The project was challenging, fun and provided us with a wealth of knowledge about design and prototyping a hardware product. Below is the list of observations made by us throughout the process.
It was really fun and engaging experience to make a hardware integrated product.
It was also difficult to make a 3D product in 2D by simply using laser cutters.
Sketches were really helpful to visualize how the system works and what design would be fruitful to easily accomodate all the individual components.
It requires a lot of planning to implement and integrate both Hardware and Software. In terms of the physical structure, finding correct measurements and then mapping them into the digital world is challenging.
It was a fun experience to work with a partner and as a team you come up with a product where you both contribute considering dependencies on each others work.
Making a 3D product with only wood was an interesting decision we made, though later we figured it out that it was really difficult. Furthermore, gluing woof without leaving any traces is a challenge on its own.
We also learnt that in case of using a heat glue gun, precision is important. Heat gun glue dries very quickly
Coming up with a device with a handheld feature was really difficult to make keeping all the spacing (to keep hardware) and and wiring in mind.
Learnt the painting process. We painted our first prototype without applying primer and the result was not good. Applying primer and then doing couple of paint coats resulted in good look.
We initially thought that drilling into the wood will be straight forward. However, when we tried to do it, we realized wood thickness ans surface area close to the drill point is key. We cracked the wood by drilling close to a hollow surface wood.
Designing an artifact with a hand grip is challenging. We really need to work around with wires and circuitry components because of limited spacing.
Copper strips only works in case of a very smooth and tight contact. It requires a lot precision and iteration if you want to make a vertical connection between two points instead of bottom top connection (One strip at bottom of object A connecting to top layer of Object B)