What are the most significant risks that could jeopardize the success of the project?
Since we have switched to a slider based actuator, the biggest worries are 1. the durability of the actuator, which despite optimization in the design iteration, might still be limited by the nature of the slider mechanic. 2. How do we recover consistently from a slider jam?
How are these risks being managed? What contingency plans are ready?
For our existing slider actuator, we will rapidly iterate over the course of next two weeks to try out different motors, slider slope, material, lubricate method, form factor of actuator, sliding speed, etc., to try and find the best combination that can result in the fastest and most consistent actuation of the braille dot patterns. We are cautiously optimistic that this plan will work, but if not, we have back up plans where a group of push-pull solenoid will activate individual ball-pen-like latches.
Were any changes made to the existing design of the system? Why was this change necessary, what costs does the change incur, and how will these costs be mitigated going forward?
As reference in our design presentation slide, we significantly changed our block diagram to accommodate for the new actuator design. This change is motivated by our quest to find the cheapest and easiest way of actuate a large amount of bi-directional dots.
There are no scheduling changes. For an updated visualization of the actuator, please refer to Ziyu’s status report for this week.