Category: Aidan’s Status Reports

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This week, I set up and tested each of our parts in addition to working more on the CAD. Specifically, I set up the Raspberry Pi Zero and connected it to the PiSugar battery, the Raspberry Pi Camera, and the Adafruit display. I wrote and ran tests to make sure that all of our parts work correctly (for example, checking the percentage of the battery, taking a picture from the camera, and turning the display’s pixels on). I also tested hosting a Wi-Fi hotspot from the Raspberry Pi, which will later be joined by the paired smartphone and used to receive the goggles’s forward-facing images at high speed. Finally, I  worked more on the CAD because I had hoped to begin 3D printing, but the 3D print times were excessively long. To fix this, I simplified our design to remove the lens because the lens would be unnecessary and make the goggles more complicated. I’m still working on updating the CAD and hoping to get our first 3D print this week.

Our progress is on schedule, and the CAD work that was originally behind schedule is now nearly caught up.

As mentioned, we hope to have a first 3D print this coming week. For this week on the software side, I’m aiming to complete the pairing process between the goggles and the iPhone app. Specifically, we want the user experience on the iPhone to be as straightforward as possible (i.e. users simply pair with the goggles and don’t need to host or join any Wi-Fi hotspot). That requirement makes the app more difficult, so for this week I’m aiming to have only the pairing process complete.

This week, I worked more on the CAD. After picking up our parts that arrived this week, we realized that we’d need to make a massive amount of modifications to the goggles, so we’ve decided to design our own goggles and 3D print them. We believe this will help the project remain open-source friendly and highly reproducible because people will be able to 3D print our goggles instead of modify store-bought goggles in a certain specific way.

I also began work on the iOS app that will serve as the bridge between the Dawggles’s Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and the iPhone.

Our progress has fallen slightly behind schedule in regards to CAD, as evident by the progress reports that have reported continued work on the CAD. The mechanical and hardware aspect of the project are more time-consuming than we initially anticipated, especially because we’ve decided to design our goggles with CAD rather than using store-bought ski goggles.

For next week, we’re hoping to complete the CAD. I’m also hoping to complete the pipeline of an image being sent from the Raspberry Pi to the iPhone within a reasonable amount of time. Further improvements later in the semester will reduce the time to be under the time limit specified in our requirements.

This week, I submitted some of the orders and worked on the CAD. Attached are some screenshots:

Our progress is still on schedule. However, while working on the CAD, we realized that it’s difficult to attach all of our hardware to the goggles with 3D printed mounts, so we’re considering 3D printing goggles with specific mount points instead. If we choose to 3D print goggles, some additional time would be required and the schedule might be slightly delayed.

Next week, we plan to start receiving the hardware. We’ll connect the components to each other, set up the Raspberry Pi, and begin working on software. We’ll also start 3D printing prototypes of the goggle components.

This week, I finished our parts list so that it’s done and we can now order everything we need. Essentially, we’ll be ordering a pair of ski goggles that we’ll modify, a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, a 0.96″ OLED display, and a specific lens and mirror that makes the display appear transparent and comfortable to the user. The parts will only cost around $250, so we’ll have plenty of spare cash in our budget for replacements or changes. I also began working on the CAD for our goggles by laying out where the different components will go on the goggles. Next up, we’ll need to design the 3D-printed attachment to the goggles that will hold everything in place.

Our progress is on schedule so far.

Next week, we’ll complete the CAD model while everything is purchased and shipped. Ideally, we’ll also 3D print a prototype of the goggles attachment so that we can see how it looks and check if anything needs to change.