Category: Josh’s Status Reports

Personal Accomplishments

1. Final presentations (4hr): This week I spent time writing peer reviews for final presentations.
2. PCB design (stretch-goal) (4hr): This week I spent time designing a PCB for our device using Fusion 360. This PCB houses an Olimex ESP-32 breakoutboard, exposing 4 adc and pwm gpio ports for our device use. It also contains the sensor amplifier circuit.
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3. More Testing (4hr): This week I spent more time testing the device. I performed more ergonomic testing via survey, durability testing via static and dynamic hangs/climbs, and performance tests with the battery.
4. Final paper/poster writing (4hr): This week I spent time working on the final poster and paper, filling in an outline and coming up with a rough draft.

Progress

1. Everything is on track! Working on stretch goals (PCB, CAD, Second Glove, etc.)

Next Week tasks & goals

1. Work on CAD for device capsule (stretch-goal)
2. Continue testing
3. Continue writing final paper and poster.

Personal Accomplishments

1. Lab meetings (6h): During our schedule lab meeting hours, we did our interm demo and recieved great feedback. I also continued work on the hardware solution, which is described below.
2. Second glove implementation (4hr): Worked on creating a second glove. This consisted of copying the first glove in implementation, but instead using our new Olimex ESP32 with an on-board power jack so we can test a battery-powered implementation. I spent a deal of time soldering up 4 more sensors with wiring such that they can be attached to the second glove. The battery powered ESP works!
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3. Built pull-up bar for final demo (1hr):  I spent time building the pull-up bar we ordered for our final demo.
4. Sensor tuning (3hr):  I spent time deciding what gain/voltage range we wanted to use for our sensor amplifier, after testing whether a 0.5-3.3 vs. 0.25-3.3 vs 0.15-3.3 voltage range, using a gain of (837k/[3M->100k]), I found that the larger forces were better measured, since the the gain was more linear, using the 0.15-3.3 range.
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5. Device Verification & Validation (5hr):  I spent time working with Alex to run verification & validation test at the Iron City Bouldering gym where we performed durability, safety, ergonomic, and BT speed tests using the open climbing environment with various climbing levels and hangbars for more static weight tests.
6. Final Presentation prepare (8hr): I spent time working on the final presentation, specifically updating the solution body diagram, the hardware solution, the testing requirements, the hardware/software test results,  and design tradeoffs.

Progress

1. Continuing work on verification and validation tests
2. Everything is on track! Working on stretch goals (PCB, CAD, Second Glove, etc.)

Next Week tasks & goals

1. Working on PCB and CAD for device capsule

Guidance

I learned how to find an appropriate microcontroller for a given application and how to use a new one: ESP-32. Previously I had worked with an STM32 and Teensy 4.1, but those were in projects where the MCU was chosen for me. So for this project, I had to do some research into viable MCU’s, where I learned how to perform proper tradeoff analyses for deciding which hardware to use for my application. I spent a great deal of time deciding which factors I should use to determine viability, and in doing so, found myself learning how to scan through reviews and documentation to perform comparisons of each device. The same occured in my process for finding which sensors we should use for our CLIMB device. I even had to call sensor distributors to acquire more information about the sensors I was considering for my application. This process forced and taught me to become more comfortable in information gathering and tradeoff analyses for the application design process. In regard to learning how to work with the ESP-32, I learned how to work with the Expressif toolchain to flash and debug my CLIMB code. I also worked with the Arduino libraries to utilize the on-board ADCs and PWM modules, which required me to look into the MCU’s peripheral functionalities, and decide which ports I would use for the various tasks my application required.

Personal Accomplishments

1. Lab meetings (4h): During our schedule lab meeting hours, I continued work on prototype development and looking into potential battery sources for our device.
2. Intermin Demo Prototype Prepare (20hr): This week I worked on preparing the hardware prototype for the interim demo. This consisted of soldering the sensors and haptics, hooking up the 4 sensors to the ESP, integrating with Jubi’s bluetooth implementation, converting the ADC readings to its corresponding force values, having the haptics fire with 3 different levels depending on how much force it placed on a particular finger, have each sensor connect to a specific motor, and add tape/velcro to make the product easier to put on and take off.

Progress

1. The hardware prototype is complete.

Next Week tasks & goals

1. Begin verification and validation tests. Begin designing the PCB to house the circuit and MCU. Order batteries for the MCU.

Personal Accomplishments

1. Lab meetings (4h): During our schedule lab meeting hours, I continued work on prototype development and looking into potential battery sources for our device.
2. Programming ESP32 (4hr): This week I continued working on implenting BLE communication on the ESP.
3. Prototyping (4hr): This week I worked on implementing a prototype that consists of 4 sensors that lie on the pulley-joints of a single hand, which are read via ADC on the esp32, and runs a vibration motor upon excession of a pre-set threshold value.

Progress

1. The hardware prototype is almost complete, tomorrow we’re picking up the glove from ECE recieving, with which we plan to sow the sensors onto.

Next Week tasks & goals

1. To complete the prototype with the glove and test it such that we can make fine-tune adjustments by the interim demo.

Personal Accomplishments

1. Lab meetings (4h): During our schedule lab meeting hours, besides working on our respective implementation duties, my team and I evaluated the state of the project and planned out immediate next steps in regard to initial testing of our design requirements.
2. Programming ESP32 (8hr): This week I spent time reading documentation for and implementing BLE communication from our ESP32 to my computer.

