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Team Status Report for 4/25

The most significant risk to the project is issues with the translation or navigation apps during the demo. To manage that risk, we’re rigorously testing the apps for debugging and reliability. Additionally, there’s a slight risk that the demo environment may be too bright causing people to have difficulty seeing the display, so we’ve adjusted the brightness and also taken steps to test in different lighting environments.

Changes weren’t made to the design of the system. Instead, we made a few final touches to the CAD of the goggles to make them as comfortable as possible.

There aren’t any changes to the schedule.

Tests:

  • Battery life test (> 1.5 hours) ✅
  • Charging time test (< 1 hour) ✅
  • Weight test (< 350 grams) ✅
  • Display text test (≥ 10 characters per line, ≥ 2 lines) ✅
  • Camera resolution test (≥ 640x480p) ✅
  • Translation latency test (≤ 2 seconds round trip time) ✅

By working through the semester and making thoughtful design choices, our final Dawggles product passes each of the requirements and tests that we specified at the beginning of the semester. We thus didn’t need to make any design changes.

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Aidan’s Status Report for 4/25

This week, I continued to work on the software for Dawggles. Specifically, I improved the UI of the Dawggles and the iOS app, and I improved the reliability of the hotspot and web socket connection. I also added a demo mode view to the iOS app so that the app can mirror the display of the Dawggles, and other people can watch demos from the perspective of the person wearing the Dawggles.

Our progress is on schedule.

Next week, we’ll polish the translation and navigation apps so that Friday’s demo works great.

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Aidan’s Status Report for 4/18

This week, I completed the pairing flow between the Dawggles and iPhone. There’s a smooth and secure user experience where the user just needs to confirm that Bluetooth pairing codes match on both the goggles and the phone. After confirming those matching codes, there’s a secure channel between the goggles and the phone, and the user doesn’t need to interact with their phone anymore for their phone to automatically join the Dawggles Wi-Fi and web socket server. I also set up a bunch of infrastructure around the Dawggles, like the Home screen and the status bar. The Home screen shows all of the apps on the Dawggles that the user can open, and the status bar shows up to date indicators about the connection to the phone and the remaining battery on the goggles.

Progress is on schedule.

Next week, we hope to finish the software for the apps on the Dawggles that we discussed in our use case and requirements. We’ll complete the translation and navigation apps for our described use cases.

As we’ve designed, implemented, and debugged the Dawggles, we’ve learned a lot about optics. Achieving the transparent display effect was the most unknown and difficult part of the project. We also needed to learn a decent bit about CAD and 3D printing in order to create goggles that hold every part together and fit comfortably. We learned the most from online sources and AI tools.

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Aidan’s Status Report for 4/4

This week, I worked with Pat and David on getting everything ready for the demos. We worked on creating a demo that explains the Dawggles and its use cases, shows each feature, and fits with time for questions. After the demos, I also began the Xcode project for iOS and researched the specific entitlements the app needs to use the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi hotspot mechanism between iPhone and Raspberry Pi.

Our progress is on schedule.

Next week, I will continue with the iOS app. The goal deliverable will be a seamless end-to-end pairing experience for a user setting up the Dawggles with their phone.

For verification of our system, I’ve worked a lot on the CAD, so the most important verification test will be the test that measures how many words that the user can comfortably see while wearing the goggles. Another important verification test is the test that ensures that the pipeline from user pressing a button, photo being taken, photo sent to the iPhone, translation occurring, and translation being sent back to the Raspberry Pi occurs within the low latency requirement that we defined.

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Team Status Report for 3/28

The most significant risk to the project is the optical system being unable to reach the specifications that we outlined in our requirements document. As mentioned in our individual progress updates, we finished a 3rd iteration of the goggles and tested writing a single word to the display. However, we could only see 1 word, and the word was warped on its edges. In addition, you need to move the position of your eyes in the goggles to see the word instead of simply wearing the goggles and seeing the word. Luckily, there are several changes we’re making that should address these issues. However, it’s concerning because if we can’t see enough text through the display, then it won’t be possible to fit translations on the screen. To mitigate this issue, we’re considering other fixes beyond design changes such as a better biconvex lens. In the worst case, we’d abandon the transparency effect and move the entire display in line with the user’s line of sight to guarantee that text fits in the display.

