Beamlak Cherinet

To kickstart the project, our team held a meeting with our advisor to establish a strong foundation. During this session, we introduced ourselves, highlighted our individual skill sets, and clarified our roles and responsibilities within the group. We also defined the project’s objectives, identified essential requirements, and explored potential strategies for tackling the tasks effectively. With valuable guidance from our advisor, we gained a deeper understanding of the project’s scope, anticipated challenges, and expectations for each phase. This meeting fostered collaboration, aligned our efforts, and inspired confidence to progress with purpose and clarity.

In the second phase led a brainstorming session with the team to generate innovative ideas aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We began by introducing ourselves and highlighting our unique skill sets, offering valuable perspectives on how each member could contribute to the project. The session fostered open dialogue, enabling the team to present and evaluate ideas based on feasibility, potential impact, and alignment with our goals. This collaborative approach laid the foundation for selecting unique projects that inspired and resonated with the entire team.

This stage was mainly about choosing which idea aligns with most of the group members and in the end we narrowed down our choices to three projects which are Smart lock, Portable shelter relief and Smart parking system.

After discussing with our members we decided to land on smart parking system as it tackles problems like parking space availability, traffic congestion, inefficient space utilization and many more.

As we prepared to dive into the smart parking system, we discovered that it had already been implemented by last year’s group. As a result, we decided to pivot and explore alternative ideas from our brainstorming session, ultimately choosing to develop a bike rack system. 

As we entered week six, we began taking on tasks aligned with our individual expertise. I focused on building the arm of the rack, conducting material analysis, and performing location analysis.

After receiving our funds, we prioritized purchasing essential items for our project, including a microcontroller, sensor cables, furnished wood, and other necessary materials. 

In this week we collaborated with our teamates to create a design for the body which would be space friendly, cost efficient and capable for providing protection for circuits and more

At this stage, we began working on the body and the arm. We started by measuring, analyzing, and determining where each part should go, while also creating a viable sample. At this stage we agreed to use wires as a skeleton for the arm.

After reviewing the product with other team members, we decided to proceed with our sample. We then focused on creating a viable body and arm, using our sample as a reference for the design.

In Week 11, we presented the finalized prototype to our advisor. The advisor’s positive feedback and constructive suggestions helped us pinpoint areas for improvement. This session offered valuable insights and motivated us to refine our work further.

In the final week, we completed all outstanding tasks, refined the prototype, and prepared for the final presentation. The project was successfully delivered, presenting a fully functional smart bike rack system, ready for deployment.