Lam Wing Chan
* Conducted beta testing on our almost-done product at the Carnegie Library for the blind
* Summarized feedback from staff at the library and brainsstormed how to modify current design
* Tested product on walls/environments with different textures to ensure product is robust
* Researched on methods to enhance user experience such as adding vibraitonal motors for left/right alert
* Investigated different possibile sound frequencies for alert of the front system
Ning Guan
* Visited Carnegie Library for the Blind to beta test our project with a visually-impaired staff member
* Modified arduino code to drive vibration motors instead of buzzers for systems worn on left and right arms
* Added vibration motors to circuits
* Researched methods to reduce feedback noise by checking that the object has to be present for at least a certain amount of time before the system gives feedback. For example, if people wave hands in front of the sensor, it should not trigger the alert.
* Continued researching and testing methods for arduino to take user inputs from Android.
Siying Jin
* Visited Carnegie Library for the Blind and get feedback from volunteers
* Improve the sound and vibration on Android App so they are more noticable
* Included documentations on source code and wrote a simple user manual
Lam Wing Chan
* Experimented with soldering parts
* Explored various ways of optimizing placements of parts to increase robustness of circuits
* Designed ways of placing systems on a blind person using jogging arm bands
* Implemented front sensors wearing using transparent bag
* Integrated hardwar with software with modification of code
* Tested feasibility of using sensors on arm bands and front bags
Ning Guan
* Assisted in soldering and tested the soldered circuit
* Reverted circuits to breadboards and improved circuit stability by using ribbon wires
* Made the device wearable by customizing armbands and a purse to carry the hardware parts
* Tested and determined effective thresholds for both side sensors and front sensors
* Assisted in integrating sensors and Arduino with Android phone
* Researched methods to modify Arduino code to receive user inputs from Android device
Siying Jin
* Researched ways to extract effective information from byte stream
* Added feedback on client side using Android's built-in alarm sound and vibration
* Added a button for user intput of height on Android device
* Prepared for usability testing
Lam Wing Chan
* Did research on possibilities of soldering parts to make entire system more robust
* Designed the way user will wear the left and right sensors and purchased arm bands
* Researched on possibilities of user wearing the sensors (pointing to up/down and straight) using a coat
* Worked on looking into possible implementations of vibrational sensors
Ning Guan
* Set up for soldering and practiced soldering skills
* Researched Arduino programs to control vibration motors
* Brainstormed improvements on circuit layout to incorporate buzzers and vibration motors
* Researched Android-Arduino bluetooth technology and studied its feasibility
Siying Jin
* Learned to set up for soldering, watched tutorials online for soldering on sparkfun breadboard
* Researched on existing libraries of Android-Arduino bluetooth connection
* Made an outline on unsability testing
Lam Wing Chan
* Modified power source of Adruino to use portable 9v batties with battery clips
* Enhanced user experiences by enabling user to hold aduino and bread board alone, without computer / wall power source
* Transferred the left and right sensors to two small breadboards
* Began to look into soldering materials and transferring the wires to a more robust setting
* Brainstormed how the user will actually use the technology - ordered armbands and goPro bands
Ning Guan
* Improved user experience by separating horizontal plane sensors to two separate boards, so that they can mount on users' left and right arms separately
* Connected batteries to Arduino to replace cable power source
* Further improved portability by introducing solderable boards
* Brainstormed methods to provide vibrational feedback and ordered vibration motors
* Brainstormed methods to make the device wearable and ordered sports armbands to customize
Siying Jin
* Enabled sound on Android. The App will play the sound every 300 ms. The volume will change according to the distance from object.
* Learned how to enable vibration to signal distance.
* Read similar work and brainstormed ways to make hardwares wearable.
