Project Logs

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• Week 16 - Final Outcome

  Alden • 05/10/2019 at 07:28 • 0 comments

  Week 16, am proud to say that 2 / 3 of the boxes works after extensive double checking (most of the issues were regarding bad connections between wires).

  The largest box, along with the smallest box, responds very well to anyone or objects in front of it.

  However the moderately sized box is having a few issues as usual, it has proven to be one of the most hardest circuits to work with for some reason. It works as it should, but does not respond to the Ultrasonic Sensors. Because of that I am required to manually press down onto the echo pin itself to trigger the circuit to work.

  In the end, even if the project was not a total success, I am happy to say that I have learnt a lot regarding hardware and software building. I've also learnt the importance of how designing and engineering comes hand in hand together when creating projects such as these.

  My only regret is that I should have spent more time designing and thinking through the circuits.

• Week 15 - Project development

  Alden • 05/04/2019 at 09:44 • 0 comments

  Boxes remaining are now three. The final box proved too much work to take care of four individual Arduino operated circuits.

  Spent 3 weeks trying to figure out how to fix the circuits whenever a MP3 component is added. Only found out the mistake was the lack of voltage lost when going through the breadboards.

  Spent days trying to figure out how to fix it, from creating my own circuit to adding additional sources of power for the circuits.  - No results.

  In the end, all thats left to be done is to setup the entire exhibition with three boxes, the lighting, micro-servo, and ultrasonic work flawlessly fortunately. 

• Additional Logs

  Alden • 03/18/2019 at 07:58 • 0 comments

  Boxes have been cut, trash can looks odd. Only thing to do now is to solder the wires together, print out the text boxes, And finally solder and arrange the wires into the boxes, Hopefully everything works out.

• Design for cats/dogs and fabricating

  Alden • 03/06/2019 at 14:46 • 0 comments

  Another week spent just creating more designs for the animals before proceeding with the box design and finally printing the entire set of animals out. 

  The "containers" are also being made, a normal trash box is almost done,  trash can parts have been cut, and two more shadow containers are on the way.

  Good news is that the hardware and software issues have all been settled, now all that remains are the designs for the animals and finally to link all of them together in one physical body.

• Week 5 - Fifth log

  Alden • 02/26/2019 at 10:28 • 0 comments

  Hardware and software finally done. Now comes the designing and prototyping phase, I've managed to glue together a rough looking box size that I want.

  Now planning to shave the corners to make it look nice, before cutting holes in it at the bottom base so that I can add in the components, also need to shave the rough edges off along with the corners and to add a nice brown paper finishing afterwards. The 3D models for the other three parts are also done. 

  Was told to explore further the designing aspect of the project, as a result am currently looking for references on how to design the "boxes", also designing how the animals look. Right now just 1 kitten and 1 adult dog.

  There are probably only 10 more weeks before the deadline is completed, as a result I'm 60% confident that I'm able to finish and polish everything up as long as I keep coming back to the lab every Friday.

• Software/Hardware Design.

  Alden • 02/20/2019 at 15:02 • 0 comments

  Software/Hardware 80% done.(Only thing stopping me from completing it, is the fact that the audio circuit hasn't arrived yet.)

  By the next Log Entry the prototype would most likely be 70-100% done.

  Design is still ongoing, will receive further changes.

  Not much more to comment about. Will have more by next project log.

• Idea Refinement / Design

  Alden • 02/13/2019 at 09:39 • 0 comments

  Design and artstyles requires more testing and refinement.

  Right now currently creating a 3D model to prototype before heading back to class for two days straight to hopefully, finally finish the design style.

• Prototype Sketching / Designing

  Alden • 01/30/2019 at 14:05 • 0 comments

  After realizing that a whole weeks worth of time was wasted, I proceeded to create and test out to appropriate sizes for the boxes which will be holding my first ever prototype. I call it :

  V 0.1 - The first ever prototype!

  I have proceeded to create the art for it, which is Vector of course as I want it to look cartoonish, vectorish, cute and serious. *A very strange combo indeed*

  Finally the materials so far will probably only consist of cardboard and probably compressed saw dust. (I forgot the name of the material)

  The first box prototype will have a size of 40x30x40 cm, which is of course following the X Y Z axis for reference.

  Fonts used are taken directly from Dafont, called KS Hand for the front of the box to attract potential users. Second font is called Dream Orphans, which is for the text "template" as I call it, which will be located inside the boxes.

• Idea Proposition / Development

  Alden • 01/18/2019 at 17:18 • 0 comments

  Initial thoughts and ideas about the project was to create a booth that tells a story about the sad life of stray animals using either visuals or audio, OR one that overlaps the other.

  After critiques from the lecturers however, the ideas started branching out and the idea of placing hidden interactive parts of the projects around the exhibition to not only add a bit of a quest for users to find but also to give sense to the meaning to the story.

  Adding audio such as a meow or whimper will surely add extra attention and invoke a sense of curiosity into users at the exhibition.

  Not only that but adding mechanical parts to 2D cutouts of illustrations of the stray animals will add more level of interactivity.

  Right now all that needs to be done is to solidify the idea and presentation.

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