20. Project development¶
What tasks have been completed and what remains?¶
As of May 19, 2023 - our internal cut off date for presenting this year - my weekly assignments have been completed. I am solely working on my final project.
I am still very excited and hopeful I can figure out how to make the entire process work wirelessly. I have had success using the PicoW boards to communicate wirelessly. Now I need to apply all that I have learned to attach the sensor and neopixel strip to each PicoW board and have them communicate in the same way. I also need to make sure I properly calculate and apply the correct power sources to both the sensor board and the neopixel board.
The dress still has some sections that need to be completed as well. I want to add some 3D printing to the actual design of the dress and if time allows, I want to embroider on the front of the dress. These are added tasks, and do not need to happen, but I would like to work towards includig them.
What has worked? What hasn’t?¶
Rolling over to this cycle has been a signifiant part in things working this time around. So many isses came up with designing and soldering chips to boards. Was it the soldering that was messed up? Was it the chip that might have been defective? Was it the code? With all of the open variables, my levels of frustration grew. What made things worse is I could explain the process and what needed to happen, I just had trouble during certain weeks making it happen!
This session, with the introduction of the XIAO RP2040 boards, a lot of those uncertainties have been easier to deal with. I say this and as I’m typing I’m asking myself is that really the case? Could it be that because we learned such an intense process last session, that using these chips are easier for me to understand? Regardless of how I answer that question, I will say that the one thing that prevented me from moving further along last year (aside from getting ill), was my documentation. Documenting this process is no joke! And I am learning in this new session that all those little things I thought I would be able to go back and capture…well, some of them can’t even be found. I find myself having to redo work I know I did last year. At least this time around, it’s moving slightly quicker!
What questions need to be resolved?¶
I need to figure out the best power source for the dress. I’ve worked mostly with keeping things plugged into the computer as the power. I began working with wiring up a battery case to one of the boards as well, but am still working to get that cleared.
Another question I need answered is depending on where I will shoot the video, will I have ample wifi coverage? I have been unable to use my HotSpot on my phone to work the PicoW boards yet, but hopefully I can find a place to make this work on campus. If not, I will need to rethink the video ideas. Several places on campus have serious dead spots, so I need to test the capabilities of our wifi on campus as well.
What will happen when?¶
Between now and our presentation date (at this point to be determined) I still need to: Finish sewing the final parts of the dress. Decide if I will have time to 3D print the back and embroider a design on the front.
Connect a safe power source to the boards.
Confirm I can have the two parts to the process communicate wirelessly.
If I can have them communicate wirelessly, create and finish the leather cuff that will house the sensor.
What have you learned?¶
What have I NOT learned? Oh my goodness! This experience has been nothing short of life-changing for me! I’ve laughed, cried, screamed explicatives (a lot), made some amazing friends, both in my colleagues and in the students I’ve taken this course with.
I ame in with little to no experience in a lot of what we learned. My little coding experience decades ago in high school and college sparked my interest in getting back into the lab setting. Little did I know that stepping into the CLS Fab Lab one night 4 years ago would bring me to this path today!
I’ve learned how to really search the internet for information. I’ve learned to mill, stuff and code boards. I.MADE.BOARDS.FROM.SCRATCH!!! And they actually did something! I’ve learned how to use all the machines in the lab. 4 years ago - I probably didn’t know what half of them were.
Even though this experience started as a requirement, it has quickly become one of the greatest accomplishments of my life!