Carnegie Mellon ECE Capstone, Spring 2026: David Gelody, Patrick Lucas, Aidan Lincke
This week I continued to survey people’s thoughts on the Dawggles, specifically for easiness and comfort. We have been receiving positive feedback for the most part and refining on suggestions to improve the user’s experience. This involves adding a foam pad at the front of the Dawggles and improving the connection between the Dawggles and the iOS app.
Our progress is on schedule.
Next week, I plan to continue working on the navigation feature of the app and finalize the UI with Aidan.
The project is in its final stages; every risk that could have jeopardized the success of the project has been managed and mitigated.
No changes were made to the existing design of the system.
Our dawggles now smoothly pairs with an iPhone through an iOS app over bluetooth by matching codes. Moreover, we can take a picture with the dawggles, send it over to the phone, translate on the phone, and send the translation back to the dawggles with low latency, meeting the expectation and goals of the project.
Our progress is on schedule.
This week, I worked on the navigation part of our dawggles. Given the space on our display, I could only fit key details such as the estimated time until arrival, the next street to turn onto, and distance until that street. I continued to work with Pat on the translation app to cleanly translate text on images. Moreover, I reached out to several friends to survey for feedback regarding reading text off the dawggles.
Our progress is on schedule.
Next week, I plan to continue surveying for feedback on the dawggles and finalize the navigation app.
New tools and knowledge I had to acquire to work on this project involved learning Swift to work on the app and learning how the raspberry pi can interact with an iPhone. To acquire this knowledge I read documentation online and long discussions with AI tools.
This week, I worked with Pat on the RPi software. I reorganized the code into two main classes for each of the navigation and translation apps; this way it will be much easier to build on the codebase and maintain it, as well as readability of code. Furthermore, I did some testing of the two GPIO buttons to make sure it seamlessly switches between apps and functionality.
Our progress is on schedule.
Next week, I plan to continue assisting with the slight CAD modifications and the iOS app with Aidan. We hope to have basic functionality for the app to connect to the software on the RPi through bluetooth.
As for the verification, I plan to write unit tests for parts of the RPi software in how it stores information and sends data, as well as continue testing it by using it as we have been doing.
The most significant risk to the project is similar to last week’s, where we are focusing on reducing the text being warped. By changing the distance between the biconvex lens and the display and the biconvex lens and the beam splitter, we have high hope to reduce the warping.
The tests we plan to run for validation involve placing lines of text on the display and seeing if a user can comfortably read it. This would mimic a translation. Similarly, we plan to add the strap to see if the goggles can be worn for long periods of time. This may involve adding a cushion to the front which we are in the process of adding on.
The changes to the design of the system are discussed above.
There aren’t any changes to our schedule.
This week, I worked with Aidan on assembling the Dawggles. After displaying example words and pictures we noticed warping so I investigated possible reasons for such an occurrence. It seems as though changing the angle of the beam splitter and the distance between the display and the lens and the lens and the beam splitter can resolve these issues. While it is not something that needs to be immediately fixed as it only occurs on the edges it is something to keep in mind moving forward.
We are on schedule.
Next week, I plan to continue working with Pat on the software and have an outline going for our server that exemplifies simple functionality, such as using the button to take a picture.
This week, I finalized the last couple parts we needed to add on to the goggles. We realized we needed a piece of foam on the front part of the frame for comfort as well as straps to keep the goggles in place on the user’s head. Moreover, I began exploring the details of the software we will need by investigating the simple functionality of the raspberry pi, camera, and monitor.
We are on schedule.
Next week, I will assist in the next print of the goggles and assembling the components to have a working prototype, and continue testing software for simple functionality such as comfortably displaying text for the user.
This week, I assisted in finishing the CAD and 3D printing our initial prototype. There were some final touches that were necessary to discuss, regarding mounting the pieces, before we deployed our first run. Additionally, given the ethics assignment was due this week, I spent a good amount of time on that.
With our first print of our goggles done, we are on schedule.
Next week, I will continue to refine the goggles. After the print, we realized that the goggles could be more comfortable and have more space for certain pieces such as the beam splitter, for comfort reasons as well.
This week, I spent significant time researching the software interfaces of the Raspberry Pi Zero, the camera, and the display. I figured it would be important to be familiar with the high-level overview of how it all works together before working on the translation feature of the project. Furthermore, I looked more into the CAD design to see if anything stuck out as a poor design decision. After discussing with the group, we figured we could remove the lenses to simplify the first print. After review, I’m happy with our first iteration of the goggles.
Our progress is on schedule.
Next week, I hope to continue working on the software and have various examples of text displayed for the user.
This week, I continued working on the CAD. Some of our components arrived, and we realized it will be difficult to mount everything onto the goggles as originally planned. In response, we shifted our CAD work toward designing and 3D-printing our own goggle frame so the hardware can be mounted securely, fit properly, and remain comfortable and stable for the user.
This change has put us slightly behind schedule, but now that the parts are in hand, we expect to increase our build and iteration pace and catch up.
Next week, I will focus on designing the software interface between the Raspberry Pi and the phone so we can better understand the integration challenges we may run into early on.