Progress

1. The hardware prototype is almost complete, as I am still working on the BLE imeplementation.

Next Week tasks & goals

1. To finish the BLE imeplemenation and test it.
2. Threshold testing will be conducted later this week with multiple sensors at once to determine the efficiency of the hardware and design.

Personal Accomplishments

1. Mandatory Lab Meetings (4h): During our lab meetings, we received and provided great feedback from our advisor and TA, allowing us to identify vague aspects of our project design and clarify/finalize them.
2. Programming ESP32 (4hr): This week I spent time installing the esp toolchain and getting several example files running to verify functionality. I also setup ADC reading and force threshold identification for multiple sensors on the esp.
3. Testing Haptic Motors (4hr): This week I spent time testing the placement and generated vibration of the haptic motors. I found that placing the motors behind the base of the finger and each at a constant current whenever that finger encroaches the threshold works very well since it is very noticable to the climber.

Progress

1. Progress is a little behind since our sensors came in this week. So the prototype is still in development since we need to sow the sensors into the glove and maneuver the wiring. However we are on track to begin qualitative tests next week.

Next Week tasks & goals

1. To perform qualitative tests of a design prototype.

Personal Accomplishments

1. Mandatory Lab Meetings (4h): During our lab meetings, we received and provided great feedback from our peers, allowing us to identify questionable aspects of our project and see the kinds of methods and technologies other groups are using.
2. Design Report (20hr): Spent time finalizing our design and writing the report. I worked on the abstract, use-case requirements, hardware architecture, design requirements, hardware design trade study, system hardware implementation, system verification and validation, risk mitigation plan, and related works sections.

Progress

1. According to the schedule, I am working on testing the haptic drivers, however, our order just came in this weekend over the fall break, so I will be picking them up first thing Monday morning to get on top of it! Besides that, everything is on track!

Next Week tasks & goals

1. To test the haptic drivers using a pre-set threshhold value to determine the strength of the vibration.

Personal Accomplishments

1. Design Review Presentation (5hr): Spent time creating the use-case, technical requirements, system specification (HW), and unit testing slides.
2. Mandatory Lab Meetings (4h): During our lab meetings, we received and provided great feedback from our peers, allowing us to identify questionable aspects of our project and see the kinds of methods and technologies other groups are using.
3. Cross-team meetings (0.5hr): Me and Alex met with Vansh from team A3 to discuss our product design apporach in regard to which technologies we’re using  since our products are very similar. During our meetings, we discussed which controllers we’re using, sensors, communicatons protocols, and web development environments and tools. The exchange was very fruitful, and provided both teams with valuable exposure to technologies they hadn’t considered prior to this interaction.
4. Further sensor testing (4hr): Spent time testing the sensors using precise weight measurements using a gram-scale. Through this I was able to determine the precision and sensitivity of the sensor, and can conclude its viability for the project. I will use the recorder value to set thresholds on the device such that an alarm can be fired when the threshold is broken.

Progress

1. My progress is on schedule,  my next step is to callibrate the other incoming sensors and test multiple sensors on a hand at once.

Next Week tasks & goals

1. Test multiple A301-100 sensors on a hand and measure via ADC.
2. Look into other options for the controller board we are using. Looking for something more simple to use.

Personal Accomplishments

1. Ordered and acquired components (1hr): I ordered an MCP6004-I/P op-amp to construct the recommended circuit as described in the FlexiForce A301-100 datasheet. I also scoured the ECE lab rooms to acquire other components (with TA permission of course) such as 100k potentiometers, resistors, wires, capacitors, oscilloscopes, digital multi-meters, and power supplies.2. Sensor setup & ADC setup & sensor calibration (further testing required) (7hr): After constructing the recomended circuit in the A301-100 datasheet, to obtain  -Vref and Vsupply,  where Vref == Vsupply, I used two power supplies, one supplying 0.5V and -0.5V. Then, I hooked on a multi-meter to the Vout of the op-amp and pressed on the sensor with varying force to observe the output change. I did observe a change, however, Vout reached 0.5V with insignificant force. Realizing that I needed to modify the circuit to allow for a larger voltage range and tune the gain accordingly, I requested Alex’s help, for which he computed and provided me with the proper component values necessary to achieve this. After testing, the sensor functioned as predicted, and we we’re able to obtain readings  ranging from 0 – 2V, where grams of force correlated with mV of change and extreme force encroached on 2V.

Then, I booted up an STM32 Nucleo board, configured its ADC to use a 12-bit resolution, and measured the Vout pin of the MCP6004 to verify the sensor reading using a multi-meter. Lastly, I performed bend tests on the sensor while reading, for which there were no obvious differences via inspection in measurement. Further testing is required where we will place the sensor on scale and measure weights on it to calibrate. We will perform the same test on a bent sensor to identify changes in sensitivity. Side-note: during this testing, I identified that we will require a Negative LDO (Negative Linear Regulator) to produce -Vref in our final design (as we won’t use power supplies). I will investigate eligible components.

3. Mandatory Lab Meetings (4h): During our lab meetings, we recieved great feedback. We were able to discuss design corners in our project and identify areas of ambiguity. One very useful point made by our advisor was the tuning of our gain for our sensor readings. We applied this feedback in our sensor testing this week, it was very helpful! We also had time to meet with our team to perform schedule reviews and work on the design presentation.

Progress

1. My progress is on schedule,  my next step is to continue calibrating the sensor and testing it using a scale and weights, along with more bend testing.

Next Week tasks & goals

1. Test the A301-100 sensor with weights and tune the ADC and/or voltage range/gain if necessary. Also test the haptic driver, which will be used to alarm users.