SEMESTER ONE

August 3 - December 18

Project Context

Towards the end of the 2019-2020 school year, our Engineering Concepts class made the collective decision to apply for the $10,000 MIT InvenTeam Grant. We spent the last few weeks of the school year furiously brainstorming ideas and we narrowed it down to three.

1. A bike lock (operated by an app)

2. A scheduled medicine capsule (operated by an app)

3. A solar-powered, portable hand-washing station designed to help the homeless

Each member of our class chose an idea from the three that was most compelling to them and wrote a proposal for it. I chose the solar-powered, portable hand-washing station designed to help the homeless. My proposal is embedded in the pdf below.

After a period of intense anticipation, our team was accepted as finalists to MIT's Inventeam! However, over the summer we received feedback from MIT. Our idea of an app-controlled bike lock needed revision to be a more competitive application. We were faced with two options, to add more features to the bike lock (making it more unique) or to pick a new idea. As a collective, our team decided that the best approach was to come up with a new idea. Thus, we were back to stage 1 of brainstorming.

Back to the Drawing Board

Phase 01: Brainstorm 2.0

To begin our new Coggle brainstorming process, we chose six topics to act as themes to anchor our ideas around. These topics were:

• Local Problems

• COVID19

• Bike Theft (our original proposed problem)

• Systemic Racism

• Random Ideas

• Climate Change

Phase 02: Narrowing It Down

After multiple brainstorming sessions in Coggle, a number of great ideas/inventions emerged. We chose to focus on these new ideas and researched them further for feasibility, uniqueness, and relevance to the InvenTeam guidelines. The compilation of our team's ideas is embedded in the slide below.

My Personal Idea Contributions

After our team listed all ideas in the compilation Google Slide, we researched our ideas even further. We narrowed our ideas down in terms of feasibility and relation to MIT's guidelines (must be a physical invention, unique idea, etc). After eliminating ideas that did not fit this criteria, we created a one-sentence description of our ideas and put them in a single slide for voting. My ideas are on boxes 15,19, and 21. Each team member chose an icon to use as their voting ballot. The voting slide is below.

My eliminated idea + reasoning:

Phase 03: Composing the Final Application

Round 1

After the top four ideas were selected, each team member chose the topic they were most compelled by. Our team was split up into four breakout rooms to research these topics even further. At the end of the period, we came back together as a collective and chose the final idea. We decided on a smart-trash can with hydraulic arm and underground storage.

My notes from each room (before vote):

After the vote, each team member volunteered to work on a section of the application. I chose to help with the Invention Statement.

I chose to answer the following points from the application:

1. Provide a framework within which Eureka! and “a-ha” moments can happen

2. Who is the user of the invention? List demographics, characteristics, and targeted groups, keeping in mind “people first” followed by special circumstances.

Round 2

After meticulous research, we found an idea comparable to that of our smart-trash can. We chose to eliminate this idea and return to the drawing board once again. With only one week left before the application deadline, our group began to feel the immense pressure. Various ideas were discussed in the GroupMe from an audio/visual aid designed to help the blind/hard of hearing (general user) to a mobility device designed to help a person with dermatomyositis (specific user). Each time a new idea was generated we had to evaluate it based on uniqueness, feasibility, and MIT's guidelines (must be a physical device). We revisited our Coggles from Phase 1 in the hopes of climbing out of our rut. Finally, after defeat had begun to set in, we revised one idea a teammate had earlier in the process. [to be stated later]

The Final Idea

Invention Statement

Team Video

InvenTeam Application

Electronics Project (Intermission)

While we wait for our application to be reviewed by MIT, we have chosen to work on a smaller electronics project. This project will allow us to get familiar with the smaller pieces necessary for our device to function if/when our application is accepted.

Learning How to Create Circuit Diagrams and Circuit Pictures

Today, we learned how to create two different types of circuity representations: a circuit diagram and a circuit picture.

LED Matrix Research

This class (September 21), we began to research on how to wire the 8x8 LED Array. Next class, we will work in collaborative breakout rooms to wire the LED.

Week 9

LED Matrix Wiring

My first attempt to wire the 8x8 LED Matrix was partly successful. I was able to wire the device, but all my lights did not turn on. There may be several reasons for this.

1. incorrect placement of wires

2. code that does not display all lights on

To remedy this problem, I will re-wire my device. This time, both the LED Matrix and Arduino Nano will be placed on the breadboard.