Lam Wing Chan
* Tested implementation of five sensors operating on one Adruino and one breadboard
* Transferred left and right sensors onto seperate breadboard
* Modified program to seperately process sensors input from left/right and up/middle/down sensors
* Researched on possible portable batteries for powering Adruinos and ordered 9v rechargeable batteries
* Began to look into vibrational feedbacks, and possible integration techniques
* Brainstormed various methods for users to wear our device
Ning Guan
* Modified code to operate five sensors on two separate boards and Arduinos
* Added different tones for alert from different directions
* Improved Arduino power source by switching to portable batteries and ordered 9V rechargeable batteries
* Set up Android environment to run Android program
* Researched current solutions on providing voice feedback via Android device
Siying Jin
* Modified Androd App so that any device can communicate with it using USB cable(change vender ID when connecting)
* Buffered the received data for future use
* Enabled users to type in their height, which will be sent to Arduino
Lam Wing Chan
* Implemented algorithm to detect obstacles from an angle above/below the horizon
* Transfer left/right sensors to smaller board
* Configure new Adruino to be used with the left and right sensors
* Research on communication between Adruino and Android device
* Complete functionality checks of current design in environment similar to expected one for final demo
* Evaluated and brainstormed users’ experience and modified designs
Ning Guan
* Modified the algorithm to calculate the distance to objects not on the same horizontal plane using Pythagorean theorem.
* Added two more sensors for the horizontal plane detection and modified the algorithm to incorporate the changes
* Tested the functionality and goodness of our current product
* Proposed and documented potential areas of improvements
* Ordered parts for next steps: 1. Arduino and android connection, 2. user experience improvements
Siying Jin
* Made a new user interface on Android App with four buttons.
* Implemented activities associated with each button to control serial data transmission between Android Tablet and Arduino.
* Learned how to use build-in speaker and vibration on Android device.
Lam Wing Chan
* Successfully set up three ultrasonic sensors with Arduino Uno
* Implemented distance measurement Arduino program and downloaded to hardware
* Tested functionality of ultrasonic sensors by verifying actual distance measured with program output
* Set up buzzer together with sensors to output alert if closest object within 50cm
* Integrated the above program with two more sensors to measure distance of closest object
* Improved user experience by introducing sound signals of various frequencies so user knows which direction is obstacle located at
* Investigated user experience and evaluated design again - eliminated the use of sensors scanning horizontally, but vertically
* Verified sensors’ capability to measure up to 200cm
Ning Guan
* Hooked up ultrasonic sensors to Arduino and set up the Arduino program to run on laptop
* Tested the accuracy of ultrasonic sensors with different distances
* Implemented the Arduino program to take inputs from three different sensors and analyze each output individually
* Tested the functionality of our program by walking in a clear hallway with eyes covered, proposed and documented improvements
* Modified code to take into account user input data, such as the user height (for determining sensor angle purpose) and the preferred alert threshold
* Improved program performance by allowing our device to detect objects at different heights
* Researched methods to display Arduino serial monitor outputs on Android device
Siying Jin
* Set up Android Studio on laptop and explored the functionalities
* Learned how to build Android App and attempted an example with single activity
* Did research on potential libraries that we can use for communication between Android and Arduino
* Built an User Interface with four buttons to control connection and data transmission using one of the libraries(actual activities not implemented yet)
Lam Wing Chan (lamwingc)
* Examined intelligent parking system in details for installation and usage
* Configured and connected radar sensors to the system processing module
* Investigated compatibility between sensors from the parking system kit and our raspberry pi module
* Explored and studied pre-existing code used for distance sensing with android devices
* Brainstormed the different tradeoffs in software design - such as computational complexity vs measurement evaluation accuracy
* Considered variations in code designs and assess their advantages and disadvantages with respect to our project requirements and goals
Ning Guan (nguan)
* Put together intelligent radar parking system (connected wires etc.)
* Attempted to power up the radar system with breadboard and is now working on voltage regulation
* Researched existing Android APK (Application Package Kit) online for ultrasonic object detection package
* Studied existing distance calculation functions’ code
* Carried out feasibility study for different approaches/ setups
* Currently working on migrating a target APK from laptop to Android phone
Siying Jin (siyingj)
* Install Raspbian Onto SD Card
* Set up Raspbian and configure the Pi
* Learn to connect with bluetooth devices(mouse, keyboard)
* Connect Raspberry Pi remotely through SSH
* Set up Raspberry Pi