Project Development

Tracking the process

The task this week is to evaluate what has been done so far for the final project, and start planning ahead.

What tasks have been completed? What remains?

A number of steps were already taken while working on weekly assignments, these will contribute directly to my final project:

This leaves the following tasks:

3D design and printing
2D design and laser cutting
System integration and packaging

What has worked? What hasn't?

I faced a lot of problems with the programming of the PCB of the microcontroller. At first, I created a board with an atmega 328p, but couldn't burn the bootloader. I have very little experience in electronics and programming and couldn't find resources to explain the causes of the errors effectively.
This is the board I milled and soldered.

When things didn't work out and I started running out of time, a colleague suggested that I can use a commercial board's microcontroller and implement it in my PCB. This meant that I had to redesign the board to the following one, which I used in my assignments for weeks 11 and 12.

What questions need to be resolved?

Another limitation that I became aware of at this point is that I cannot add an ESP to my board. Therefore, I decided to drop this part from my final project plan.

What will happen when?

I will start by finalizing the baord, and based on it - I will work on the casing. Also, I will look at what water pumps are available in the market before working with the reservoir body.

What have you learned?

The course of the semester, and the final project generally, have introduced me to new skills that I had no background in at all. Working on my own board - although might not be required in my real world because of commercial boards, and because it's not my specialty - did teach me a lot about how commercial board work. I look forward to putting a lot of this knowledge into practice after the diploma. On a personal level, the diploma developed my time management skills and made me realize that I can do anything as long as I set my mind to do it.