Attempt 2

problem: misread wiring diagram + matrix needed to be rotated 180

Attempt 3 (All Lights On!)

Week 11

Ultrasonic Sensor Research

Ultrasonic Sensor Wiring!

FierceElectronics explains that, "'An ultrasonic sensor is an electronic device that measures the distance of a target object by emitting ultrasonic sound waves, and converts the reflected sound into an electrical signal. While the ultrasonic sensor emits sound waves, those waves travel faster than the speed of audible sound (i.e. the sound that humans can hear).

The video below depicts my working ultrasonic sensor. In the video, I move a small plastic ruler back and forth. The Arduino serial monitor pop-up shows how far the pink, plastic ruler is from the sensor in both inches and centimeters.

Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam

After a brief period of anticipation and brimming excitement, our team was one of thirteen selected to be a member of the Lemelson-MIT Program 2020-2021 InvenTeam cohort!

We received the delightful news of our team's success on Monday, October 19, 2020 via a surprise zoom announcement during class. This is me pictured with my sign in my front yard!

LMIT Introductory Meeting

After our surprise announcement on Monday, we learned that Thursday's class would be hosted by Lemelson-MIT! This session served as our first real introduction to Lemelson-MIT and we gleaned valuable insight on our team's next steps.

Key Takeaways from the meeting:

• We need to designate team roles, positions, leaders, etc. (who is doing what, how will work be divided?)

• Refining our materials list/placing orders (we need to refine the parts in our budget, begin to order materials, begin first design prototypes!)

• Complete the media release form before the Lemelson-MIT public announcement on Tuesday, October 27, 2020 (no information was to be shared publicly before then)

• Refine our goals (what is our definition of a completed device, how are we defining "success?")

Stage 1: Block Diagramming

From the suggestions of Lemelson-MIT, we began Block Diagramming the components of our device. Simply put, a block diagram is a method of simplifying a complex system through blocks connected by lines to show relationships between parts. Block diagramming is designed to visualize the flow of a device or system to pinpoint any issues/improve function. Block diagrams are comparable to storyboards in literature or storytelling.

WEEK 15: This week in InvenTeam Engineering (and at the suggestion of Lemelson-MIT) we shifted our focus to learning of and deciding team roles. Before choosing our more final role (still subject to change if need be) we chose from 4 technical teams (Hardware, Data, User Interface, and Machine Learning/AI) and began the research for each one.

For this research process, I chose to be a member of the data team. The data team was defined by the following roles:

• Gets data to phone.

• Identifies the most appropriate/user friendly cloud computing/storage mechanism.

• Gets phone to upload data to the cloud.

• Identifies and organizes data in the cloud in a useful and easy to query manner.

My team consisted of four members in total. Myself, Toren Mosley, Zachary Harris, and Quinn Washington. Together, we researched the following questions:

• What are some cloud based places / products we could use to store and query our data?

• What data do we need to store?

• What is a database?

• What are the best places for storing data?

• What are the best practices for holding and managing video data?

  • AWS--S3-- Bare Bones, but can also use their products for a database.

  • Google Storage

  • Personal Storage

  • Microsoft cloud spaces

• Size of the data is a consideration--how much will data storage cost?

• --for the timeline of our project--20 hours of video

• How long will we keep the data? --design decision and question for later.

• What tools will we use to automatically upload data to the cloud?

• Various products or procedures.

• How do we go about organizing our data so that it is useful and queryable?

• Where do we store the metadata about our video?

• How do we uniquely identify the data?

• Who can access the data (public/user based)? --this is a question for later

• What skills do we need to learn to move forward?

My Research Slides

Team Leadership and Role Selections

To decide which role we'd like most, we reviewed Lemelson-MIT's InvenTeam Handbook. After this step, we created a Flipgrid Pitch (3:00 min max.) for our chosen role.

WEEK 16: This week, we finalized our teams and team roles. Most InvenTeam members ended up with their first selection and others adapted to fill any openings.

After determining roles, our team planned out the next steps for the next week and over Thanksgiving Break (11/21-11/29).

At the end of the week (after extensive research), we came to the conclusion that a web-app would be best suited for the user interface of our device.