No changes were made to the design of the system besides the previously mentioned refinements of the CAD to improve the optical system.

There aren’t any changes to our schedule.

 

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Aidan’s Status Report for 3/28

This week, I finished making changes for the 3rd iteration of our goggles. Pat and I printed and assembled it, and we tested writing a single word to the goggles’s display. After that 3rd iteration, I made more changes to the goggles’s design (especially the goggles’s optical system), and we are expecting improvements to the display quality with the upcoming 4th iteration.

Our progress is on schedule.

Next week, we’ll have the 4th or possibly 5th iterations completed, and we’re hoping that the optical system reaches the quality that we specified in our requirements (i.e. the ability to write several words at a time). I’m also working on a 1st version of the iPhone app that pairs with the Dawggles. The iPhone app will have a working first version by the end of the week and hopefully for this week’s demos too.

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Team Status Report for 3/21

The most significant risks to the project are software based. Specifically, we’re worried about whether or not we’ll be able to achieve our desired 2 second latency from user input to result. This week, we’ll try to achieve the latency requirement through lots of work on software. Luckily, if it’s not achievable, we believe that a similar low latency will be possible such as 3 or 4 seconds.

We didn’t make any changes to the system. Instead, we further specified it by including straps and foam for the user’s comfort.

There aren’t any updates to the schedule.

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Aidan’s Status Report for 3/21

This week, I started another 3D print after finding some changes to make with the initial 3D print. I also did a test of the optical system of the Dawggles and correctly saw the expected results of the display’s output in transparent space in the user’s field of view. Finally, I placed orders for what we expect to be the final parts of the project, consisting of a spare beam splitter, another Raspberry Pi, and straps and foam for user comfort.

Our progress is on schedule.

Next week, we plan to assemble everything in the Dawggles with its 3D print. We’ll probably need to make some changes when the goggle strap arrives so that it fits with the print. We’ll also complete the software pipeline of camera on the goggles to iPhone and then back to goggles.

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Team Status Report for 3/14

The most significant risks to our project are shifting from mechanical risks to software risks, as we’ve now addressed many of the mechanical aspects of the project. For example, one of our largest risks was addressed this week when our beam splitter from AliExpress arrived in perfect condition. It functions exactly as expected and, as discussed earlier, is superior to anything we could find from other vendors. Furthermore, with our first 3D print completed, we can now do a complete test of the optical system to make sure everything functions as expected. By then, we’ll expect our mechanical work to only revolve around improvements to user comfort. Our risks will move from mechanical to software risks because the Dawggles will be mechanically complete. Our software risks are significantly less severe than hardware risks, but our current highest-priority software risk is our ability to reach the 2-second latency requirement that we’ve outlined for a user who presses the translation button on their Dawggles. As previously mentioned, we’ve mitigated this risk by designing a system that combines both Bluetooth and WiFi for user-friendliness and high-speed data transfers. Now, we’ll implement the design to ensure that it truly mitigates the risk of high latency.

A few small changes were made to the design of the system to improve user comfort while wearing the Dawggles. Specifically, we’ll be ordering foam padding to fit around the outside edge of the Dawggles so that the user’s face presses against foam rather than rigid printed PLA. We’ll also be ordering a strap that fits around the user’s face to hold the Dawggles in place. We’ll experiment with comfortability and decide whether to use a ski-goggles style strap that fits around only the back of the head or a VR-style strap that fits around both the back and the top of the head.

There aren’t any changes to the schedule.

 

 

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Aidan’s Status Report for 3/14

This week, I finished the CAD for the Dawggles and 3D printed a first prototype. Specifically, the final touches on the CAD included adjustments for the beam splitter’s holder to be less likely to break, the addition of a curved face-fitting edge that will contain foam, the addition of holes for wires and ports, and the completion of the light tunnel facing downwards from the display. We also incorporated a final assembly that shows all of the components in a digital mockup of the Dawggles.

Our progress is on schedule.

In the coming week, we’ll fit all of the parts into our 3D print, make adjustments to the design as necessary, and re-print it. We will also find and submit orders for a few components that we’ll need such as the foam that will go around the edge of the Dawggles and the band that will fit around the user’s head. On the software side, we’ll get progress on the iOS bridge and translation layer.