Author: tbeasley

The most significant risk that could jeopardize the success of the project is still the motion sensor since we have still been struggling to find one that would work for our intended purpose. However, this risk has been managed since we were able to find an old mouse lying around and break that apart to take the motion sensor from it. So we will spend time testing that to make sure it works for our intended purpose. If not our only backup so far is to try to get the IMU to effectively track linear motion which has not provided the best results so far since it does not work very well on small movements. Further testing of this will be done just in case.

The only thing that’s changed with our design this week is that instead of building a conversion module from the ground up, we found a Python library called pygame that interfaces with our computer OS to do 1-to-1 CPI-pixel mapping. We will be using this library for the base of our stylus data interfacing after BLE communication. We also may need to change our design depending on which motion sensor we end up choosing. The reason for this is the one we originally wanted is too hard to find and we are still testing the current one we found.  The good thing is all of the motion sensors work relatively the same with slightly different resolutions so the cost for switching is lower resolution but that should not be too much of a problem since we were planning on working on the lowest resolution anyway to start. Overall we can still make it work with mostly any mouse motion sensor we find.

Here is the updated schedule: 18-500 Gantt chart – Gantt Chart

The most significant risks is obtaining a sensor that can effectively track motion across a surface. We are still thinking of using an optical mouse sensor for our pen to track the surface but we have been having a hard time finding vendors that sell them. Our team is currently talking to a vendor that sells them and we are waiting for a response from them to receive a datasheet to see if what they have will work for us. These risks are being managed by looking into multiple different types of motion sensors to see which ones are available and would work best for our product. One contingency plan we have currently is to try an use the IMU we have in order to track motion across the surface but we will have to sacrifice some accuracy if we decide to go with this plan. We have also found some other motion sensors through vendors like Amazon and Tindie but they are a little bigger than ideal and after reading datasheets we would have to test them first to see if they are worth using in our product.

At the moment, we do not have any changes to our design but if we are unable to obtain our original motion sensor then we could possibly have some design changes in the future.

We slightly updated our schedule to push PCB stuff back by a couple of days: 18-500 Gantt chart – Gantt Chart

 

Week-Specific Items

A was written by T’sairus Beasley, B was written by Christian Cherry, and C was written by Jamari Toussaint.

Part A (Health, Safety, Welfare):  For welfare, the project is designed to be an easily accessible and essential digital tool that breaks down the current economic barriers that restrict digital literacy and prevent people from having access to convenient technology. Since we were able to engineer a device that works on any surface at a very low-cost (<$50) compared to other expensive options out there, we are able to support the welfare of under-resourced young professionals and artists by providing affordable access to an industry-standard digital tool that will help them in their day to day life. Furthermore, for safety we ensure that the physical design of our product prioritizes user safety through a fully enclosed, non-toxic 3D-printed case that secures the LiPo battery and other electrical components away from harmful encounters to make the device safe for daily use in many environments. For health, our product will maintain a lightweight structure (~25 grams) and will have the weight balanced throughout the entire pen. This will ensure that users will be comfortable with the product and not have to strain their hands or arms through daily use of our product causing unnecessary health problems

Part B (Social Factors): Just as tablet artist and tablet student notetakers became distinctive within the population of artists and students respectively, our Versatile Stylus has the potential to create another group of people who are marked by using our product with their computers rather than a laptop. This can generate a social group of people who dynamically collaborate with each other with larger screens. In addition, it will bring those who cannot afford a tablet into the realm of being able to draw or write digitally. We do recognize the possibility that, since our product is meant to be affordable, this social group may become isolated from those who see having a tablet paired with their stylus as a more premium option or status. On the other side of the coin, given further development time and a wider range of compatibility and features beyond our MVP, our product could replace the specific stylus-tablet dependence of certain tablet products, integrating the tablet and computer social groups with usability that benefits both communities.

Part C (Economic Factors): Considering economic factors, we are looking to design the versatile stylus with robust performance whilst increasing the affordability compared to a usual pen/tablet combo. Our microcontroller and components are relatively available, the only exception being our camera motion sensor. This would require some additional considerations when thinking about moving our product to larger scales. Our communication (bluetooth) is widely used and available for integration with scaffolding available online. Finally, we are looking into using a reusable battery within our design so users will not spend additional costs on upkeep for switching dead batteries. As our stylus is looking to be accessible, we want to include accessible parts for simple use and easy maintenance.