We considered:

• the pros and pons of a web app

pros:

1. 1. 1. web apps do not need to be approved by app stores=faster availability

      2. regardless of the user’s operating system (apple, android,etc), a webapp will be compatible through browsers

      3. it costs less money to make a web app (because one version can be used across all operating platforms

      4. updates/bug fixes are easier/quicker:users will be able to access the most update version of the app

      5. ruby On Rails is a free web-application framework. Soundcloud,Hulu, twitch were built with the ruby on rails

cons:

1. not able to use offline: web app rely entirely on the internet and will not be able to be used without wifi

2. when developing the web app, ensure that the web app is supported by all browsers

3. there may be issues with security; we don’t want data breaches

4. may operate at lower speeds than a mobile app

5. web app will probably not be able to access a devices “built-in” features like a camera, etc

• the pros and cons of a phone app

pros:

1. the developer can easily send notifications and reminders on the phone

2. offline access(no wifi) once app is downloaded?

3. uses a phone’s built in features like location, camera, microphone

cons:

1. the developer can easily send notifications and reminders on the phone

2. offline access (no wifi) once app is downloaded

3. uses a phone’s built in features like location, camera, microphone

• tools to help us plan out and visualize the functions of our app

  1. https://www.figma.com/ **

  2. https://creately.com/blog/diagrams/how-to-plan-an-app-visually/

  3. https://www.sketch.com/?utm_source=zapier.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zapier

  4. https://www.invisionapp.com/studio?utm_source=zapier.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zapier

  5. https://marvelapp.com/?utm_source=zapier.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zapier **

  6. https://zapier.com/blog/best-wireframe-tools/#invisionstudio

  7. https://www.mockflow.com/ **

  8. https://www.mockplus.com/free-wireframing-tool/ **

  9. https://balsamiq.com/wireframes/

  10. https://wireframe.cc/ **

  11. https://pencil.evolus.vn/

  12. https://www.fluidui.com/

  13. https://cacoo.com/home

  14. https://careerfoundry.com/en/blog/ux-design/free-wireframing-tools/

Over break, each member of the UI team would receive an introduction to the platform and coding language, Ruby on Rails through YouTube based courses.

1. Course 1 - Learn Ruby on Rails

2. Course 2 - Ruby Programming Language

As the team sustainability lead, my role is to guide the team towards making sustainable design choices for the benefit of both our target user and the planet. To complete this task, I am to take the CSWA Sustainability Exam, receive the certification, and become an Associate in Sustainability. The exam has a self-paced reading, the Sustainable Design Guide, which I completed over break.

WEEK 17: This week, we reviewed the skills learned from the web-based courses we took over Thanksgiving Break.

Skills Learned from 'Learn Ruby on Rails'

This week, our InvenTeam created a series of goals designed to keep us on track with finishing our device by early April 2021. In a breakout room, the UI team decided on the following goals (to be completed by December 14) to propel us toward our ultimate goal---having a functional user interface.

• Create basic app layout using wire frame tool.

  • Basic requirements for app:

    • User can login. [December 10]

    • User can query speed data from a comparable dataset (generate this dataset). [December 12]

    • User can query “GPS” data from a comparable dataset (generate this dataset). [December 12]

    • User can refer to different datasets in queries [December 14]

  • Watch tutorials on how to integrate Ruby on Rails with AWS (cloud based storage utilized by the Data Team) [December 14]

WEEK 18: This week the UI team focused on completing the aforementioned tasks by December 14. To see photo video documentation of this progress click here:

Myah Crowell - InvenTeam Online Courses Documentation

WEEK 19: This week marked the end of first semester InvenTeam Engineering! For our final exam, we presented the accomplishments within our specific teams.

SEMESTER TWO

(5 JAN - 26 MAY)

WEEK 19.5/WINTER BREAK (18 DEC - 4 JAN)

Over winter break, I committed to two main tasks: taking the CSWA Sustainability Exam and researching data scraping with Ruby on Rails.

WEEK 20/SEMESTER TWO, WEEK ONE (5 JAN - 8 JAN):

This week marked the beginning of second semester! Within breakout rooms, the UI Team conducted a status update before our entire team repported on progress made over winter break. I discussed the basics of data scraping, "the process of taking output that was originally intended to be human readable and extracting data from it so you can use that data in your program."

WEEK 21/S2W2 (11 JAN - 15 JAN):

The UI Team did not make any major developments this week. We discussed the errors we ran into in regards to data scraping such as outdated Ruby software and basic coding errors. We made the decision to reach out to an expert/members of the former InvenTeam to discuss next steps and get feedback on our current UI design.

WEEK 22/S2W3 (19 - 22 JAN):