Week #2: Make-through

• Step 1: After we finished the session on Monday with Ahmed Ibrahim and everyone picked his role. Mohamed El Sayed as the product owner and will work on electronics, Ibrahim Rafaat as a designer and will work on electronics, and myself as Scrum master and will handle the coding for both hardware and UI. After that, We went straight to discuss our perspectives and final goal for this project.

• Step 2: We started by everyone saying what features he has in mind so we can create the product backlog and then started to break it down to what is suitable for the skills and timing we have.

• Step 3: I started creating the project in GitLab while Ibrahim & Mohamed made broader research for components and ideas.

• Step 4: So I organized our project as follow:

  • 1. Named Qubic-the smart lamp.

    2. Labeled as Hardware, CAD, Coding, fabrication, …

    3. Started creating sprint #1 and assigning the features we picked from the product backlog to add to this sprint.

• Step 5: After I finished GitLab and the boys finished research we finalized the product backlog. Mohamed and I confirmed the list of electronics and fabrication components.

• Step 6: The next day I wanted to work on coding, but we had an idea to work with NeoPixels LEDs and I didn’t know that much about it so I started watching and reading tutorials about it. After 8 hours I managed to understand it with tips and tricks to implement its code in many different ways for the whole project not only for sprint #1.

Issue #1 on GitLab

Issue #2 on GitLab

I went searching like crazy on the smart lamp tutorials (more about it later). I wanted to create two different ways to make automatic animation for either normal RGB LEDs or NeoPixels ones.

• Step1: Find model for the LED we're going to use.

• Step2: Understand the required hardware and circuit components.

• Step3: Wear my coding hoodie and start implementing.

• Step4: This code make an auto fading sequence of RGB colors.

It took me a lot of research to understand and implement the code.

• Step1: Find model for the LED we're going to use.

• Step2: Understand the required hardware and circuit components.

• Step3: Wear my coding hoodie and start implementing.

• Step4: This code make an auto progress sequence of RGB colors.

I practiced three designs for laser cutter and 3D printer. It took some time to get used to the new joints but it came easy along the way.

• Step1: I followed a tutorial to create this box.

• Step2: The best thing that the man printed the part and it has some issues like there was a gab between the top and bottom parts, so he edited the snaps and the curved edge of the bottom part and printed it again and assembled it smoothly. So I know what to avoid in design.

• Step3: I learned new techniques to use in fusion through this tutorial.

Through all of this I developed a new and better mindset in designing other than the one I was working with.

• Step1: I followed the video on our website to create this enclosure but I went for a different steps to design it.

• Step2: This enclosure is a combination of laser cutter acrylic for the top part and 3D printed PLA for the bottom one.

• Step3: I learned new techniques to use in fusion through this tutorial.

Trial #1 (Unsuccessful): Small dimensions (CAD)

I can truly say that was one of the most effort, time, planning, mind, … consuming assignments I did in my life but don’t take it in a bad way hehehe. 11hrs 55mins was the time I spent to finish this appealing, well structured, editable and creative design.

• Step1: Add the user parameters. I created parameters for the most used dimensions in this design like materials thickness, screw hole, nut diameter, corners extrusion, …

• Steps2: After that I started using those parameters while I am sketching instead of drawing with hard numbers. This will really help with the trial and error process as well as if I want to scale change materials thickness or this sort of things.

• Step3: I used Acrylic 3mm for body parts and 3D printing PLA for the corner joints. This helped with staying within my quota and give it a cool look with the transparency for the inside components.

• Step 4: Each one of the bottom corner joints mounts three parts top, side and bottom of the box using a side slide nut from inside and screw from the outer of the Acrylic part.

• Step5: Inside the box there are two electronic components push button and DC socket that I projected there faces and mounted them through the sides. Also we have a 3D printed battery box that's fixed to the bottom using a nut and a screw, and this box have top and bottom parts that come together using snap-fits.

• Step6: At the top we have 4 corner joints same as the ones in the bottom but instead of fixing three parts it only fix itself to the top Acrylic part and have these edges to mount the speaker in the middle so it doesn't slip.

• Step7: I exported the corners as .stl files and went to Prusa slicer to start slicing but there happened some issues.

Pre-defined parameters

Mixed enclosure

I faced some issues while slicing the parts.

• Step1: I had a message that says there is empty layers in the battery part where I designed the snap fits.

• Steps2: I took a closer look to find it didn't sliced in a right way as it was small sized, so I went back to fusion 360 and made the extrusion a bit bigger and it went fine.

• Step3: As for the corner joints it needs support for the parts that slide the nuts and screws.

• Step 4: The design will take some time to be printed so, two corners for each top and bottom and the battery case will take 1hr 50mins and will use 17.26g. Four corners for each top and bottom and battery case will take 3hrs 34mins and will use 33.24g.

Error: empty layers

Trial #4 (Successful): Cutting Acrylic (Fabrication)

Printed parts

Trial #1 (Successful): Steal and innovate

• Step1: I choose a concept that made the walls not thick to make the enclosure light weight, made quiet a long distance between the place where the LEDs are mounted and the holes in the sides where the light goes out, so that the exposure would be clear and there won't be dots of lights from the LED.

• Step2: Define the used material. Wood 9mm , two 3D printed parts to mount the LEDs and Acrylic or epoxy to cover the holes where the light comes out.

• Step2: Start setting user parameters for the recurring dimensions.

• Step3: Just design the above which isn't hard at all.

• Step4: I thought of using epoxy to cover the holes in a gradient effect starting with white at the bottom and go up with some light blue degrees.

• Step5: The not best part that the enclosure sides and bottom will be glued together with the top part only placed there where it makes it accessible to change LEDs or any maintenance.

I started working on a draft for the mobile app we will be using to control Qubic in sprint #2. The idea I have for the app that it should provide basic functions, nice to have functions. Of course I started with the basics and I will build from there depending on the complexity and free time we have during the weeks until we reach week #3.

• Step1: At first, it was quite hard to understand how to send the picked color from the app to parse it in the Arduino code to change Qubic’s lighting color, but research and patience are the keys.

• Step2: The app can make the following functions connect via BT, Switch Qubic ON/OFF and change LEDs color from the color wheel.

• Step3: Created validations to make sure users won't be confused.

The Arduino code is divided to three parts. The first one defining and initializing variables I am using to receive data from the app and control functions. The second one is receiving data from the app and parsing it to Triger functions. The last part implementing the functions that the app perform.

• Step1: Define the connection pins and initialize the variables used in the functions.

• Step2: Receiving data from the app and start checking for which function will be performed.

• Step3: Implement the functions used in the app like change LEDs color, adjust brightness, …

I followed Mohmed El Sayed circuit diagram which he draw for sprint #1. Actually he helped me a lot with getting the right components and where to buy it.

• Step1: List the used components ( 3xTip122, 3x1k resistors, HC-05, SMD5050, Arduino UNO, 12v adapter).

• Step2: Connect the components according to the circuit diagram.

• Step3: Connect to the app and start testing.

• The lamp turns ON/OFF via Bluetooth.

• Can change colors from the color wheel but it lights up with 7 different colors only.

• I guess the issue with the LED itself.