Figure 1: Final CAD assembly of the WIFOM glasses
The Goal: Create a solution to help improve a part of one of the two clients' lives
The Task: Create a system to help our client be better aware of his surroundings
The Constraints: Be comfortable, be easy to use, be affordable
The Solution: Design wearable technology to convey information about the user's surroundings
Figure 1: Final CAD assembly of the WIFOM glasses
Soft Skills: Collaboration, Engineering Report Writing, Time Management
Technical Skills: HTML, CSS, JS, C, C++, Arduino C, ESP32 Hardware, Microsoft Office
Figure 2: Final UI of WIFOM web app
Initial Research: The team gathered initial information about the scope of the client's medical problems
Problem Framing: The team met several times to accurately define the problem, then came up with the objective, function, and constraints of our solution
Initial Prototype: The team of four split into a computing and modeling sub-team to create basic hardware and software prototypes to get started
Development path: From the multiple basic prototypes the team decided to choose the glasses design for its decent complexity and
Planning: Each sub-team came up with a timeline on completion of smaller parts of the project; the computing sub-team came up with a flowchart for the machine learning backend and the embedded software while the modeling sub-team came up with a to-do list of small parts they needed to create.
Development: The computing sub-team split into a machine learning and embedded sub-team to develop each software separately
Code Review: The computing sub-team converged together multiple times to make sure small parts of each other's work was functioning as intended and would be compatible with each other's code
Testing: I tested my code (embedded software of ESP32-CAM) with the electrical components to ensure the code sends images correctly over a Bluetooth connection. I also tested the front-end (web app) and back-end (API server) of WIFOM to make sure it correctly processes the images from the ESP32-CAM.
Fitting: I met with the modeling team multiple times to make sure the electrical components would fit well within the glasses. We also tested if the housing of the glasses would affect the line of sight of the camera.
Figure 3: WIFOM software architecture
Role: I was the Coordinator
Responsibilities: I took notes during weekly progress meetings and completed the Logbook of Additional Meetings and Discussions
Expectations: Coordinated meetings outside of Design Studio and kept a record of meetings outside of given class time
Figure 4: WIFOM machine learning backend stress testing
Inter-team collaboration: I learned how to create software while collaborating with different sub-teams, including making sure the camera could communicate with the machine learning backend, and making sure the electrical components would function as intended when closed inside the glasses.
Time management: Since Project 4 was more open-ended than the previous projects, it was a lot hader to get a sense of when every little task should be finished by. I learned how to use to-do lists and calendars more effectively to manage my time better, not only for the project but for other courses as well.
Figure 5: Fitment testing of the electrical components in glasses
Given the complexity of the solution in such a short amount of time, I think the project went quite smoothly. All members of the team came out of the project with learning something new technical, and with a better sense of time management to get the project under wraps faster.