized dispensing mechanism. Fei resolved some minor bugs within the challenge mode gameplay, ensuring smoother user interaction and reliability for the upcoming demonstration.

For the upcoming week(3/23-3/29),  we will prioritize the following tasks, with smaller numbers indicating higher priority:

1. Physical Assembly of Kiosk Structure(All)
   Vicky will create laser-cut CAD files based on our recent design discussion and will assemble the machine. The aim is to finish assembly ideally before Wednesday. Min Ji and Fei will focus on helping assemble the structure by Wednesday(3/26).
2. Motor and Dispensing Hardware Integration.
   Vicky will create spiral helixes using wires and attach them securely to the motors. Long wires will initially be used to allow easy refilling of candy.
3. Integration of Raspberry Pi & Arduino (Min Ji + Vicky)
   Min Ji will test and finalize the Rpi functionality to send a 4-digit GPIO signal upon candy selection, confirming that signals are reliably received. Vicky will then adapt the existing Arduino dispensing code to trigger the candy motors based on Raspberry Pi signals.
4. Kiosk Mode and Audio Narration Testing (Min Ji + Vicky)
   Min Ji will use the micro HDMI-HDMI converter to resolve the audio narration issue and thoroughly test kiosk mode interactions. Vicky and Min Ji will collaborate to confirm environment settings and permissions are optimized for the kiosk deployment.
5. Website Deployment (Optional, Lower Priority)
   We will maintain our current UI as is for the interim demo, but we plan to deploy our existing website for testing the kiosk mode if sufficient time remains. This task is a lower priority, considering our current UI is functional and presentable for the demo.

Notes:

• Tasks 1 and 2 are critical and must be finished early in the week (by Wednesday 3/26) to allow ample time for debugging and refinement in the latter half of the week.
• Integration tasks(Task 3) and focusing on debugging any bugs seen in the gameplay follow immediately afterward. Our main goal for the interim demo is to have a clearly working gameplay.
• Kiosk mode(Task 4) and website deployment(Task 5) are also critical but slightly lower priority than full assembly and hardware integration, so we scheduled it to be after initial assembly completion.